Michigan State Rep. Sam Singh, D-East Lansing, will serve as the minority floor leader for the 2015-2016 legislative session.
As minority floor leader, Singh will be a liaison between the Republican and Democratic delegations.
“My position works very closely with the Republican floor leader to make sure, as we discuss policy, that ideas from both sides of the aisle are being heard, and work closely with my Democratic colleagues to make sure our ideas and voices are heard here at the Capitol,” Singh said.
Although only 49 of the 110 state representatives are Democrats, Singh said things can be achieved working in a bipartisan way.
“Last term I think we did a number of good things in a bipartisan fashion,” Singh said. “We were able to put together a roads package, we were able to increase funding to higher education, we were able to increase the minimum wage and so there are times that we will take ideas from our side and work with our Republican colleagues to try to make them happen.”
Singh, however, recognizes that working in a Republican-led House of Representatives can be difficult.
“When there is one party in control and they are actually in control of the House, the Senate and the governorship, it is up to their lead, to some extent, to work with us,” Singh said. “To some degree they don’t have to because they have enough votes to pass their bills without our votes.”
Singh plans to reintroduce a bill that grants money for higher education scholarships, he said.
“There are a number of scholarship programs for higher education that, over a period of time, have been eliminated because we were having economic struggles. But now, as the economy is getting better, I’d like to reinstitute those,” Singh said.
Singh said he hopes funding for higher education will not be cut during this legislative session.
“We do have some budget difficulties,” Singh said. “My understanding is that there are certain areas in the general fund not bringing in as much revenue as was anticipated so that there will be some level of cuts, but my hope is that what we’ve done over the past three years of increasing higher education funding ... won’t roll that back.”
As his second legislative term starts, Singh said he will also reintroduce the expansion of the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act to members of the LGBT community — the expansion will prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation, identity and gender.
“You don’t want to have laws in your books or have a perception of your state that is not open, that is not welcoming,” Singh said. “And if that’s the case, we are losing our economic edge.”
Although Singh said he had been hopeful the bill would have passed during the last legislative session, he will continue to push for approval.
“I can’t judge this new legislature until it meets and until it starts voting on things, but my hope is that over a period of time people will come to the right side of justice,” Singh said.
