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Lawmakers to return to Lansing with criminal justice changes at top of to-do list for state House

Criticalthinker at the English Wikipedia [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)]

The state Legislature plans to go back to its normal schedule this week.

Republicans in the state House plan to keep working on a budget and road funding plan they can agree on along with the Senate and Governor Gretchen Whitmer, but they’ve got other priorities too.

State House Republicans spokesman, Gideon D’Assandro, says the Agricultural committee will hold information sessions across the state to offer resources to farmers.

“This has obviously been a terrible year for Michigan’s farmers,” he said. “A lot of them have been washed out by the rain and are in a really tough spot.”

D’Assandro says criminal justice reform will also be at the top of the priorities list.

Representative Graham Filler (R-DeWitt) is chair of the House Judiciary committee. He says some fixes to the criminal justice system could have a major impact on the state.

“For a long time the discussion was lock them up and throw away the key and have we really seen positive results from that?” Filler said. “I don’t think anyone in the House or Senate would claim that we have.”

Filler said his committee will also likely vote on bills aimed at preventing doctors from abusing patients under the guise of medical treatment. Filler also said he wants to expand people’s ability to get certain crimes taken off their record.

The state Senate will be back on Wednesday and likely sticking to its regular schedule, with voting expected on Wednesday and Thursday. Its priorities are a roads plan and the budget.