With Michigan Capitol Confidential and Tea Party organizer Jason Gillman breaking the news that the faux-"Michigan Tea Party" political party appears to be a dirty trick created by Democratic Party operatives, it's worth noting who comprises the real Tea Party movement in this state.
Oklahoma's state affiliate of the National Education Association only has 23,451 members, but has nevertheless launched a revenue-grabbing initiative, SQ 744, that will be on the ballot in November.
Some economic development officials are complaining of “collateral damage” from candidates and others who publicly discuss reining in Michigan’s generous array of targeted business subsidies and incentives.
A recent Michigan Capitol Confidential story about driver license renewal for people with outstanding parking tickets was cited as the source of information for two different newspaper editorials.
According to the 2010 Index of Economic Freedom published by The Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal, there are 16 countries that do a better job of protecting private property rights than the United States.
A recent blog post by Michael Jahr, senior director of communications, about Michael Moore accepting a Michigan film subsidy for a movie of his that railed against government subsidies was quickly picked up by other media, including The Michigan View at The Detroit News and The Houghton Lake Resorter.
Students can choose: Business or ‘green’ "Henry Ford High School students must choose to
attend the Academy for Green and Renewable Energy or the Academy of Business
Technology when returning to school this fall, while all incoming freshmen will
attend the 9th Grade Leadership Academy."
United Van Lines has released mid-year data on where it takes its clients to and from in the 48 contiguous states. Once again, Michigan finds itself in the number one position.
The New York Times reported yesterday that "the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico appears to be dissolving far more rapidly than expected" and that "the immense patches of surface oil that covered thousands of square miles of the gulf are largely gone."
Michigan out of ‘Race’ "Michigan failed to make the cut in the
second round of competition for federal "Race to the Top" education reform
dollars, despite increased support from its largest teachers union."
Donald J. Kochan, an adjunct scholar with the Mackinac Center and an associate professor at Chapman University School of Law in Orange, Calif., wrote Monday in the Los Angeles Times about Ben Franklin's views on "luxury" and how they apply to today's society.
Here's how important I think Angelo M. Codevilla's American Spectator article is: It makes me think of Thomas Paine's Common Sense.
Excerpt: "Our ruling class's agenda is power for itself. While it stakes its claim through intellectual-moral pretense, it holds power by one of the oldest and most prosaic of means: patronage and promises thereof."
University to offer programs at charter site "Lake Superior State University will open a
satellite campus this fall on the site of a public school academy that it
charters in Dearborn."
The Traverse City Record-Eagle yesterday reported that filmmaker Michael Moore expects to receive between $650,000 and $1 million in state film subsidies for producing part of "Capitalism: A Love Story" in Michigan.
A Dearborn Times-Herald Op-Ed by Mike LaFaive, director of the Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative, points out the obvious: tax hikes kill jobs and tax cuts create them.
Michigan public schools received and spent more money per pupil in 2008-2009 than in any previous year for which figures are available, according to new data from the Michigan Department of Education.
What could have been a ‘burning’ issue for the incoming director of the state Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth (DELEG) may be all but washed out. That’s after a hearing Tuesday in Lansing before the director of Michigan’s Bureau of Construction Codes, Irvin J. Poke. He heard comments from about three dozen people, most of whom were opposed to making fire sprinkler installation mandatory for new home construction in Michigan.
Poll: Voters split on mayoral oversight of DPS "Eighty-two percent of those surveyed in a recent
poll gave a negative rating to the quality of education in Detroit Public
Schools, while 54 percent said they would favor having the mayor be accountable
for the school system, and 28 percent said they would oppose mayoral oversight."
Community college sets higher entry bar "Students who want to enroll at Jackson
Community College this fall must be able to read and write at least at the
seventh-grade level."
Bill would require 200-day school year "A state senator has introduced legislation
to require public school districts to offer instruction at least 200 days per
year."
Every week, MichiganVotes.org sends a report to newspapers and TV stations showing how just the state legislators in each publication's service area voted on the most important and interesting bills and amendments of the past seven days. The Legislature did not meet this week, so instead of votes this report contains eight newly introduced bills of interest:
It is good news that cap-and-trade legislation passed by the U.S. House will not be taken up by the Senate as announced by Senate leader Harry Reid yesterday. However, it is too early to celebrate the death of this job-killing legislation that would increase the cost of energy for American consumers and businesses. Bad ideas coming out of Washington die only to be resurrected in another form.
This story has also received the attention of a national television network. This morning at 11:30 a.m., Mackinac Center Fiscal Policy Director Michael D. LaFaive is scheduled to discuss the story on Fox News with Jon Scott and Jenna Lee.
A123 is one of two companies written about recently in Capitol Confidential for each being the recipient of at least $100 million in cash subsidies from Michigan taxpayers.
MME shows slight improvement "High school student scores improved
slightly on the Michigan Merit Examination in 2010, though only half the
test-takers achieved "proficient" scores in math and 65 percent in reading."
The state's lawmakers need to understand that they will be
judged by actual deeds and votes, not just the mere words that they speak on the
campaign trail in advance of the Aug. 3 primary election. That's the message
that Common Sense in Government
hopes to deliver to politicians with their Common
Sense Votes Scorecard — a spreadsheet tabulation of a dozen votes in the
Michigan House
and seven in the Senate
impacting the "limited government, free market principles that Michigan needs
to get back on the right track."
