Abortion
Marriage & Families
Taxes
Balanced Budget
Small Business
Farming
Senior Citizens
Second Amendment
Education
Road Maintainence
Death Penalty
Gay Marriage vs. Civil Unions

Abortion

Opposes:Abortion
 

Marriage and the Family

Supports: Protecting Marriage and Families
 

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Taxes

Opposes: Any Tax Rate Increase
 

• As Chair of House Tax Policy Committee stopped Governor Granholm's $120 million tax increase package in 2003.
   
• Voted twice against pausing the income tax rate rollback.
   
• Voted against the cigarette tax increase.
   
• Voted against the "Death Tax".
   
• Introduced Public Act 126 which gives single business tax credit to start up companies.
   
• Sponsored House Bill House Bill 5959 which creates a sales tax for certain motion picture production companies who make films in Michigan; one bill in a 4 bill package.
   
• Sponsored House Bill 6036 which will clarify the exemption on property owned by a charitable organization for conservation purposes and open to the general public for recreational use.
   
• Co-sponsored PA 5 of 2003 which allows for tax abatements for bio-diesel fuel manufacturing plants.
   
• Supported House Bill 4308 which requires refund for people who had car insurance at time they were fined for not being able to produce proof of insurance.
   
• Supported House Bill 4308 which would have repealed "driver responsibility fees".
   
• Opposed amendment to House Bill 4458 that would tie-bar earmarking liquor tax increase.
   
• Voted 7 times to oppose groundwater discharge permit fees including amendments aimed at businesses, agriculture, municipalities, and schools.
   
• Opposed House Bill 4865 the liquor tax increase.
   
• Supported Senate Bill 589 which would have reduced the nursing home and hospital bed tax.
   
• Supported House Bill 4649 which creates a property tax exemption on additions to homes.
   
• Supported both House Bills 4525 and 4261 which would create an income tax credit for teachers who buy school supplies with their own money.
   
• Supported House Bill 4439 which would cut the cell phone 9-1-1 tax from $0.52 per month to $0.29 per month per phone.
   
• Supported House Bill 4008 which allows special assessments for police and fire assessments to be included in calculation for the state Homestead Property Tax Credit.
  
   
• In the last 18 months with Representative Wenke as Chair of the Tax Policy Committee, the Committee has reported net tax cuts of approximately $150-250 million.
  
   
• "The state must live within its budget. This means we will not raise taxes to pay for budget shortfalls. Creating the budget is a long process that requires compromise, but our commitment not to raise taxes is concrete." Lorence Wenke, June 2003
   

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Balance Budget

Supports: A Balanced State Budget
 

• Supports cuts to non-essential services.
   
• Supports cuts before raising taxes.
   
• Sponsored HR 177 of 2003 - A resolution to memorialize the Congress of the United States to adopt and submit to the states for ratification a proposed amendment to the Constitution of the United States to require a federal balanced budget.
  
   
• During the 18 months Representative Wenke has been in office, the House has approved spending cuts of about 5%.
  
   
• During the prior four years, the House approved spending increases by 11.4%. This was accomplished, in part, by raiding the rainy day fund by over $800 million and borrowing over $200 million.
  
   
• "Talking about tax increases, like extending the sales tax to services, needs to be part of our debate in Lansing because the general public needs to understand the trade-offs that we are faced with here. I prefer cutting the budget to raising taxes, but if people don't hear the proposed tax increases debated, they will not understand why cutting government services is a preferred alternative. It's either raise taxes or cut spending, and the public deserves to hear a vigorous debate on both." Lorence Wenke, Spring 2004
  
   

Small Businesses

Supports: Help for Local Communities and Businesses
 

• Helped secure $10 million grant for Kalamazoo.
   
• Sponsored Public Act 122 of 2003 which will allow counties to create revolving funds to make loans to business for economic development. (His predecessor tried unsuccessfully for two terms to get this bill enacted. It took Rep. Wenke 7 months).
   
• Supported the package of bills aimed at eliminating "red tape" regulations and requirements on business activities.
   
• Introduced Public Act 126 which gives single business tax credit to start up companies.
   
• Sponsored House Bills 5823 and 5824 which will give property tax breaks to companies in the Bioscience Research and Commercialization Center at Western Michigan University.
   
• Sponsored House Bill 5492 which will allow Brook Lodge to purchase a Class B liquor license.
   
• Sponsored House Bill 5743 which would require an audit of state laboratories who analysis samples from suspected polluted sites to ensure that the state labs are as efficient as private labs.
   
• Sponsored House Bill 5298 which will increase annual sales tax exempt sales for non-profits from $5000 to $7500.
   
• Sponsored House Bill 5304 which will increase the Single Business Tax Apprenticeship Credit from $2000 to $3000.
   
• Supported House Bill 4472 which would create property tax abatements for Pfizer.
   
• Supported House Bill 4454 which would create Michigan Economic Growth Authority subsidies for Pfizer.
   
