Latest news with #JeremyMoss
Yahoo
24-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
How Michigan law protects rights of LGBTQ+ community
LANSING, Mich. (WOOD) — When state Sen. Jeremy Moss introduced legislation to add protections for LGBTQ+ to the Michigan's civil rights law, it was personal. Moss, D-Southfield, is the first openly gay member of the Michigan Senate. The expanded protections were passed and signed into law in March 2023. 'Today, if a person is fired because they're gay or kicked out of a restaurant because they're trans(gender), they have a path to seek justice. They don't have to just deal with the discrimination and live in this shame and bigotry that the community has lived under for too long,' Moss said. GR Pride Center celebrates added LGBTQ protections Moss said the changes to the state's Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act were a long time coming. 'This was a fight from the very beginning of drafting our civil rights law in the early 1970s,' Moss said. 'Advocates and activists then knew that we had to put protections for LGBTQ Michiganders in the law, but we were excluded from the process.' He pointed out that the expanded protections was supported by many in the business community. 'When we put forward this proposal, I believed the moral reason was enough: We shouldn't discriminate against people. But the business community came out and said, 'This is something we support.' The Michigan Chamber of Commerce supported this. They have a conservative bent on how they see the economy, but on this issue, they said, 'We are being left behind by excluding people, by making people not feel welcome to do business in this state.' So the business community made the economic case that this is helpful for all Michiganders to ensure that everybody is protected by our civil rights law,' he said. With uncertainty about diversity, equality and inclusion programs under the Trump administration, Moss worries that not all voices will be heard — something he has experienced in his own life. 'For years and years and years, other people were talking about us (people in the LGBTQ community). Other people were making decisions about us and our futures and our prosperity and there were not LGBQT people at the table to have this conversation for a community that's impacted by these decisions,' he said. 'When other people make decisions about you and you're not a voice at the table, it impacts you disproportionately.' Despite what he called 'chaos coming from Washington,' Moss said there is an overarching layer of protection in Michigan. 'Elliott-Larsen is the law of our state,' he said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
CBS News
08-05-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
State Sen. Jeremy Moss announces candidacy for Michigan's 11th Congressional seat
Jeremy Moss of Oakland County, a Democrat, has announced his candidacy for Michigan's 11th Congressional seat in the 2026 election cycle. Michigan's 11th Congressional District covers part of Oakland County, including Farmington Hills and Pontiac. Haley Stevens of Birmingham, a Democrat, is the current representative; she has declared her candidacy for Michigan's U.S. Senate seat that will be open in 2026. "Jeremy's guiding principle is making government work for the people it serves because Michigan families get hurt when they're left out," his campaign website said. "In Congress, he'll push back against Donald Trump's reckless policies that are tanking our economy, fight Elon Musk's looming threats to Social Security and Medicare, and be unafraid to hold this administration accountable for defying the rule of law." Moss was raised and educated in Oakland County, graduating from Groves High School and attending Michigan State University. He was the youngest person elected to the Southfield City Council when he won an election in 2011. Moss was elected to the Michigan Legislature in 2025, holding leadership roles in both the state House and Senate. As President Pro Tem of the Senate, he worked on legislation that included abortion rights, labor rights and gun safety laws. "This is the leadership we need at this moment with Trump/Musk threats to Social Security, Medicare, the Department of Education, and much more," his website said. "In Washington, he'll work to make living more affordable and put money back in your pockets."
