Michigan Legislative Updates

Government and Public Affairs Committee
MSA Newsletter Update

“Constantly move forward” was our mantra that the MSA GAPA Committee vowed to do.  HB5544 died in committee last year.  This means a new bill must be written and sponsored.  We discussed the necessity of hiring a lobbyist to help us in passing our bill for certification and mandatory education for STs working in the OR.  We have been meeting with Chris Kindsvatter, a lobbyist in Lansing.  He met with Ben Price from AST in Colorado last week.  I am happy to report that we have signed a contract with his lobby group.  Chris and his associates will be guiding us to achieve our goal of passing a bill.  John Stakoe agreed to continue to work with us as well.  GAPA committee members, Lynda Custer, Brenda Mae Chilcote, Jean Chester and I met with Chris last fall.  We reviewed the language of our new bill and a new meeting with Chris and John Stakoe is planned this February to finalize the details.

I look forward to having our bill written and sponsored.  Keep checking for updates as once this is done, MSA will be soliciting your help in the grass roots effort to pass legislation.  We will keep you updated on the MSA website. 

Sincerely yours,

Rebecca Pieknik, MS, CST, CSA, FAST 

MSA GAPA Chair