State Rep. Mike Hoadley today said plans Democrats are slated to push for in the coming months will increase costs for consumers, small business owners and families while putting more big government principles into people’s lives.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Democrat leaders went through several initiatives on Wednesday that ramp up regulation and don’t address problems and priorities many people across the state feel are more pressing – like lower taxes, safer communities and better local infrastructure.

Hoadley took issue with several of the plans:

A push for unsustainable paid leave plans. Whitmer encouraged the need for more paid leave for employees without offering specifics. Bills currently in the Legislature would require private workers and employers in Michigan to fund a new program which offers up to 15 weeks of paid leave every year. The program, patterned after Michigan’s broken, fraud-riddled unemployment system, would be paid for by a new tax composed partly of money taken directly from workers’ paychecks. The policy would also cost small businesses, who serve as the backbone of Michigan’s local and state economies, millions of dollars. This would result in lower wages for workers and higher prices for consumers to offset costs.

“This will leave Michiganders with smaller paychecks,” Hoadley said. “That’s not acceptable, especially at a time when the cost of living is extremely high through historic inflation. This tone-deaf pay cut agenda is a classic example of a bureaucratic state dictating what individuals can and can’t do with money they earn.”

Green energy mandates and timelines. Whitmer spoke in her address on the need to move to carbon-free electricity production on a tight timeline. Proposals in the Legislature will mandate a carbon-free standard in Michigan by 2035 – even as energy rates are already higher than in neighboring states.

“Energy costs will skyrocket even more with this move and further lower our standard of living,” Hoadley said. “Without the sustainable, reliable, fossil fuel-powered grid to produce our energy, Michigan will rely further on foreign entities, such as the Chinese Communist Party, who produce the materials needed to carry out this radical agenda.”

The proposed carbon-free standard works hand-in-hand with potential legislation that would shift the power to permit major solar projects from municipalities to state government – a move that ignores local voices, diminishes the roles of local elected officials and threatens valuable Michigan farmland.

Going beyond the passage of Proposal 3. Hoadley also criticized the governor for pushing legislation to repeal what she referred to as politically motivated and medically unnecessary restrictions on abortion. Hoadley said the speech is part of a continued attempt to use Proposal 3 – a ballot initiative that was billed as a restoration of Roe v. Wade – to limit or end parental consent involving reproductive health, repeal the ban on Medicaid-funded abortions, and repeal the ban on health plans under the Affordable Care Act covering abortions.

“What the governor has proposed is frankly dangerous and goes farther than Roe ever did and beyond the intent of Prop 3,” Hoadley said. “These medically necessary restrictions are currently in place protect women. The governor continues to push a radical shift toward making Michigan the most pro-abortion state in the country. Gov. Whitmer has lost touch with the hard-working people in our state who do not support radical agendas and don’t want to foot the bill for big government spending. These measures are not the future Michigan should be striving for.”