This week, with 16 colleagues co-sponsoring, I introduced House Bill 6090, my bill to require candidates for public office in Michigan to disclose whether they hold citizenship in any country besides the United States. It is a transparency measure, plain and simple, and it is one the people of Michigan have every right to expect.

Here is what my bill does, in plain terms. Every candidate in Michigan — for federal, state, county, city, township, village, school district, and other offices — already signs an Affidavit of Identity when filing to run. HB 6090 amends Section 558 of the Michigan Election Law to add a few honest questions to that affidavit: if a candidate holds dual citizenship with the United States and one or more other countries, the candidate must list, for each country, the name of the country, how that citizenship was obtained, and whether that citizenship is currently active or inactive. The Secretary of State must then post two things on the state’s website within two business days — the candidate’s name and each country in which that candidate holds citizenship — so voters can see it before they cast a ballot. Because the affidavit is signed under oath, a false statement is perjury, carrying the penalties the law already imposes for lying on that form.

That is the whole bill. It does not disqualify a single person from running for office. It does not treat anyone as a second-class citizen. It simply puts the truth in front of the voters and lets them decide.

Now, I expect the most common question, and it is a fair one: if you are concerned about divided allegiance, why not simply bar dual citizens from holding office altogether? The honest answer is that, as the law stands today, such a ban would not survive a court challenge based on the 14th Amendment. For federal offices, the United States Constitution sets the qualifications — age, citizenship, and residency — and the Supreme Court has been clear that neither Congress nor the states may add new ones. For state and local offices, an outright ban on Americans who happen to hold a second citizenship would invite serious constitutional challenges of its own, because those individuals are full citizens of the United States. A ban would likely be struck down, accomplish nothing, and waste the people’s money defending it.

Disclosure is different. Disclosure does not take away anyone’s eligibility; it protects the voter’s right to know. That is precisely why it stands on solid legal ground where a ban would not. HB 6090 is the constitutionally sound step we can take right now, and it is a step in the right direction.

And Michigan, of all states, should take it. We sit on an international border. We are home to critical infrastructure, a defense and manufacturing base, and industries that matter to the security of the entire nation. When someone asks the people of this state to trust them with public power, the people deserve to know whether that person also holds the rights and obligations of citizenship in another country. This is not about suspicion of any individual. It is about transparency for those who seek to serve, and about treating voters as adults who can be trusted with the facts.

I will keep you updated as HB 6090 moves through the committee process.

Vote Record Update

Since my first day in office, I have upheld my promise to share with the public every single vote I make, with an explanation for each one. This is something done by only 8 of 110 Representatives in Michigan. Accountability can only be achieved when there is transparency.

Here is an update of all my most my votes and reasons from last week:

House Bill 5755: A Public Window Into State Agency Reports

YES — PASSED 96-9

HB 5755, sponsored by Rep. Aragona, amends the Management and Budget Act to require the Department of Technology, Management, and Budget to build and maintain a single public website where the reports state agencies are already required to send the Legislature are posted for anyone to read.

I voted yes because transparency is not a favor government does for the people; it is something the people are owed. These reports already exist and are already produced at taxpayer expense. Putting them in one place the public can actually find is a small price for a real gain in accountability, and openness is exactly the trait our unelected bureaucracies most often lack.

House Bills 5574, 5575, and 5576: Protecting First Responders

YES — PASSED 74-30 (HB 5574), 71-33 (HB 5575), 73-31 (HB 5576)

This three-bill package, sponsored by Reps. Alicia St. Germaine, Mike Harris, and Jay DeBoyer, creates a new criminal offense for willfully approaching and remaining within a short distance of a police officer, firefighter, corrections officer, or emergency medical responder — after a clear verbal warning — with the intent to interfere with, threaten, or harass them. HB 5574 establishes the offense, HB 5575 defines its terms, and HB 5576 sets the sentencing guidelines, with penalties that rise if a first responder is injured or killed.

