Company K sounds like an unbelievable group of heroes—that is not the issue. The issue is that I see the camel’s nose under the tent with this proposal. I see that on the other side of the aisle, there is a proposal to expand wider and wider the categories of people who could be honored with a road. I have voted every time for first responders who were killed in the line of duty; that’s always been my position. When I was in the House, there was a big follower of Louis Farrakhan who was honored, and I voted “no” and was attacked for that; that’s what I see happening if we get away from making it a first responder who died in the line of service. Everyone can agree to that. The minute that we get further afield from that, getting into all of these different special groups, not this one specifically—but I see what’s coming if we don’t limit it to just first responders who died in service. That’s why I’m voting “no.”
Senator Damoose asked and was granted unanimous consent to make a statement and moved that the statement be printed in the Journal.
The motion prevailed.
Senator Damoose’s statement is as follows:
Well, I am proud to support this bill again today, to honor the brave soldiers of Company K of the 1st Michigan Sharpshooters. This will be the third time we are passing this very language in this chamber, so I’m thankful for your perseverance, because this is an important cause. We first passed this exact bill as Senate Bill No. 30 in 2024. We passed it again earlier this year as Senate Bill No. 41. Who knows why it is now coming to us again as a House Bill, but we’re looking at the same thing for the third time. The point is, it doesn’t matter. This isn’t about us at all. The only people who deserve any credit here are not anyone whose name is on the bill, but the brave men of the Company K Sharpshooters who served valiantly in defense of the Union during the Civil War, and quite frankly, the leaders of Grand Traverse Bay Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, and especially Scott Schwander, a tribal member who has been fighting for this without fail, and a man who is so filled with gratitude for those who have served this country that he has personally restored more than 3,000 headstones of veterans throughout this state.
Company K was a group of Native American sharpshooters, assembled during the Civil War from various places throughout Michigan, but especially in the northern Michigan regions I represent. It was our own Michigan Legislature who rejected an idea in 1861 to recruit a regiment of Native Americans, simply because they were Native Americans. But when recruiting demands increased, and the Civil War intensified in 1863, our state changed its tune and authorized the effort. Keep in mind, the members of Company K joined the fight to free oppressed citizens while they themselves faced their own oppression. They, like the infamous USCT fighters—as they were called during the time, the United States Colored Troops—knew more about the struggle for freedom than practically anyone else in America because it was personal for them. They were fighting for their own freedom. This bill, like the versions previously passed, simply recognizes their service by renaming a highway in their honor in Leelanau County, an area filled with their descendants. It is important to note that in response to the politics that we have seen in Lansing this year, the tribe has actually determined that regardless of how we vote here, they are going to go ahead and rename the road themselves, where it runs through tribal lands, and put up their own sign. I love that. But I do believe as a state, it is important that we officially support their efforts and add our seal of approval to their efforts by passing this bill.
As such, once again, I ask you for your support for this group of dedicated patriots who have all too often been forgotten by American history.
The following bill was read a third time:
House Bill No. 4122, entitled
A bill to amend 2000 PA 92, entitled “Food law,” by amending sections 1105, 1111, and 4102 (MCL 289.1105, 289.1111, and 289.4102), section 1105 as amended by 2014 PA 516, section 1111 as amended by 2018 PA 92, and section 4102 as amended by 2012 PA 178.
The question being on the passage of the bill,
The bill was passed, a majority of the members serving voting therefor, as follows: