Sen. Roger Hauck, R-Mt. Pleasant, issued the following statement on Thursday after the Senate voted to send legislation to preserve the state’s tip credit and reforms to the paid sick leave law to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for her signature:

“This isn’t a fairy-tale deal where everyone got exactly what they wanted, but this is a workable solution and far better than what was going to take place if the Legislature chose to do nothing.

“Our hospitality industry and countless small businesses would have faced devastating consequences had the Legislature not acted. Business owners and workers from across the state made clear what these extreme new mandates would have meant for them: In the best-case scenario, many servers would have taken a pay cut and businesses would have had to lay people off. The worst-case scenario was countless businesses closing their doors for good. 

“I am happy we were able to negotiate a deal — though waiting until the last second is far from an effective or preferred way to legislate. My Republican colleagues and I pushed for Democratic leadership to take this issue seriously for months, to no avail, but were ultimately able to lead negotiations and force a deal to be put on the table. 

“In the end, we were able to get it done and send a bipartisan agreement to the governor’s desk, where I hope to see it signed into law this evening to avoid the looming economic disaster.”