(Source: MIRS.news, Published 05/31/2023) (MACKINAC ISLAND) – Ramping up the revitalization of brownfield and abandoned properties while creating a fund of federal money for clean energy and semiconductor projects are key efforts to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's "Make It In Michigan" economic strategy.
"I think this is feedback from the business community about what we could do that will help move things faster," Whitmer said Wednesday at the Grand Hotel. "As I pitch Michigan to companies that are thinking about coming . . . or as I talk to incumbent Michigan businesses, a lot of the feedback just stems around making sure that we've got sites that are ready to go."
Whitmer, Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks (D-Grand Rapids), House Speaker Joe Tate (D-Detroit) and other Democratic legislators kicked off the rollout of their "Make It In Michigan" proposals amid the 2023 Mackinac Policy Conference, hosted by the Detroit Regional Chamber.
Sen. Mallory Mcmorrow (D-Royal Oak), chair of the Senate Economic and Community Development Committee, and House Economic Development and Small Business Chair Jason Hoskins (D-Southfield) were featured in the press conference as the leaders behind the strategy.
The plan is to speed up the cleanup of Michigan's unoccupied sites, and to assemble a “Michigan Competitiveness Fund” to expand the state's share of the $52 billion under the federal CHIPS and Science Act dedicated to incentivizing domestic semiconductor production and research. However, speakers did not exclusively zoom in on those ideas at Wednesday's event.
Instead, individuals like Mujeeb Ijaz, the founder of Our Next Energy – a Novi-headquartered battery technologies company – approached the podium to discuss an upcoming summertime initiative for high school juniors and seniors.
Ijaz said the program, which has not been launched yet, will introduce teenagers to apprenticeship and direct workforce opportunities. It will involve partnerships with academic institutions, industrial companies and the State of Michigan itself.
Overall, Ijaz's remarks were part of a more exhaustive conversation on what Michigan might need to improve its attractiveness, from developing an impassioned and trained workforce to beautifying communities.
"In many of the conversations I've had with leaders in business, both big and small, I hear often about the things that can make Michigan a 'Top 10 State' in business attraction. But the thing I hear the most is talent, talent, talent…' We must invest in the talent here in our state," Hoskins said. "The 'talent' has made clear what they want. They want jobs to provide a living wage and get benefits. They want to live and work in vibrant communities. They want bustling main streets and affordable housing to live in."
With the three pillars of the Democrats' "Make It In Michigan" strategy being "Projects, People and Places," Whitmer described the aforementioned goals for property revitalization and attracting federal investment as addressing the initial "Projects" step.
As for how much money the Democratic trifecta in Michigan is willing to spend on the strategy, the Governor said "We're still negotiating. We're obviously working on the budget right now as we speak, and precisely what the size is . . . we're still talking about it."
Less than a month earlier, the Citizens Research Council (CRC) of Michigan and the Ann Arbor-based Altarum Institute released a report on how, from 2020 to 2050, the population of residents 65 years-old and over is projected to grow by 30% and that of those 25 to 64 years-old – the "prime working" age – is anticipated to bud by 2%.
Ultimately, the study calculated that from 2045 to 2050, starting around 22 years from now, there will be 45,000 more deaths than births and 83,000 fewer Americans moving to Michigan from out-of-state.
In a Wednesday morning interview with MIRS, McMorrow referred to Michigan's population challenges as "what I've been screaming into the void since taking office as somebody who is not a native Michigander."
"I've lived in five states. I chose this place because of everything it has to offer. I think when I first moved here, I noticed there are more people with bumper stickers related to Michigan, who live in Michigan, than (for) any other state I've ever lived in," she said. "We're also at a really unique moment where there's a lot of other states phishing people out, whether it's the LGBTQ community, whether it's women's rights . . . we can say to everybody: 'If your state is ostracizing you, Michigan is welcoming you with opened arms.'"
However, when asked how long she believes it will take to fix Michigan's population problem, McMorrow said that just as the issue did not develop overnight, neither will the solution.
She said the state will likely still see a few years of population decline before encountering an uptick.
"This is one of the challenges I think we've seen with term limits and the way the Legislature works, is there hasn't been an incentive or reason to think long-term about these things," she said. "We're kind of starting really big and figuring out what that looks like in legislation."
During the Wednesday afternoon press conference, Whitmer highlighted the December 2021 creation of the Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve (SOAR) Fund for luring large-scale corporate developments with performance-based incentives.
The fund, with awards needing approval from both the House and Senate Appropriations Committees before being distributed, was established with an initial appropriation of $1 billion from excess General Fund revenue.
It aims to support projects related to semiconductors, clean technology and mobility, among other fields still being considered by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.
Whitmer mentioned that Michigan has won more than $16 billion in projects and more than 16,000 good-paying job creations since the enactment of the bipartisan legislation. Meanwhile, McMorrow was asked Wednesday morning if corporate incentives are a waste of money if they are not linked to population growth.
"I'm not concerned about them being a waste," McMorrow said. "What I want to help us do in my role is figure out what our long-term strategy looks like? Setting aside the CHIPS Act and recognizing once that window goes away, what are we investing in? How are we learning from states who are doing economic development in a more holistic way?"
