State Rep. Jason Woolford (R-Howell) cast his first votes for bills in his legislative tenure, voting in favor of two pieces of legislation that will protect tip wages and return minimum wage and paid leave requirements for small businesses back to reasonable rates. The two bills, House Bills 4001 and 4002, were the very first two bills introduced by the newly Republican-led Michigan House.

“These bills address an urgent policy issue that the Democrat majority in the House last term neglected,” Woolford said. “Small business owners in Michigan and the millions of workers they employ have been overlooked, and their desperate protest of policies that could put them out of business have been ignored. That will no longer be the case under this Republican majority.”

The two bills would prevent laws that will gradually eliminate tip wages and institute burdensome paid leave and minimum wage mandates from going into effect next month. These laws are set to go into effect on February 21^st due to a Michigan Supreme Court decision last year that the legislature’s adopt-and-amend strategy to change legal language proposed through ballot initiatives is unconstitutional.

“The people of Michigan never voted for these policies, their elected representatives never voted for these policies, and the workers and business owners that will be most impacted by this change in law certainly never asked for these policies,” Woolford said. “In passing these bills today, my Republican colleagues and I have voted in favor of the will of the people. We are going to continue faithfully representing those in our communities relying on us to provide common sense policymaking.”

House Bills 4001 and 4002 now move to the Senate for consideration.