• Created the Wheels to Work Tax Incentive Package. The "Wheels-to-Work" program operated by Goodwill Industries takes donated vehicles and reconditions and repairs them to be sold at a below market value price. The vehicles are then provided to clients of the state Family Independence Agency whose financial status and lack of transportation creates a serious barrier to employment.
  
   

Farming

Supports: Farmers
 

• Co-sponsored Public Act 5 of 2003 which created tax abatements for bio-diesel fuel manufacturing plants.
   
• Co-sponsored House Bill 5030 which would create "Agricultural Security Areas".
   
• Co-sponsored House Bill which would add equine and cervidae as livestock in property tax definition of farming.
   
• Supported streamlining state permit process and license processing for a host of permits and licenses required by people in various agricultural related businesses.
   
• Supported House Bill 4310 which would prohibit disclosure under FOIA of reporters of violation by grain dealers.
   
• Supported House Bill 4311 which would establish new state farm produce insurance authority to provide insurance against losses from failure of grain dealers.
   
• Support Senate Bill 1014 which would increase the amount that can be spent annually on administrative expenses in the Agricultural Preservation Fund.
   
• Supported House Bill 4702 which would require that property tax assessments for agricultural land is based only on previous year sale prices on comparable sales on agricultural land which have affidavits that the land would stay in agriculture.
   
• Supported creating 10 additional agricultural renaissance zones.
   

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Senior Citizens

Supports: Assistance to Seniors
 

• Co-sponsored Public Act 3 of 2003 which requires a state developed informational pamphlet on nursing homes to be available to the public.
   
• Co-sponsored Public Act 214 of 2003 which protects public utilities' appliance repair service programs.
   
• Co-sponsored House Bill 4862 which would create an income credit for in-home long term care of family members.
   
• Co-sponsored House Bill 4890 which would exempt seniors from county real estate transfer tax.
   
• Co-sponsored House Bill 4891 which would exempt seniors from state real estate transfer tax.
   
• Supported House Bill 4670 which would allow deductions for small business and farm expenses to determine eligibility in Elder Prescription Insurance Coverage (EPIC) program.
   
• Supported House Bill 4179 - Supports refund $25 Elder Prescription Insurance Coverage (EPIC) program application fee to low income seniors.
   
• Supported House Bill 5104 which would have made it a felony of first degree for the murder of a "vulnerable adult".
   
• Supported House Bill 4260 which expands the penalties for a person who defrauds a "vulnerable adult".
   
• Supported House Bill 5795 which would provide for increased adult foster care home disclosures.
   
• Supported House Bill 4512 which would create a $1500 income tax exemption for providing primary care to a parent who is a senior citizen.
   
• Supported House Bill 4292 which creates an income tax deduction for Long Term Care insurance premiums.
  
   

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Second Amendment

Supports: Second Amendment Rights
 

• THE ONLY CANDIDATE ENDORSED BY THE MICHIGAN COALITION OF RESPONSIBLE GUN OWNERS.
   
• Opposed the Department of Natural Resources from restricted concealed pistols on state land by people with concealed weapons permits.
  
   

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Education

Supports: K-12 School Funding
 

• Voted for House Bill 5606 that strengthened high school requirements for graduation.
   
• Introduced a bill that allows high school students to continue to receive credit for certain career and technical education courses while enrolled in high school. His bill became law in March, 2006.
   
• Supports maintaining the current system of state funding of schools.
   
• Supported efforts to undo the reductions to the foundation grant ordered by Governor Granholm.
   
• Co-sponsored House Bill 5929 to protect Proposal A and close a loophole that would allow local schools to increase property taxes beyond Proposal A's 24 million cap.
   
• Opposed amendment to stretch out MERIT awards to 4 years.
  
  
   

• Supported protecting the Michigan Merit Scholarship Award.
   
• Supported protecting funding for our public universities in exchange for the tuition pledge.
   
• Supported Senate Bills 625 and 628 allowing for state financial aid to students seeking divinity degrees.
  
   

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Road Maintenance

Supports: Road Maintenance and Accessibility
 

• Opposes closing I-94 while it is being repaired.
   
• Supports increases in funding to repair roads.
  
   

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Death Penalty

Supports: Death Penalty
 

• Voted for HJR W - the death penalty resolution.

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Gay Marriage vs. Civil Unions

Gay Marriage vs. Civil Unions

I do not support gay marriage. I do not believe the word “marriage” should be applied to same-sex couples.

I also do not believe that we should deny people benefits they already receive through private and public sector negotiations. I believe that there should be a creation and recognition of a legal arrangement between same-sex couples so that businesses choosing to extend benefits to domestic partners have a legal basis for determining who receives those benefits such as health insurance, medical decisions, and property settlements.

I think that the Michigan marriage protection amendment, as it was presented to the state legislature, created a discriminatory environment by stating “no other relationship shall be recognized as marriage or its legal equivalent…”

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