Before joining the Michigan House of Representatives in 2009, Dian Slavens worked as a respiratory therapist for more than 20 years, first at William Beaumont Hospital and later at Henry Ford Hospital. Her experience gave her a firsthand look at the damage that is done when people don’t have access to affordable health care.
As State Representative, Slavens is working to ensure that all Michigan residents – especially children and seniors – get the health care they need. Slavens, who serves on the House Health Policy Committee and Vice Chair of the House Senior Health, Security and Retirement Committee, has championed legislation that holds doctors and other health care professionals accountable when they engage in harmful and unethical medical practices and cracks down on elder abuse by strengthening consumer protections for seniors and increasing penalties for those who financially exploit, abuse or neglect them.
Slavens also is fighting for aggressive job creation strategies that take advantage of Michigan's manufacturing expertise and highly skilled workforce to help make the state a leader in advanced battery technology.
In April 2009, Slavens' first piece of legislation was signed into law expanding Michigan's first-in-the-nation advanced battery tax credits to $555 million. The ground-breaking legislation helped land more than $3 billion in investments committed by seven world-class companies that will create more than 6,600 Michigan jobs, as well as $1.36 billion in federal stimulus funding.
In addition, Slavens is working to make state government more efficient and accountable to residents through reform measures to:
- Dock legislators' pay if they don't pass a balanced budget on time.
- Cut the salaries of legislators and other elected officials – including her own – by 10 percent.
- Dock lawmakers' pay when they miss a day of House session.
Slavens is a long-time active community member, volunteering at Plymouth-Canton Community Schools, as a Sunday School teacher at Geneva Presbyterian Church in Canton Township and as a Girl Scout leader for the Huron Valley Council.
Slavens has lived in Canton Township for more than 20 years and holds an associate degree in applied science and certification as a respiratory therapist from Oakland Community College.
She and her husband Mark Slavens, who is a 3rd Circuit Court Judge in Wayne County, have three children, Damey, Patrick and Molly, and one grandson, Evan.