Senator Roger Kahn recently offered his thoughts on a bill passed by the Michigan Legislature last year, providing for more flags flown by the state to be made in America.  The bill was signed into law by Governor Snyder on Flag Day. 

Late last year a bill I introduced was approved by the Senate and sent to the House. Known as the "American-Made American Flag Bill," is on the governor's desk as of this writing. What is this bill about and why is it important?  First, about 20 percent of flags sold in America come from overseas, mostly from China. Our flag is flown in front of public buildings, drapes caskets at military funerals and is placed on graves. You would think it would be automatic that flags given to grieving families or placed on the graves or caskets of our fallen servicemen and women would be American-made out of respect for those who gave this country their last full measure of devotion. I think it is insulting to give a grieving mother a flag with a tag saying, "Made in China." You would think that it would be automatic that our elected officials would insist that government buildings respect our people by flying American-made flags from all American governmental buildings. Unfortunately that is not the case. The state government is unsure where its divisions get their flags and has no policy on this issue. Cities, villages, townships and counties have no policy on this issue either. In fact, the representative of one of the above entities would not support my original bill, which included all levels of governance in our state. Why? It was viewed as an "unfunded mandate." That is why the current bill only applies to state buildings, and next year I will continue to fight to ensure the policy extends to all government buildings in our great state.