What could have been a ‘burning’ issue for the incoming director of the state Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth (DELEG) may be all but washed out. That’s after a hearing Tuesday in Lansing before the director of Michigan’s Bureau of Construction Codes, Irvin J. Poke. He heard comments from about three dozen people, most of whom were opposed to making fire sprinkler installation mandatory for new home construction in Michigan.
Ron Dzwonkowski at the Detroit Free Press wrote an article on the late Joe Overton, the man behind the Overton Window concept of political possibilities. Overton was vice president of the Mackinac Center, and his idea of a moveable window of acceptable public policies is now the title of a best-selling novel. Dzwonkowski, however, focused on the man behind the window.
Michigan standards get mixed grades "Michigan's academic standards in math
earned an A-, while its English standards received a D in a report issued this
week by the Fordham Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based education think tank."
The debate in Ann Arbor, where firefighters are being laid
off due to a multimillion dollar budget deficit, is over an $850,000 piece of art.
That's how much the city has agreed to pay German artist
Herbert Dreiseitl for a three-piece water sculpture that would go in front of
the new police and courts building right by the City Hall.
Michigan leaders who are enamored with building new light-rail passenger lines should look to Greece's experience with its railway system.
Clarenceville privatizes custodial services "Facing a projected budget deficit of $852,000 in 2010-2011, the Clarenceville School District Board of Education voted recently to outsource custodial services and save an estimated $1.2 million over three years."
One of his political rivals called Gary Peters' "revolt" over spending a "deathbed conversion."
The Club for Growth says the Democrat Congressman from Bloomfield Township approved trillions in spending and gave him a worse rating than Nancy Pelosi for his voting on economic growth bills.
Yet, the news site Politico is reporting that Peters is part of a "rogue" group of four junior House Democrats frustrated with spending at the federal level.
Last spring, the Legislature adopted a largely-gutted version of a modest school employee pension reform. One of its features was a retirement plan labeled a "hybrid" between defined-benefit and defined-contribution.
The term "hybrid" is bogus. It's a political label, not anything real.
The work of Mackinac Center analysts has provided information to challenge conventional wisdom on several points, and Michigan newspapers have taken note.
Media outlets across the state are highlighting the debate about job-creation policies. Mackinac Center Fiscal Policy Director Michael LaFaive has long argued that tax incentives and subsidies are not the path to improving Michigan's economy.
Here's how important I think Angelo M. Codevilla's American Spectator article is: It makes me think of Thomas Paine's Common Sense.
Excerpt: "Our ruling class's agenda is power for itself. While it stakes its claim through intellectual-moral pretense, it holds power by one of the oldest and most prosaic of means: patronage and promises thereof."
Godwin Heights trying mini-laptops "Godwin Heights Public Schools will
try using mini-laptop computers to boost freshman academic performance,
according to The Grand Rapids Press."
There's valid argument that a compassionate society with a dynamic economy should provide unemployment benefits, and a legitimate debate regarding how much and how long. But recently, some have gone beyond this and argued not only that these benefits are necessary, but that they actually stimulate the economy.
Yesterday, President Barack Obama and Gov. Jennifer Granholm came to Holland bearing gifts: cash subsidies for an electric car battery plant owned by the Korean firm LG Chem. The federal contribution is $151 million in "stimulus" money, and Michigan taxpayers are kicking in another $100 million. This means that each of the plant's approximately 400 jobs will cost taxpayers $625,000. At this rate, it would cost $5 trillion to provide employment to the approximately 8 million Americans who lost have their jobs in the current downturn.
Yesterday, President Barack Obama and Gov. Jennifer Granholm came to Holland bearing gifts: cash subsidies for an electric car battery plant owned by the Korean firm LG Chem. The federal contribution is $151 million in "stimulus" money, and Michigan taxpayers are kicking in another $100 million. This means that each of the plant's approximately 400 jobs will cost taxpayers $625,000. At this rate, it would cost $5 trillion to provide employment to the approximately 8 million Americans who lost have their jobs in the current downturn.
Every week, MichiganVotes.org sends a report to newspapers and TV stations showing how just the state legislators in each publication's service area voted on the most important and interesting bills and amendments of the past seven days. The legislature did not meet this week, so instead of votes this report contains eight newly introduced bills of interest:
House Bill 6319 (Impose annual registration and fees on canoes and kayaks) Introduced by Rep. Richard J. Ball (R) on July 1, 2010, to impose registration with a $5 fee on canoes and kayaks. Owners would have to attach the same kind of registration decal as is required on power boats or larger sailboats. Failure to register and display the decal would be punishable by a fine of up to $500.
Centrally planned jobs with a "green" focus are not the way to boost the economy in Michigan or nationwide, a Mackinac Center analyst told The Daily Caller, a Washington, D.C.-based political news website.
Court: School data law violates Constitution "The Michigan Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that public school districts cannot be forced to collect data for the Center for Educational Performance and Information unless they are paid for the work."
Holland workers move to high-deductible plan "Support staff employees in Holland Public Schools will switch to a high-deductible health care plan purchased from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Michigan under the terms of a new, three-year contract, leaving behind the health plan offered through a union affiliate."
City, school district team up on demolition "The city of Taylor will use Community Development Block Grant federal funding to demolish three unused school buildings owned by the Taylor School District."