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Jeremy Moss announces candidacy for Congress, says Democrats need a ‘bold voice' in Trump era
State Sen. Jeremy Moss (D-Southfield) speaks after a Senate elections committee meeting on June 13, 2023. | Photo by Anna Gustafson State Sen. Jeremy Moss announced Thursday that he is running for an open Oakland County congressional seat. The Southfield Democrat is the first candidate to announce for the race after U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Birmingham) said last month she would be seeking Michigan's U.S. Senate seat next year, leaving the 11th Congressional District seat open. Moss, who serves as the Senate's speaker pro tem, is the first openly gay member of the Michigan Senate, having won election to that chamber in 2018, after serving two terms in the state House. He was also previously a member of the Southfield City Council. 'I represent hundreds of thousands of residents in this district who are looking for a bold voice for Oakland County in Congress,' Moss told Michigan Advance ahead of his announcement. 'I hear about their alarm and anguish about our democracy and about our economy and we're at a critical moment and it's going to call on a new generation of leaders to step up and take action and that's what I'm ready to do.' Moss says he has been disruptive force in politics from the start, which he believes is the type of leadership Democrats need to project against the Trump administration's attacks on civil liberties and American institutions. 'I'm not a status quo kind of guy. It was disruptive when I ran and was elected as the youngest ever member of the Southfield City Council, but it brought about new economic development and neighborhood growth to the city. It was disruptive when I ran to be the first out gay member of the Michigan Senate, but as a result, we enshrined LGBTQ protections in our state civil rights law, and it is disruptive now as I take on our institution and work to open up our records to public scrutiny and bring more transparency to state government,' Moss said. Moss has been a peristent advocate for expanding the state's Freedom of Information Act and also sponsored legislation that expanded the 1973 Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act to protect against discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation. More recently, Moss garnered headlines when he literally stared down state Rep. Josh Schriver (R-Oxford) at his own press conference after the Oakland County Republican introduced a resolution urging the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn its 2015 decision legalizing same-sex marriage. 'I walked into that room and looked at the seat right in front of the podium and thought, 'I'm going to sit right there as he's going to try to inflict harm upon my community. I'm going to make him say it right to my face and then he cowardly left without taking any questions,'' Moss said. He says he saw it as an opportunity to tell not just his side as a gay person, but also speak for those in the community who support their LGBTQ neighbors and family members and are tired of divisiveness and hatred in politics. 'We got such an overwhelming response to my office, not just from the district, but from across the state, and really across the country, of people telling me this is the way forward,' Moss said. 'So you know my feet and my heart led me into that room and it's just kind of intrinsic within me to keep the fight going and to stand up boldly in this moment.' Moss said that moment is one rife with concern over the state of the economy and just what Michigan's future will look like, especially with the Trump administration's erratic tariff policy. 'I don't think you could tell me what the tariff policy is today, because it changes every day. It depends on what the president tweets every morning that's created a lot of instability and economic anxiety, especially in our manufacturing economy here in the state of Michigan, so that is top of mind for folks in my district.' When asked if he had the resources to mount and win a congressional campaign in a battleground state like Michigan, Moss said he was ready for that challenge, but also believes that the 11th District, which spans central Oakland County and includes Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills, Farmington Hills, Pontiac, Royal Oak, and Troy, is much more progressive than it has been in the past, which he says is largely due to the rise of President Donald Trump's MAGA movement. 'Where people in this district, in Bloomfield and Birmingham and West Bloomfield, who may at one point in time traditionally have voted Republican could not sustain this continued attack on social issues driven by Donald Trump, so this district in this county has gone through a big shift over the last several years that I can stand boldly on my Democratic values and absolutely campaign on that record,' said Moss. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
18-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
It's time to pass FOIA reforms
Sens. Ed McBroom (R-Vulcan) and Jeremy Moss (D-Southfield) take questions from reporters following the passage of legislation to expand the state's Freedom of Information Act on Jan. 29, 2025. | Kyle Davidson It feels like our politics are more divided than ever. But if you listen closely to what residents on both the left and right are saying, there is a common theme: A demand for a more transparent and accountable government. Our legislation to strengthen the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in Michigan achieves just that. Through FOIA, the public can request the behind-the-scenes documents – emails, memos, agendas, schedules, and more – from their city or township hall, their school district, county officials, and state departments to better understand how the government decisions that impact them are made. Who did your mayor meet with? What did your school board members send to each other? Did the county follow through on the issue you brought up? Residents can find all of that out through FOIA. But shockingly, Michigan's law does not subject our governor and state legislators to those same record requests, thereby blocking the public from seeing the inner workings of our State Capitol Building. All 50 states have FOIA, but Michigan is nearly alone in the country with those outrageous and glaring exemptions for the executive and lawmakers. This contributes to why our state ranks worst in the country in government ethics. When state government officials operate in the dark, scandals in Lansing continue to persist. Nearly a decade ago, as representatives in the Michigan House – a Democrat from metro-Detroit and a Republican from the Upper Peninsula – we joined together to introduce legislation that finally includes the governor's office and legislature in Michigan's FOIA to bring sunshine to state government. Our bills passed in the House, but the Senate refused to take it up. Then we were both elected to the Senate, where we passed our legislation last year, but the House wouldn't move on it. This year, we introduced our legislation as the very first bills of the new session: Senate Bills 1 and 2. They passed overwhelmingly in January and were swiftly sent over to the House, where they currently sit. It's past time for the full legislature – Republicans and Democrats – to come together to act on these bills. The public should not have to wait any longer.
