Executive Directive 2020 - 01

Executive Directive

 

No. 2020-1

 

To:       State Department Directors and Autonomous Agency Heads

From:  Governor Gretchen Whitmer

Date:   February 25, 2020

Re:       Creating the Office of Future Mobility and Electrification

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Michigan has long been the hub of mobility. It is the birthplace and home of the American automotive industry and, for over 100 years, the economic fortunes of its businesses, communities, and families have been closely tied to that industry.

                                                   

Today, the automotive industry, and the mobility sector writ large, is undergoing a period of unprecedented change. The universe of mobility options is expanding, and how those options are designed, produced, owned, and used is transforming. The last ten years have seen more change in the way people and goods move than in the prior 100 years. The next ten years will see even more change.

 

Six trends are at the core of this transformation: autonomous driving; vehicle connectivity; powertrain electrification; shared mobility; intelligent automation; and global supply chain. Michigan’s future prosperity will be shaped by its ability to master these trends and keep pace with the change they are driving.

 

Michigan is well positioned to meet this challenge. Many states are competing for leadership in the mobility sector, but none can boast the assets that Michigan can: engineering talent in abundance; a deep manufacturing heritage; elite research universities; and the nation’s most extensive connected infrastructure.

 

To leverage these assets fully and secure Michigan’s position as a global leader in the future of mobility, the State must think creatively and act comprehensively. It must drive investment in Michigan’s mobility sector by establishing Michigan as the premier state to build, test, commercialize, and scale the technologies that are redefining the field. It must protect and strengthen Michigan’s auto manufacturing core, by bolstering its national competitiveness and marking a path for its evolution. It must encourage entrepreneurship and create an ecosystem that supports young companies as they start up and scale up. It must invest in new ways and at new scale in Michigan’s workforce, to develop and attract the skills and talent necessary to meet the changing demands of the mobility sector. And it

 

must expand Michigan’s global leadership in developing the systems and networks necessary for the deployment of connected infrastructure, autonomous technologies, shared transportation, and electric vehicles.

 

Achieving these goals will require a concerted, coordinated, and sustained effort across numerous departments and agencies of state government, as well as productive partnerships with stakeholders in the public and private sectors. The Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity (“Department”), with its focus on aligning and strengthening this state’s economic and workforce development activities, is well suited to spearhead and organize this critical work, to ensure it is carried out as fully and effectively as possible.

 

Acting under sections 1 and 8 of article 5 of the Michigan Constitution of 1963, I direct the following:

 

1. Under MCL 16.107, the Department must create the Michigan Office of Future Mobility and Electrification (“Office”). The Office must be responsible for convening and coordinating departments and agencies to develop and implement the State’s strategic plan to secure Michigan’s status as a global leader in autonomous, connected, electric, and shared future mobility. The Office must report regularly on its work to me and to the director of the Department.

 

2. The Department must designate a Chief Mobility Officer to serve as head of the Office.

 

3. All departments, agencies, committees, commissioners, and officers of this state must give to the Office, or to any member or representative of the Office, any necessary assistance required by the Office, or any member or representative of the Office, in the performance of the duties of the Office so far as is compatible with their duties and consistent with this directive and applicable law. Free access also must be given to any books, records, or documents in their custody relating to matters within the scope of inquiry, study, or review of the Office, consistent with applicable law.

 

This directive is effective immediately.

 

Thank you for your cooperation in implementing this directive.