West Michigan Chamber Coalition gets update on Regional Policy Conference

Co-Chairs of September's West Michigan Regional Policy Conference in Grand Rapids, Doug DeVos, Amway President and Jim Dunlap, Regional Group President, Huntington Bank, along with Jared Rodriguez, Vice President Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce, presented a report on the Conference Directives to the West Michigan Chamber Coalition Boards of Directors at a meeting on November 11 on the campus of Grand Valley State University. They reported that the purpose of the conference was to provide a West Michigan voice, foster good public policy, align and focus efforts, accountablity and getting results.

The three main themes are: Economic Growth, Attraction and Retention of Businesses and Improvement of Government Functions.

The five important directives were:

• Eliminate the MBT with corresponding spending cuts
• Implement a right-to-work status for Michigan
• Increase funding for health care providers with effective prevention practices
• Streamline the permitting process within state government
• Update funding mechanizms for transportation infrastructure

Strategically working on these initiatives will take time and money. Discussion focused on how that will be formulated and a report will be given on the progress and success of efforts at the November, 2009 meeting.