Notre Dame grad says public service was a family affair.
Curtis Hertel, Jr., a 1996 alum of Notre Dame and a Michigan state senator representing the 23rd district in the Lansing and Ingham County area, cast one of the 21 affirmative votes yesterday on Senate Bill 710, which will overhaul Detroit’s school district debt and governance.
On a 21-16 vote, the bill, which was sponsored by Sen. Goeff Hansen (Hart) and backed by both Gov. Rick Snyder and Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, now goes to the state house where passage may be more problematic, according to Lansing insiders.
Hertel, whose brothers Matt (’99) and Kevin (’03) also graduated from Notre Dame, was first elected to the state senate in 2014 after serving as Ingham County register of deeds from 2009.
He said his experience as register of deeds was marked by hard work on informing the public about the dangers of property and mortgage fraud. He said he continues to battle the foreclosure crisis in the state senate by educating residents about their options, and the types of government help available to them.
“I was raised in a family where we learned at an early age, that public service is a calling and honor,” he said.
It is likely that when Hertel was growing up, he never had any other career aspirations outside of public service. His father, Curtis Hertel, Sr., who passed away on March 27, 2016, was at one time Michigan’s speaker of the house, and uncles Dennis and John also served in state legislative seats as well as in a number of state and county posts and commissions.
Moving important legislation
Now, as a public servant himself, Curtis Hertel, Jr., has been heavily involved with legislation ranging from funding for helping fire fighters pay for cancer treatments to setting up a program for “early-on” assessments of all Flint children from 0 to 3 years old in the wake of the water crisis in that city.
“We put enough funding in there for an assessment for every child,” said Hertel, who proposed a successful amendment to a $28-million supplemental spending bill to address the Flint water contamination crisis. The bill was introduced in late January. Hertel said at the time in a news account that more than 4,500 kids age 0-3 may have been exposed to lead-contaminated water in Flint.
“To me, that’s the most important thing we can do,” he said. “We’ll never know which of those kids were actually poisoned with lead, but we do know it has a significant neurological effect.”
In early March of this year, Hertel also introduced Senate Bill 840, which was legislation that would direct $3 million to the First Responder Presumed Coverage Fund and would direct state money to help fire fighters pay for cancer treatments
Although the original law to create the fund was signed by the governor in 2015, the Michigan senate never funded it and, as a result, it never went anywhere. Any fire fighters who developed cancer and thought they had coverage ended up with denied worker’s compensation claims.
“Back in 2014, the legislature made a promise to our fire fighters and failed to deliver,” Hertel said. “There’s no good reason why it’s taken this long to secure funding.”
At least eight fire fighters were diagnosed with cancer in the past year, one of whom died recently.
“Our fire fighters can’t wait any longer,” Hertel said. “These heroes and their families deserve action now.”
MSU grad has deep roots in Ingham County
Prior to serving as register of deeds in Ingham County, Hertel also served on the Ingham County Health Plan Board and co-chaired the Ingham County Census Board.
Previously, he served as an Ingham County commissioner from 2001-2008. On the commission, Hertel said he focused on expanding access to health care in the community through the Ingham Health Plan, improving the quality of Ingham County’s housing stock through his work on the Ingham County Land Bank Authority, and improving the lives of workers in the community by passing the living wage. While a commissioner, he also served as vice-chair of the Board of Human Services Committee.
For six years, Hertel also worked for the Department of Community Health and served as the department’s legislative liaison. In his role with that department, he was the lead on several packages of legislation including the Governor’s Childhood lead safety package, the Nursing Home background check package, and the Childhood Booster Seat package.
A graduate of Michigan State University’s James Madison College, Hertel lives in Meridian Township with his wife, Elizabeth, and four children: CJ, Nathan, Hailey and Jack.
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About Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy
Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy is a private, Catholic, independent, coeducational day school located in Oakland County. The school's upper division enrolls students in grades nine through twelve and has been named one of the nation's best 50 Catholic high schools (Acton Institute) four times since 2005. Notre Dame's middle and lower divisions enroll students in jr. kindergarten through grade eight. All three divisions are International Baccalaureate "World Schools." The Marist Fathers and Brothers sponsor NDPMA's Catholic identity and manages its educational program. Notre Dame is accredited by the National Association of Independent Schools, the Independent Schools Association of the Central States and the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement. For more on Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy, visit the school's home page at www.ndpma.org.