I voted yes because the men and women who run toward danger so the rest of us can run away from it deserve the space to do their jobs and save lives. This protection is narrowly aimed at those who intend to interfere after being warned; it does not stop any bystander from peacefully watching or recording. Protecting the people who protect us is one of the most basic duties of government.

House Bills 5815 and 5816: Ending Automatic Deference to the Bureaucracy

YES — PASSED 58-46 (both bills)

HB 5815 (Rep. Wozniak) and HB 5816 (Rep. Meerman) reform the Administrative Procedures Act so that when an agency’s rule is challenged, courts must use their own independent judgment about whether the agency stayed within the authority the Legislature actually gave it, rather than simply deferring to the agency’s own interpretation. Challenges in contested-case hearings would be reviewed fresh, from the start.

I voted yes because the same unelected officials who write a rule should not also be trusted as the final word on what that rule means. That arrangement lets the administrative state grow without check. Returning that judgment to neutral courts restores the proper balance and gives ordinary citizens a fair chance when they push back against an agency.

House Bills 5817 and 5818: Real Legislative Oversight of Agency Rules

YES — PASSED 57-47 (both bills)

HB 5817 (Rep. Aragona) and HB 5818 (Rep. Schuette) replace the long-weakened Joint Committee on Administrative Rules with a new Joint Committee on Regulatory Oversight and Administrative Review, allow the Legislature to approve the most significant proposed rules by resolution, and require rules to expire five years after they take effect unless renewed.

I voted yes because for decades the Legislature’s check on the bureaucracy has been little more than a rubber stamp, and the agencies have grown more powerful because of it. Rules made by people the voters cannot remove should face regular review by people the voters can. Sorting major rules from minor ones makes sure the heaviest scrutiny falls on the rules that affect people’s lives the most.

House Bills 5510 and 5511: Common-Sense Flexibility on Child-Support Sentencing

YES — PASSED 102-3 (HB 5510), 103-2 (HB 5511)

HB 5510 (Rep. St. Germaine) and HB 5511 (Rep. Edwards) adjust how courts may use probation and delayed sentencing when a parent is convicted of the felony of failing to pay child support.

I voted yes because a parent who is locked up cannot earn a paycheck, and a parent who cannot earn cannot support his children. The goal here is to get families supported, not to fill a jail cell. Giving courts more room to keep a willing but struggling parent working — so he can actually meet his obligations — serves the child far better than a sentence that guarantees no one is paid.

House Bill 5472: Cutting Redundant Red Tape on Out-of-State Shipments

YES — PASSED 70-35

HB 5472 (Rep. Aragona) allows a required tax label on tobacco products being shipped out of state to be placed on the largest unit of packaging — such as a shrink-wrapped pallet — instead of on every individual item.

I voted yes because this is exactly the kind of needless, repetitive regulation that adds real cost without adding any value. The product is leaving Michigan; labeling every single unit by hand serves no purpose except to drive up the cost of doing business here. Trimming pointless paperwork is a simple way to make our state a better place to operate.

House Bills 5932, 5933, 5934, and 5935: A Workable Building-Permit Process

YES — PASSED 86-19 (HB 5932), 79-26 (HB 5933), 75-30 (HB 5934), 81-24 (HB 5935)

This package, sponsored by Reps. Robinson, DeBoer, Schmaltz, and Schuette, establishes a clear process for modifying a building permit after it has been issued, gives the state a deadline to require changes to an application, requires permit fees to be refunded when the state misses its own deadline to issue or deny a permit, and tightens notice requirements.

I voted yes because builders and property owners should not have their projects — and their money — held hostage by an open-ended permitting process. Deadlines that cut both ways, with a refund when government fails to meet them, are fair. If we want homes built and businesses opened in Michigan, the path to a permit has to be predictable.

Senate Bills 240 and 241: Orderly Transitions for Local Officials

YES — PASSED 105-0 (both bills)

SB 240 and SB 241 (Sen. Moss) set a uniform standard so that newly elected township, village, and city officials are not sworn in before noon on December 1 — after election results are officially certified. This cleans up a timing problem created by the canvass schedule under the 2022 ballot proposal.