The owners of another Michigan electric car battery plant, A123 Systems, will receive a $100 million cash subsidy from the state for a 75-acre facility the company has leased in Romulus.
Schools consolidate on labor to save money "Five northern Kent County school districts anticipate jointly saving at least $430,000 in the coming fiscal year by consolidating certain business and technology services."
The Chinese market for Michigan goods continues to grow. So it's strange that politicians here continue to point fingers at Chinese trade for Michigan's economic decay.
Tuition up, but so is enrollment "Community colleges in metro Detroit are raising
tuition to compensate for declining property tax revenue, a move that so far
has not dampened enrollment."
Mike Bouchard became the first GOP candidate for Governor to embrace Right To Work legislation when he announced Wednesday in Grand Rapids he would support it.
Michigan's Freedom of Information Act requires that the politicians running local governments tell taxpayers who has been hired to work for them and how much those persons are being paid. Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick — made infamous in part because of his "friends and family" hiring policy — had to disclose this information.
But if you're the governor of Michigan or one of the lawmakers running either chamber of the Michigan Legislature, such rules literally do not apply to you, because of a little-known secrecy perk in FOIA.
If any of the five men running on the GOP side to become Michigan's next governor win the job, this shroud of secrecy could be lifted.
The Chinese market for Michigan goods continues to grow. So it's strange that politicians here continue to point fingers at Chinese trade for Michigan's economic decay.
Opinion mixed on minority-teacher emphasis "A new emphasis on hiring minority teachers and administrators has drawn
mixed opinion in Plymouth-Canton Community Schools, where 25 percent of the
student body is made up of minorities compared to less than 3 percent of
educational staff."
Teachers to run DPS elementary school "Teachers will take over operations at
Barbara Jordan Elementary School in Detroit beginning this fall, a move
generally seen as a test of whether more educator involvement can improvement
student achievement."
Alpena board implements contract "Teachers in the Alpena Education Association
will receive a 0.5 percent wage increase and a one-time, $500 payment in lieu
of salary step increases under the terms of a two-year contract implemented by
the school board."
Failing schools eligible for turnaround money "More than 100 of the worst performing
public schools in Michigan are eligible to apply for $136 in subsidies from the
federal government."
Every week, MichiganVotes.org sends a report to newspapers and TV stations showing how just the state legislators in each publication's service area voted on the most important and interesting bills and amendments of the past seven days. The version shown here instead contains a link to the complete roll call tally in either the House or Senate.
School retirements don’t add up "About 17,000 public school employees
have decided to retire this year, far short of the 27,000 the state had hoped
for."
Michigan taxpayers can breathe a sigh of relief: The Detroit Free Press reports that Gov. Jennifer Granholm has abandoned hope that her service tax will become law. At a news conference on an unrelated issue, the Governor stated that she did not expect the Legislature to enact her plan.
Berkley battles allegations "The Berkley School District issued a statement recently stating that the allegations against Superintendent Michael Simeck being investigated by the Michigan Secretary of State are false."
MichiganScience is a Mackinac Center quarterly magazine that helps meet the need for accurate and accessible information about the increasingly complex scientific issues confronting voters and lawmakers. The magazine reflects the idea that even the most technical scientific policy issues can be discussed with lively prose and compelling visuals.
The U.S. Census Bureau recently released state and local government quarterly tax information that shows Michigan's tax revenue continues to outperform the rest of the state economy. Policymakers should keep these figures in mind as Lansing cries poverty over this year's budget.
While the government fails to maintain the city, private individuals like Jean West and those profiled in this article will continue to fight to preserve Detroit's neighborhoods.
Reasonable people may disagree with my position, and fair enough. But I should not ascribe their personal motivations to anything other than good will, and was wrong to say something that sounded like I was doing so.
The U.S. Census Bureau recently released state and local government quarterly tax information that shows Michigan's tax revenue continues to outperform the rest of the state economy. Policymakers should keep these figures in mind as Lansing cries poverty over this year's budget.
The Michigan Education Association has done a reversal on a 3 percent pension contribution its members are required to make, as it now is fighting a clause it originally supported just months ago.
The MEA supported the pension contribution in April when the House of Representatives was voting on Senate Bill 1227.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm cried poverty yesterday, claiming that her administration already cut 11,000 state employees and that the state cannot make further cuts without lowering "critical services that struggling families count on to survive in this tough economy." However, thanks to higher compensation levels, taxpayers are paying more overall even with fewer workers on the job.
CMU, AFT agree on new bargaining unit "Non-tenure track faculty at Central Michigan University are expected
to vote soon on certifying the American Federation of Teachers as their union
representative, now that a dispute over who would be eligible to join has been
resolved."
Schools would get $11-per-pupil bump "Michigan public schools would receive an $11-per-pupil increase in 2010-2011 under a legislative conference committee agreement reached Wednesday."
Lawmaker: Shift ‘Race’ money to jobs "Money earmarked for education reform
would go instead to education jobs under a proposal by the chairman of the
House Appropriations Committee."
Every week, MichiganVotes.org sends a report to newspapers and TV stations showing how just the state legislators in each publication's service area voted on the most important and interesting bills and amendments of the past seven days. The version shown here instead contains a link to the complete roll call tally in either the House or Senate.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm cried poverty yesterday, claiming that her administration already cut 11,000 state employees and that the state cannot make further cuts without lowering "critical services that struggling families count on to survive in this tough economy." However, thanks to higher compensation levels, taxpayers are paying more overall even with fewer workers on the job.