Yahoo
12-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Final talks underway on setting Michigan's new minimum wage and tipped wage standards
Michigan Capitol | Susan J. Demas Sweeping changes to Michigan's standards on minimum wage and sick leave policies are set to take effect in nine days and it has business owners, service workers and lawmakers at odds with one another. In 2018 lawmakers in the Republican-led legislature implemented changes to raise minimum wage to $15, phase out tipped wage credits and set mandatory sick leave policies that were being sought after by a ballot petition at the time. But after lawmakers adopted the changes, they amended them following the election, in a maneuver the Michigan Supreme Court in 2024 said was unconstitutional, ordering the changes in the petition to be put in effect on Feb. 21 this year. Servers and restaurant-owners in Michigan have railed for and against the changes set to take effect in a few days and both the state Senate and House have introduced bills to amend the impending changes. State Senators heard testimony in the Senate Regulatory Affairs Committee on Wednesday from service industry members on the Senate's version to change minimum wage and preserve tipped wages. The then-Republican led legislature violated the people of Michigan's constitutional right to petition in 2018 to set rules on sick leave and minimum wage, Senate Regulatory Affairs Committee Chair Sen. Jeremy Moss (D-Southfield) said during a committee meeting Wednesday. '…the impact of that controversial decision making has pitted employer against employee, worker against worker and Michigander against Michigander. Today, we have to rise above that,' Moss said. 'I will tell you that we will have people here today from the same industry, owners and servers alike, on opposite sides of this issue.' Under the Supreme Court ruling, which lawmakers have the opportunity to preempt, minimum wage is set to rise from $10.56 to $15 in 2028 and tipped wages will increase annually to equalize Michigan's minimum wage by 2031. Many restaurant owners and servers have told lawmakers that they like the current system that allows businesses to pay servers a tipped wage, currently 38% of minimum wage, saying that with tips, servers make much more than they would if they were minimum wage employees. At the same time, some stakeholders say raising the minimum wage for all and eliminating tipped wages would work to lift up all workers. The legislation for consideration by the committee, Senate Bill 8 would speed up the timeline to a $15 minimum wage by 2027 and not phase out tipped wages completely, raising tipped wage slowly to 60% of minimum wage over the next decade. The restaurant industry is still licking its wounds from economic losses it suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic, President of the Michigan Restaurant & Lodging Association Justin Winslow said. Having to increase wages and then increase menu prices to compensate could be just the thing that causes small businesses to have to shutter their doors. 'You will see job loss. You will see some of the smaller, some of the more on the edge restaurants right now move towards closure,' Winslow said. '40% of the industry in Michigan right now is not making a profit. There's a staggering number. That means two out of five restaurants are on the edge of closure, and that's not sustainable. This is the kind of policy that would push them over the edge.' Swaths of servers have come to the Michigan Capitol Building to plead with lawmakers, saying that if tipped wages go away, customers will stop tipping. Loss of tips is not a reality, people will still tip for great service, President of One Fair Wage Saru Jayaraman said. 'There is the fear mongering that the restaurant association engages in in every state… where workers try to get a raise, they say tips will go away. They say restaurants will shut down. They do it in every single state. They have captive audience meetings with their workers and tell them 'your tips are going to go',' Jayaraman said. 'We have good news for everybody in the room, for all of you, and for the state of Michigan, the seven states that have already done this and the many more that have followed in the last several years since the pandemic, are doing great.' There are a lot of concerns on what iteration of a new policy is the right one and how each policy will be implemented, but it's important to note that there is opportunity for bipartisanship that both works for business owners and employees, Stacey LaRouche, press secretary for Governor Gretchen Whitmer said on behalf of the governor in a statement. 'Governor Whitmer has long opposed the unconstitutional tactic Republicans used to undercut working families and discourage companies from providing sick leave to employees,' LaRouche said. 'The administration has heard concerns about implementation of the new law, and the governor has made it clear that she is open to a bipartisan deal that protects servers and wait staff, while also providing certainty to small businesses and helping Michigan remain competitive.' Furthermore, LaRouche said the governor called on leadership of the House and Senate to work towards a bipartisan deal and come to an agreement this week. If they can not come to an agreement, Whitmer is calling for the legislature to pass a short-term extension putting off the Supreme Court rules until July 1 to allow more time for negotiations. Before lawmakers adjourned for the day Wednesday, the committee cleared the Senate's sick leave policy out of committee without the support of any of the four Republican members and with Sen. Sylvia Santana (D-Detroit) passing on the vote. The Senate's plan, Senate Bill 15, would require businesses with more than 25 employees to offer employees 72 hours of paid sick time. And small businesses would have to permit employees to earn 40 hours of paid sick time, as well as 32 hours of unpaid leave. The Regulatory Affairs Committee will reconvene Thursday afternoon to consider the future of the minimum and tipped wage standards under Senate Bill 8. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
