For Immediate Release Contact: Amber McCann (Shirkey) April 7, 2020 248-703-5191 Melanie Rhine (Horn) 989-992-5380

Shirkey and Horn announce Safe Behavior for Safe Workplaces Senate workgroup

LANSING—Senate Majority Leader , R-Clarklake, and Sen. Ken Horn, R-Frankenmuth, on Tuesday announced the formation of the “Safe Behavior for Safe Workplaces” Senate workgroup. “For the past few weeks, the Senate Republicans have been working on ways to support workers and families since our Governor issued her ‘Stay Home, Stay Safe’ Order.

Our willingness to embrace handwashing, social distancing, and the use of masks is the key to transitioning back to a more typical daily life. We believe citizens who can maintain these behaviors within their homes can also maintain strict health and safety measures in the workplace.

Today, we are announcing a workgroup that will begin the process of developing a plan to transition Safe Behavior to Safe Workplaces,” said Shirkey.

The Senate bipartisan workgroup will be led by Sen. Ken Horn, R-Frankenmuth, and will include Sen. , R-Traverse City; Sen. Curt VanderWall, R-Ludington; Sen. , D-; Sen. , D-Detroit; and Sen. , D-Southfield.

Sen. Ken Horn agreed with the importance of getting people back to work so long as proper social distancing measures can be met.

“ families, especially those who own a small business have been forced to make some incredibly difficult decisions during the last few weeks,” said Horn. “Businesses across the state will be feeling the negative effects of the mandatory closures for months to come. As soon as we can safely do so, we need to get people back to work and get our economy back on track.”

“There are tremendous financial and psychological impacts to people from being out of work. Without the option to maintain employment, many of our citizens will experience extreme mental stress and that in turn can manifest itself as physical ailments, a weakened immune system, and tense domestic environments. The more prepared we are to bring workplaces back online, the quicker we can return financial stability, reduce stress levels and provide hope for our citizens,” said Shirkey.

The workgroup will gather information from businesses, medical professionals, and citizens across Michigan to create recommendations for best practices in the workplace in preparation for the transition back to work. “Our goal is to have recommendations to the Governor by April 17. This is an aggressive goal, but we feel it is important to have solid recommendations in place to be ready when the risk level in our state decreases,” said Shirkey.

The workgroup will utilize various communication tools to interact with businesses, citizens, and members of the medical community, remotely.