Bobb says superintendent is out; board pushes back "The Detroit Public Schools board of education says
that Teresa Gueyser is still district superintendent, even though her contract
expired and emergency financial manager Robert Bobb did not renew it."
Attorney General Mike Cox's office knew about concerns regarding the Hangar42 film studio as early as February, according to a story in today's Grand Rapids Press. Cox, however, did not officially announce an investigation of the film subsidy deal until a day after being called on to do so by Mackinac Center Legal Foundation Director Patrick J. Wright.
There is no reason, aside from political calculation, why unions should not be subjected to the same level of scrutiny as political parties, companies, or issue groups like the Chamber of Commerce. If anything the scrutiny should be even closer because so much of their funds are drawn from union dues that workers must pay or lose their jobs.
As BP has belatedly learned, the strongest incentive for environmental compliance is the very survival of the company. No amount of additional regulations can provide that kind of incentive.
Last week the the Michigan Economic Development Corp. upped the ante on a $100 million "refundable" business tax credit approved by the Michigan House and Senate for a subsidiary of the South Korean battery maker LG Chem. The MEDC in effect converted the credit into an outright cash subsidy from Michigan taxpayers by granting the plant's 120-acre site in Holland "renaissance zone" status for 15 years.
The amount of state resources consumed by and the political leverage of public-sector employees were the focus of two Op-Eds by Mackinac Center analysts in The Oakland Press today.
More school districts are realizing the savings that can be had from consumer-driven, high-deductible health insurance plans.
Judge puts new school health fund on reserve "The state can collect
money from school employees for retiree health care, but can't spend it
until a lawsuit over the new system is
resolved."
Trust in state government among Michigan residents and their views of Gov. Jennifer Granholm are at all-time lows, according to a poll released on Monday.
The poll found 43.7 percent of those surveyed said Granholm was doing a "poor" job; 35.5 percent rated her as "fair"; 17.4 percent said "good"; and 3.4 percent said "excellent."
A modest school pension reform proposed by Gov. Jennifer Granholm earlier this year was mostly gutted by the Republican Senate, and subjected to more savagery in the Democratic House, but it nevertheless crawled out with a provision requiring employees to contribute an additional 3 percent to the cost of their retirement benefits. The amended statute contains no language requiring that money be used to ease the budget challenges facing school districts, however.
Introduced by Rep. Bettie Scott (D) on June 22, 2010, to allow the Detroit police, fire and other employee pension funds to lend up to 20 percent of their assets to the city at a discounted interest rate.
Referred to the House Banking and Financial Services Committee on June 22, 2010.
An End to MEAP Tests? "Michigan has joined a group of 31 states trying to win federal funds to develop a new approach to standardized tests."
School Boards Wary of No-Cut Promise "At least two Michigan public school districts aren't counting on state lawmakers' predictions that per-pupil funding will not be cut in 2010-2011."
The Michigan Education Association protested in Lansing yesterday to demand more taxpayer money to go to the public school system and to protest recent public school pension reforms. But the pension reforms will allow districts to have more resources to devote to improving education.
Michigan Film Office Director Janet Lockwood said she has received a subpoena as part of the Michigan Attorney General's investigation of movie studio Hangar42, according to WWMT-TV3 in Grand Rapids.
South Lyon Ties Wages to Per-Pupil Funding "Support staff employees have agreed to a 10 percent pay scale reduction in South Lyon Community Schools as of July 1, as well as a monthly medical benefit cap."
The Michigan Education Association, which represents a majority of the teachers in the state (who happen to be the highest paid in the nation when compared to relative state wealth), is holding a demonstration at the state Capitol today to lobby for more money.
Reportedly the bill was introduced after a Northern Michigan man who broadcasts the action at his bird feeder on his website was served with an arrest warrant by the Department of Natural Resources because deer sometimes are seen eating the fallen seeds.
Private capitol essential to growing jobs in Michigan is much more likely to be invested where private property rights are secure and not threatened by the actions of well-meaning public officials.
Two bills are working their way through the House of Representatives in Lansing that would change the process of binding arbitration, which is used to resolve contract disputes between local governments and their employees. One of these bills is, at best, a complete waste of time. The other is just a lousy idea.
Although it may be "free," that's not stopping some legislators from attempting to tax it.
State Rep. Mark Meadows, D-East Lansing, has introduced House Bill 6214, which would tax free meals employees get while working at restaurants and food establishments.
Michigan Adopts National Standards "Michigan has agreed to integrate "Common Core State Standards" into its public education system, part of a national effort to have every state adopt the same academic standards in English and math."
At at time when municipalities are being warned to prepare to make severe budget cuts, some are wondering how a Republican-controlled state Senate could pass legislation that makes local government more costly.
At issue is Senate Bill 1072, which is now being debated in the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives. The bill, critics say, expands which public safety groups can go before arbitrators in contract disputes involving Public Act 312.
The lawsuit filed by the Detroit Public Schools Board of Education against Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb is "unprecedented," according to Education Policy Director Michael Van Beek.