I voted yes because no one should take the oath of an office before the results that put them there are final. A single, clear standard gives every community a smooth and orderly handoff of power, which is how self-government is supposed to work. Both bills passed unanimously.

House Bills 5819, 5820, and 5821: Getting Michigan Kids Reading

YES — PASSED 56-50 (HB 5819), 56-50 (HB 5820), 61-45 (HB 5821)

This package, sponsored by Reps. Schmaltz, Greene, and Linting, moves up the timeline for putting proven, “science of reading” instruction — the phonics-based approach to teaching children to read — into Michigan classrooms and teacher-preparation programs beginning in the 2026–27 school year, and directs schools to use reading curricula grounded in that method.

I voted yes because reading is the foundation of every other subject and of a free, self-governing people, and far too many Michigan children still cannot read at grade level after years of failed fads. The science of reading is exactly that — proven. Our duty to these children is to teach them the fundamentals well, and without further delay. Every year we wait is another class of students we have failed.

House Bills 5570 and 5571: Cutting Red Tape on Building Design

YES — PASSED 97-9 (HB 5570), 81-25 (HB 5571)

HB 5570 (Rep. Fairbairn) and HB 5571 (Rep. Wooden) update the state construction code to allow a single interior exit stairway in certain smaller multi-story buildings that today are required to have two.

I voted yes because requirements like these add significant cost to housing and development without a corresponding gain in safety in the buildings they cover. Sensible building codes protect people; excessive ones simply price families out of new housing. This is a measured step toward making it more affordable to build in Michigan.

Senate Bill 301: Rewarding the Gift of Life

YES — PASSED 98-8

SB 301 (Sen. Bellino) creates a tax credit for employers who provide paid leave to an employee who donates an organ.

I voted yes because organ donation is one of the most profound acts of generosity a person can offer — quite literally giving part of yourself so that another may live. Encouraging employers to stand behind workers who make that sacrifice, and doing it through tax relief rather than a government mandate, honors the dignity of life and the spirit of giving. This is the right way to support a culture of life: by lifting up those who choose to give, not by forcing anyone’s hand.

House Bill 5123: Redefining “Video Service”

NO — PASSED 75-31

HB 5123 (Rep. Harris) rewrites the definition of “video service” in the Uniform Video Services Local Franchise Act so that satellite and streaming providers are not treated as franchise-fee payers.

I voted no. While I have no interest in seeing new fees fall on Michigan families, this bill settles a genuine question by having Lansing reach down and rewrite the franchise arrangements that local communities depend on, with the chief beneficiaries being large national media corporations rather than the people of our towns. Decisions about local rights-of-way, and the revenue tied to them, belong as close to the community as possible. I was not persuaded this was the right way, or the right level of government, to settle the matter.

House Bill 5124: New Reporting Requirements on Video Providers

NO — PASSED 83-23

HB 5124 (Rep. Snyder) adds new reporting requirements to the Uniform Video Services Local Franchise Act.

I voted no because these providers are already regulated by the Michigan Public Service Commission and already pay franchise fees. Layering on additional reporting mandates adds cost and paperwork without a clear benefit to the public. When government already has oversight in place, the answer is rarely to pile more requirements on top.

House Bill 5995: Keeping Camera Tickets Off Your Driving Record

YES — PASSED 106-0

HB 5995 (Rep. DeBoyer) specifies that a violation caught by a camera-based or automated speed-enforcement system does not put points on a driver’s license.

I voted yes because the steady spread of automated surveillance deserves a hard, skeptical look. A machine snapping a photo is not the same as an officer making a judgment on the scene, and a citizen should not carry license points — with all the insurance and livelihood consequences that follow — from an automated system. Keeping these violations off the driving record is one sensible limit on the reach of surveillance technology. This bill passed unanimously.