By K.D. Norris
The Michigan House of Representatives and Senate are both at work tackling reform of the state’s no-fault auto insurance law, but there are no quick fixes or easy solutions local legislators said at the October’s Wyoming-Kentwood Chamber of Commerce’s monthly Government Matters meetings.
The monthly meeting brings together government leaders of all levels to discuss issues of importance and presents those discussions through WKTV’s live, delayed and on-demand broadcasts.
At the Monday, Oct. 9, meeting at Kentwood City Hall, state representatives Tommy Brann and Steve Johnson, and state senators Tonya Schuitmaker and Peter MacGregor, each discussed the issue as part of a session that included a local insurance businessperson addressing the government panel.
“I have been working on this issue since 2011,” MacGregor said. “It doesn’t seem like it is complicated, but it is … it is a battle.”
Among the competing interests in any overhaul of the current auto insurance system, which has produced some of the highest rates in the country, are not only the cost to the average insurance customer but also the sometimes conflicting interests of insurance companies, medical providers and trial lawyers. And the problem what to do with uninsured, unlicensed motorists hangs over the reform efforts as well.
At times, the issue seems almost too big to handle in a single act of reform, but, MacGregor pointed out: “Maybe we eat this elephant one bite at a time.”
Among the other multi-level government discussions topics at the meeting were the the status of federal tax reform, the planned grand opening of the City of Wyoming’s 28 West development (set for later this month), and the Kent County and the State of Michigan’s emergency management plans.
The Chamber’s Government Matters meetings include representatives of the cities of Kentwood and Wyoming, Kent County, local Michigan House of Representatives and Senate, and, often, representatives of other regional, State of Michigan and Federal elected officials. The next meeting will be Nov. 13 at Kentwood City Hall.
The meetings are on the second Monday of each month, starting at 8 a.m. WKTV Journal will produce a highlight story after the meeting. But WKTV also offers replays of the Monday meetings on the following Wednesday at 7 p.m. on Cable Channel 25. Replays are also available online at WKTV’s government meetings on-demand page (wktv.viebit.com) and on the chamber’s Facebook page.