Lansing political newsletter MIRS News (subscription required) reports that some legislators are steamed about a decision by state Lottery Commissioner Scott Bowen — a former Grand Rapids city council member — to burn $40,000 in lottery money that otherwise would be available to fund public schools by giving it to Grand Rapids for a fireworks display. The Lottery Commissioner serves "at the pleasure of the governor," so this one may well be looking for work starting next January. Bowen unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic nomination as Attorney General candidate in 2006, and has been mentioned as a potential candidate for the state Senate or Congress.
Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox's office has heeded calls from Mackinac Center Legal Foundation Director Patrick J. Wright to investigate the Hangar42 movie studio subsidy deal, according to The Grand Rapids Press.
The lawyer profession is often the butt of many jokes. But now there is a public policy research think tank that says the profession could be driving business away from Michigan.
'Wannabes' may not return to Howell "Filming of "The Wannabes Starring Savvy" wrapped for the season in May, and whether the production returns to Parker High School in Howell may depend on the outcome of claims and counterclaims regarding alcohol use, building damage and educational value."
A study of how college salaries compare across Michigan has been delayed until mid-September, when it may be used to determine future wages at Grand Rapids Community College.
Lansing political newsletters Gongwer and MIRS (subscriptions required) today both cite this Mackinac Center news release that calls for an official investigation of the Hangar42 movie studio deal.
Every week, MichiganVotes.org sends a report to newspapers and TV stations showing how just the state legislators in each publication's service area voted on the most important and interesting bills and amendments of the past seven days. The version shown here instead contains a link to the complete roll call tally in either the House or Senate.
The Michigan Senate is poised to pass House Bill 5241, which would boost the pensions of approximately 50 Michigan State Police retired command officers by $530 to $760 annually, costing taxpayers some $800,000 over a 25-year period. The bill has already passed the House in a 107 to 0 vote.
Support staff in Northwest Community Schools will switch health insurance plans and pay 10 percent of their own premiums as part of an agreement that also will protect their job.
When she was a state representative in 2003, Oakland County Clerk Ruth Johnson was one of a minority to vote against a law that imposed stiff financial penalties on so-called "bad drivers." Advertised as a public safety measure, Johnson and others believe the law was really designed to rake in more money for state government. In addition to harsher fines for objectively dangerous violations such as impaired and reckless driving, the "Driver Responsibility Fee" law also applies additional fees for those with conduct on their record that isn't as clearly dangerous, such as multiple speeding tickets and failure to produce proof of a license or insurance when asked to do so by a police officer.
The retirement of 36 teachers in Monroe Public Schools is one reason the district will recall all 187 employees who were pink-slipped in March, according to The Toledo Blade.
Mackinac Center President Joseph G. Lehman is scheduled to appear on "The Glenn Beck Show" on Fox News Channel at around 5:20 p.m. EDT today to discuss the Overton Window of Political Possibility, a theory created in the mid-1990s by Joseph P. Overton, the Center's late senior vice president.
Questions continue to arise over the Hangar42 movie studio deal, including this breaking news from reporter Chris Knape at The Grand Rapids Press that outlines the involvement of a state representative's office in obtaining a tax subsidy for the project.
The Grand Rapids Press and WOOD-TV are reporting that Michigan Film Office Director Janet Lockwood agreed with Mackinac Center analysts that a proposed movie studio seeking state subsidies is questionable.
Teachers sue over retirement contributions "Five members of the Michigan Education
Association have filed suit over a new requirement that school employees pay
more into a retiree health care fund, but they are not challenging the part of the
new law that awards higher pension benefits to recent retirees."
MIDLAND — Mackinac Center President Joseph G. Lehman is scheduled to appear on "The Glenn Beck Show" on Fox News Channel at around 5:20 p.m. EDT today to discuss the Overton Window of Political Possibility, a theory created in the mid-1990s by the late Joseph P. Overton, formerly the Center's senior vice president. Beck's new book, "The Overton Window," was released June 15, and it already tops the bestseller list. Lehman was a guest on Beck's nationally syndicated radio show on June 9. You can listen to that interview here.
Sometimes it seems like we are repeating the Dark Ages but with political fear-mongering replacing superstition in trumping science. A future where public policy is primarily shaped by fear rather than relying on the best science is too bleak to contemplate.
MIDLAND — Mackinac Center President Joseph G. Lehman is scheduled to appear live on The Glenn Beck Program during the 10 a.m. hour EDT (or second hour if tape delayed) on June 9 to discuss the Overton Window of Political Possibility, a theory created in the mid-1990s by Joseph P. Overton, the Center's late senior vice president. Beck's newest book is a work of fiction titled "The Overton Window," due to be released June 15. The program is carried on 400 stations nationwide, including 15 in Michigan.
Low-performers eligible for grants "About 108 Michigan public schools are
eligible for up to $2 million each in school improvement grants based on their
low academic performance."
Parent-Judge Conferences? Is threatening parents with jail time the best way to get them involved with their children's education.
Even with extensive evidence that high-speed rail projects are very expensive to build and operate, the Michigan Legislature seems intent on expanding this form of inefficient mass transit in the state.
It's hard to find a reputable, independent economist willing to argue that transferring millions of tax dollars from households and businesses to filmmakers is a rational, plausible economic development strategy. Most scratch their heads at a program that pays 42 percent of the expense of producers who make a movie here and 25 percent to developers who install a film production facility.
Efforts to break the political stranglehold by rearranging the institutional furniture at best consumes energy better spent striking at the real root of our problems.
Retirement, insurance both create savings "Teacher retirements and a switch away from
union-affiliated health insurance are expected to reduce spending by $430,000
in Oakridge Public Schools."
