Michigan Chamber Of Commerce Optimistic About 2019

With a new governor, attorney general and Michigan House and Senate set to take office in the new year, the Michigan Chamber of Commerce is optimistic for 2019. Chamber president & CEO Rich Studley says they’re glad it won’t be an election year.

“As we look at what many of the candidates who were successful in their campaigns talked about, there’s been a lot of discussion about working together on talent, both attraction and retention,” said Studley. “Thee’s been a lot of discussion about workforce development, especially making sure that high school graduates who don’t want to go on to college are ready to enter the world of work.”

Studley says since Democrat Gretchen Whitmer was elected governor on the promise to “fix the damn roads,” he hopes she and the Legislature will work to do that in the first part of the year. He supports a tunnel for Enbridge Energy’s Line 5 in the Straits of Mackinac although Whitmer does not and says he believes the utility corridor is better than doing nothing and a safer option.