Michigan House of Representatives Committee on Economic Development and Small Business votes to pass package to update SOAR policy

LANSING, Mich. (WLUC) - A 10-year, multi-billion-dollar economic plan is now in consideration by the Michigan House of Representatives after the Committee on Economic Development and Small Business voted to pass it on Tuesday.

The Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve (SOAR) fund was originally intended to help fund large community projects and business incentives in Michigan. The new legislation would extend that funding to allow for long-term planning such as housing and transportation.

In response to the committee’s vote, Governor Whitmer said:

[Tuesday’s] progress on economic development delivers on our comprehensive vision to invest in people, uplift places, and win projects.

Since I took office, we have announced 38,000 new auto jobs and driven unemployment to historic lows. We have continued our focus on the kitchen-table issues while growing and diversifying our economy. Together, we will secure the future of electric cars, semiconductor chips, technology, and clean energy here in Michigan, while delivering historic and long-overdue investments in housing and transit to make our communities better places to live, work, and invest.

I am grateful to my partners in the Michigan House for their action today, and I look forward to reviewing this fiscally responsible economic development package when it reaches my desk.

Rep. David Prestin, R-108th State House District, said he’s against the economic plan. He said if the package becomes law, a committee of unelected bureaucrats would be in control of SOAR funds rather than a body of elected officials. He said he fears the U.P. could be forgotten with the new process.

“When I look at it with a realistic viewpoint, I look at it as a big wealth transfer from the rural areas of Michigan, which definitely includes all of us in the U.P., down to southeastern Michigan where the high population density zones are,” Prestin said. “Whenever you hear someone say they want to start a committee to take over the funding and the oversight of the funding of something that big, it’s because they want control. The legislature is a good control mechanism [because] everybody has to agree.”

The bills will need to be signed by the House before moving on to the Senate.