Accomplishments
Gas Stations, Restaurants, Hotels and Campsites So common today is the sight of the blue logo signs near highway exit ramps that it’s hard to fathom driving without them. Michigan can thank GCSI for these motorists-friendly placards that notify drivers of nearby gas stations, restaurants, lodging and campgrounds. Nearly 90 percent of Michigan drivers endorse the logo signs, which earned statewide application in 1999 after aggressive GCSI lobbying.
Jobs Savior Hanging in the balance were 100 Michiganders’ jobs. They built plastic drainpipes. A bill sought to limit to concrete the materials that could be used for roadway drainage projects. Lawmakers were to vote on the bill within days. Anxious, the state’s two plastic drainpipe manufacturers hired GCSI to save their business. Artfully working both sides of the legislative aisle, GCSI amended the bill in the 11th hour to allow use of concrete or plastic drainpipes. Net result: Jobs saved.
Health-Care Crisis Averted Michigan’s acute shortage of nurses was pinching the Detroit Medical Center. GCSI mitigated this challenge for the sprawling health-care system by amending state law to allow qualified Canadian nurses to practice in Michigan and scoring a huge victory for patient care.
Federal Reserve Preserved The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago wanted to relocate its Detroit Office to an up-and-coming area of the city. But its tax bill stood to grow to $1.7 million a year at the new locale near Wayne State University, compared to $230,000 a year at the old site on Fort Street. GCSI engineered a win for both the bank and the city by changing Michigan tax law to give the bank an abatement that limits to $1 million its obligation to Detroit – an amount still nearly $800,000 more than the municipality had been receiving from the bank.
Dialing In A Fix For The Phone Company GCSI spearheaded the comprehensive rewrite of the Michigan Telecommunications Act on behalf of AT&T. It marked the fourth rewrite of this complex and highly technical law. The GCSI-led changes to the MTA are hailed across the nation as the most progressive and innovative in the telecommunications industry.
Protecting the Police State budget constraints threatened public safety by jeopardizing money to patrol Michigan’s secondary roads. Working with the Deputy Sheriff’s Association of Michigan, GCSI scored a victory for the motoring public by identifying a permanent revenue stream to ensure that these local patrols continue well into the future.
Saving An Endangered Species: The Detroit Zoo The Detroit Zoo faced the prospect of closing because of deep cuts in its budget. Consequently, real was the threat of job loss for hundreds of zoo employees, displacement for thousands of animals and deprivation of a wholesome family experience for millions of current and future Michigan residents. GCSI helped The Zoo – a premier cultural institution in Southeast Michigan – avert this outcome and keep its award-winning exhibits open to the public by securing a multimillion-dollar appropriation from the Michigan Legislature for the Detroit Zoological Society.
Cleaning Michigan Cities Blight was proliferating in some Michigan cities, such that scrap tire piles and the like had become the norm – not just an eyesore. Yet, citations for blight offenses were low priorities in a state court system already over-extended with weightier criminal concerns. GCSI addressed this challenge by working with its municipal clients and the Michigan Legislature to pass a law that allows cities to create Administrative Hearings Bureaus to directly enforce their blight ordinances. The law has sped up adjudication of blight offenses and, more importantly, helped to clean our cities.
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