With Michigan cities facing budget crises, many experts say the worst is yet to come, and some believe the state will begin to see municipal bankruptcies. Pressure from both the revenue and spending sides is creating the risky financial situations. Some say it may be the worst since the Great Depression.
Some public policy experts and a political activist give their thoughts on what it means to the Tea Party movement.
Eight superintendents retiring in southwest Michigan "At least eight superintendents in southwest Michigan are retiring this year, some of them weary of the state economy and its effect on public school districts and others simply because they are at retirement age."
Although the state of Michigan may offer tax rebates to Hollywood production companies that film in this state, the U.S. military isn't as generous, according to a Department of Defense spokesman.
Experts differ on why colleges hike tuition "College tuition hikes have outpaced inflation by a large margin for the past
two decades, but there is disagreement over why universities keep charging
more."
Efforts to break the political stranglehold by rearranging the institutional furniture at best consumes energy better spent striking at the real root of our problems.
LIFO stands for "last in, first out" and describes how nearly all Michigan school districts choose which teachers to lay off when downsizing becomes a necessity.
Every week, MichiganVotes.org sends a report to newspapers and TV stations showing how just the state legislators in each publication's service area voted on the most important and interesting bills and amendments of the past seven days. The version shown here instead contains a link to the complete roll call tally in either the House or Senate.
A rather blistering May 16 Livingston Daily editorial asked a few simple questions of three state lawmakers about the Michigan Film Incentive and how well it's working. Two of the legislators responded in a guest column Sunday, arguably dodging the real questions raised in the original editorial and putting up a weak defense of the two-year-old subsidy program.
A rather blistering May 16 Livingston Daily editorial asked a few simple questions of three state lawmakers about the Michigan Film Incentive and how well it's working. Two of the legislators responded in a guest column Sunday, arguably dodging the real questions raised in the original editorial and putting up a weak defense of the two-year-old subsidy program.
Congress has an opportunity to restore accountability to elected officials and put limits on the power wielded by unaccountable bureaucrats when the U.S. Senate considers Joint Resolution 26 tomorrow.
The Grand Rapids Press has captured the essence of what concerns people about a potential $10 million taxpayer subsidy for the investors in the "Hangar42" film studio project that Gov. Jennifer Granholm has boasted of. The 25 percent "capital investment" subsidy is based on a $40 million purchase price for the property claimed by the deal's promoter. The same building, however, was listed for sale at just $9.8 million as late as February.
The definition of progress seems to be moving backward in this state. It used to be that structures erected on property were called "improvements." Yet last week, the Michigan Senate passed a package of bills authorizing property tax breaks for "urban agriculture" in Detroit.
A Detroit News editorial today calls for more transparency from the Michigan Film Office in the wake of a months-long investigation by Mackinac Center analysts that raised several questions about a Grand Rapids-area movie studio deal.
Ypsilanti joins busing consolidation plan "Ypsilanti Public Schools will join a countywide consolidated transportation plan headed by the Washtenaw Intermediate School District."
"I question which individuals and bodies are responsible for this use of tax dollars and whether the Legislature and the public are aware that this is happening. Given the considerable concern over public expenditures in the current economic climate, I believe the facts of this case signal a need for legislative scrutiny."
Chinese officials are considering rules that would make it more difficult for local government to seize property from individuals and turn it over to developers without at least compensating the property owners, according to a report in the May 27, 2010, edition of The New York Times. East Lansing officials may want to pay attention.
Washtenaw school choice quadruples "The number of students who are assigned to one conventional public school district in Washtenaw County but choose to enroll in a different conventional district has quadrupled in the past eight years."
For years, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy trained public policy experts on a theory of why some common sense solutions were not adopted by politicians.
The theory is called the "Overton Window," named after then Mackinac Center Vice President Joe Overton, who died in a plane crash in 2003.
MIDLAND — Mackinac Center President Joseph G. Lehman is scheduled to appear live on The Glenn Beck Program during the 10 a.m. hour EDT (or second hour if tape delayed) on June 9 to discuss the Overton Window of Political Possibility, a theory created in the mid-1990s by Joseph P. Overton, the Center's late senior vice president. Beck's newest book is a work of fiction titled "The Overton Window," due to be released June 15. The program is carried on 400 stations nationwide, including 15 in Michigan.
Poll: Merge high schools, maintain tax rate "More than three-quarters of
Bloomfield Hills Public Schools residents who responded to a recent poll supported
the idea of maintaining only one high school and keeping taxes at current levels."
MichiganScience No. 14 MichiganScience is a Mackinac Center quarterly magazine that helps meet the need for accurate and accessible information about the increasingly complex scientific issues confronting voters and lawmakers. The magazine reflects the idea that even the most technical scientific policy issues can be discussed with lively prose and compelling visuals.
Retirement boost in Spring Lake "Teachers in Spring Lake Public Schools
who agree to the latest retirement offer there could receive up to $25,000 from
the district and a pension boost from the state."
In a speech on diversifying the state economy at the Mackinac Policy Conference today, Gov. Jennifer Granholm stated that diversification efforts through the Michigan Economic Development Corp. have brought 919 "companies or expansions" to Michigan. She also stated that health care is the state's largest industry. One claim is without context and the other is incorrect.
