Michigan House oversight subcommittee adopts regular meeting schedule, outlines agenda on fentanyl, foreign influence and readiness

The House Oversight Committee on Homeland Security and Foreign Influence on Oct. 12 adopted a regular meeting time and began organizing a multiweek agenda focused on fentanyl and the border, military readiness and foreign influence issues including university research contracts.

Chair William Brock called the session to order and asked the clerk to read a letter appointing committee members. The committee voted to adopt Wednesday at noon in Room 308 of the House Office Building as the normal meeting day, time and location. The motion passed with a tally of 4 yeas, 0 nays, no passes, the clerk announced.

The meeting was primarily organizational: members introduced themselves and the chair described expected topics and witnesses for upcoming meetings. Brock said he wanted the panel to operate with broad bipartisan agreement, telling members, "My desire is to make this the most bipartisan, least partisan, committee in the legislature." He said the committee will pursue oversight and policy recommendations and that it is modeled in part on federal select committees addressing the Chinese Communist Party.

Representative Denise Mentzer gave a personal account of her ties to Selfridge Air National Guard Base and emphasized the economic and security importance of the installation. "This base is extremely important to Michigan," she said, and added, "I will lie, cheat, and steal... to make sure Selfridge remains viable and that we get those... a better fighter mission in there."

Committee members previewed a three-week set of presentations to begin the panel's work on fentanyl and border security. The chair said Customs officials and the Michigan State Police are scheduled to appear, followed by local sheriffs from rural and urban departments to provide varied perspectives. The committee also plans hearings and briefings on the Northern Strike exercise and other readiness topics; the chair said retired and recently retired military leaders, including a retired air wing commander, have been invited to speak.

Foreign influence topics the committee expects to review include research and contracts involving the People’s Republic of China at Michigan universities. The chair said the panel would examine DoD research contracts and letters already sent by a federal select committee to some campuses, noting this does not presume misconduct but warrants review.

Other agenda items mentioned for future meetings included drones, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, child trafficking as it relates to cross‑border flows, and protection of critical resources such as water and strategic minerals. The chair asked members to bring topics and suggested a "show-and-tell" format for items that help explain issues to the committee.

Two procedural items closed the meeting: a quorum was confirmed and Representative Meerman moved to excuse absent members; the motion prevailed by unanimous consent and the committee adjourned.

The meeting record shows the committee is newly formed and intends frequent meetings; members were told there are roughly 25–30 available meeting days in the legislative year for the panel's work.