Every week, MichiganVotes.org sends a report to newspapers and TV stations showing how just the state legislators in each publication's service area voted on the most important and interesting bills and amendments of the past seven days. The version shown here instead contains a link to the complete roll call tally in either the House or Senate.
On May 25, the executive committee of the Michigan Economic Development Corp. publicly cried foul over "unwarranted criticism" of the agency and warned that "political in-fighting" could hurt the state's business investment climate. But the criticism of the state's chief "jobs" department is not only warranted, it's overdue.
No agreement on education fix "Fixing education would go a long
way toward fixing the Michigan economy, education officials said Thursday, but
there appears to be little consensus on how to fix education."
Just how much power Congress has to regulate commerce is at the core of the Thomas More Law Center's lawsuit against President Barack Obama's health care legislation.
The Commerce Clause is listed in the U.S. Constitution and gives Congress the power to regulate interstate commerce. Just how expansive those rights are is an argument in the battle over the health care law.
The dispute revolves around the individual mandate of the health care plan that states every U.S. citizen would have to have health insurance. The Thomas More Law Center believes this violates the commerce clause of the Constitution.
Evidence suggests that a single-minded focus on increasing the proportion of a state's population with college degrees is a dead end for improving the state's economy.
Michigan's brownfield contaminated site cleanup program, once considered by many to be the best in the nation, is today largely dysfunctional. The main problem is that it is nearly impossible to get closure — once you check in you can never check out. Businesses are reluctant to invest money to clean up contaminated sites when they are at the whim of state environmental regulators for a never ending series of additional cleanup requirements.
Flint imposes contract "The Flint Community Schools Board of
Education has voted to implement a contract for teachers as of July 1, saying
that negotiations with United Teachers of Flint have reached impasse."
A study of how states are handling the economic crisis has Michigan as the worst in the country in economic performance for the third year in a row, but does offer some hope of improvement in the future.
The study evaluated states based on their economic policies and looked at economic trends to come up with its rankings. The study, in its third year, was done by the American Legislative Exchange Council, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit.
The Michigan Film Office makes a breathtakingly broad claim of official government secrecy regarding a massive taxpayer money giveaway program, especially one that has proven in other states to be fertile ground for corruption.
The Michigan Department of Education improperly calculated the average public school teacher salary in the state for the last six years, reporting figures significantly lower than what is correct. Corrected figures for the past two years were recently released.
Administrators retire, then return "School administrators in metro Detroit
districts are considering whether to retire and then return to their jobs as
independent contractors."
In 1964, nearly half of Michigan's labor force was unionized. Based in a thriving auto industry, 44.8 percent of the state's workers belonged to unions, tops in the country.
In 2009, that percentage dropped to 18.8 percent, according to www.Unionstats.com. The state has dropped to No. 6 in terms of the percentage of workers unionized.
Some experts suggest that's the driving force behind the "stealth unionization" in Michigan to rope in sometimes unsuspecting independent contractors who watch children and the elderly and take state subsidies from low-income clients.
Here we have two very similar, fairly wealthy counties; one engages in collective bargaining with its employees on rules similar to Michigan’s Public Employment Relations Act, the other doesn’t. One is coping with the recession well, the other is struggling with political infighting. The implications for Michigan are hard to miss: A lot of local governments in Michigan would be better off without collective bargaining.
Hard-earned taxpayer dollars are being handed over by the state to these film studios, and when legitimate questions and concerns are raised the response from those in charge is, "Trust us. We know what's best for you." Voters and taxpayers shouldn't accept that, and neither should state legislators.
Gov. Granholm's call to raise taxes yet again in order to fix the latest budget overspending crisis she and the Legislature have created will send more Michigan residents packing, according to this Op-Ed in The Oakland Press by Morey Fiscal Policy Director Michael LaFaive.
The Michigan Economic Development Corp. creates more job announcements than jobs, Michael LaFaive, director of the Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative, points out in this Lansing State Journal Op-Ed.
A Saline Public Schools teacher that was hired in 2009 would start with a salary of $40,425 and see it rise to $111,750 in the 15th year, an increase of 178 percent.
The analysis of the hypothetical Saline teacher's career salary track was done by Michael Van Beek, director of education policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.
At a recent rally where school employees called for an increase in state taxes, a representative of the Warren Education Association claimed that school revenues were in such disrepair that some students were having to go without desks. A spokesperson from Warren Consolidated schools denied this claim, but even if it were true, a few very minor policy changes well short of tax hikes would be all that is necessary pay for many new desks.
Teacher job bailout now uncertain "Despite heavy support from Education
Secretary Arne Duncan, legislators may be backing away from a proposal to spend
an additional $23 billion in federal funds on teacher jobs."
Budget bills show per-pupil gap "The Michigan House and Senate will have to
reconcile a $183-per-pupil disagreement over public school funding based on
budget bills adopted by each."
Michigan Congressman Thad McCotter, R-Livonia, is one of just nine Republicans nationwide to co-sponsor legislation that seeks to bail out union pension funds and put taxpayers "on the hook for $165 billion in unfunded union pension liabilities," according to Americans for Limited Government. McCotter is also the only Michigan U.S. House member from either party to co-sponsor the bill, H.R. 3936, which was introduced by North Dakota Democrat Earl Pomeroy and has 43 total co-sponsors.
Gov. Granholm is often quoted as saying: "I will go anywhere and do anything to create jobs in Michigan." She can start in Lansing by burying the recommendations of the Midwest Greenhouse Gas Reduction Accord along with the now defunct Michigan Climate Action Council.
Every week, MichiganVotes.org sends a report to newspapers and TV stations showing how just the state legislators in each publication's service area voted on the most important and interesting bills and amendments of the past seven days. The version shown here instead contains a link to the complete roll call tally in either the House or Senate.
It's pure mindless partisanship, and merely promotes the ideological hubris that Big Government (and the president) is God and and fix any problem. It (and he) are not: As Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen said in quote repeated in the Wall Street Journal, "The government doesn't have everything we need to solve this problem."
Patrick Wright, director of the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation, explains in a Detroit Free Press Op-Ed today why the Mackinac Center and the Michigan Press Association jointly filed an amicus brief with the Michigan Supreme Court in a Freedom of Information Act case stemming from e-mails and teachers union business in Howell Public Schools.
At a recent rally where school employees called for an increase in state taxes, a representative of the Warren Education Association claimed that school revenues were in such disrepair that some students were having to go without desks. A spokesperson from Warren Consolidated schools denied this claim, but even if it were true, a few very minor policy changes well short of tax hikes would be all that is necessary pay for many new desks.
The Michigan Department of Education improperly calculated the average public school teacher salary in the state for the last six years, reporting figures significantly lower than what is correct. Corrected figures for the past two years were recently released.
The state of Michigan has another dubious distinction: It's tied with South Carolina as the hardest state in the country to find a job.
A new study from the Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit Washington, D.C., think tank, finds that it took 19.4 weeks in Michigan and South Carolina to find a job, the longest amount of time in the country. North Dakota was the shortest at 7.1 weeks.
MIDLAND — Richard C. Dreyfuss, an actuary and Mackinac Center adjunct scholar, today responded to new state data showing substantial unfunded liabilities in state employees' pension and retiree health care plans by calling on Michigan legislators to "address state employee retirement cost burdens now, rather than later, when they will become even worse."
Second ‘Race’ application wins union nod "Union support was much higher in the state's
second application for Race to the Top federal grant funding, a fact expected
to boost Michigan's chances of getting up to $400 million."
The Fourth Annual International Conference on Climate Change, held in Chicago May 16-18 and sponsored by The Heartland Institute, provided three days of news-intensive stories that should've taken precedence over nearly every other story of last week's news cycle.
Ferris charters virtual school "Ferris State University has granted a
charter to Connections Academy of Baltimore to operate a K-12 virtual school in
Michigan, The Grand Rapids Press reported. The Academy manages 17 cyber schools
in 15 states."
The Gulf oil spill has demonstrated federal environmental officials left on their own will make decisions that defy common sense and logic. Guidance from the Obama administration is sorely needed.
Grand Rapids Press reporter Chris Knape continues to dig into the questions raised by the Mackinac Center about a potential $10 million subsidy for a film studio infrastructure project called Hangar42.
Grand Rapids-area media have picked up on the story of unanswered questions involving the Michigan Film Office, the Michigan Economic Development Corp. and a movie studio that Mackinac Center analysts uncovered.
Today marks the end of the first statewide petition drive for proposed initiatives. Unlike most states, Michigan has two petition drive deadlines: one for initiatives that amend the state constitution and another for proposed state statutes.
Senator suggests pay-to-learn "The idea of paying students to perform well in
school is getting mixed reviews in Detroit, as the state senator who proposed
it says it could motivate students to learn while others say it sends the wrong
message."
The Granholm Leadership Fund, a political action committee started by the governor, is promoting an event for controversial former White House advisor, Van Jones.
The state's flagship job creation agency made a plea to the media and legislators to stop "unwarranted criticism" against it and said attacks on the Michigan Economic Development Corporation will undermine the state's efforts to attract businesses.
The MEDC's open letter comes after some recent embarrassing disclosures, including a tax credit approved for a convicted embezzler and a state audit that found the MEDC awarded tax credits to companies for jobs that weren't created.
After awarding $9 million in tax credits to a convicted felon and a report that showed it only helped create 18,000 jobs in 11 years, the Michigan Economic Development Corp. today issued a press release saying it is "deeply concerned" over "unwarranted criticism," according to annarbor.com.
Today marks the 223rd anniversary of the beginning of the Constitutional Convention. Wesley Reynolds, a Mackinac Center operations intern, writes about on his blog, "Landmarks of Liberty."
The Michigan Education Association teachers union held protests around the state Monday behind a rallying cry of "Enough is Enough" and claiming there are "constant" cuts to education funding, according to WILX, even though the numbers are not on their side.
An editorial in today's Jackson Citizen Patriot advocates a position that Mackinac Center analysts have known for years — school privatization saves money.
In the Port Huron Area School District, about 70 percent of the $106 million operating budget goes towards paying employees covered by current collective bargaining agreements for teachers and a few other employee groups. Yet few people know what is in these or other school labor contracts.
Whether the standards that the community establishes for police officers be strict or lenient, the setting and enforcement of standards for police conduct is a duty that must be performed by local officials under the scrutiny of citizens themselves.Oversight of law enforcement is a role that should never be bargained with a union or delegated to arbitration.
In following up on questions raised by an ongoing Mackinac Center investigation, Grand Rapids Press reporter Chris Knape added two facts to the pattern of information so far known about the proposed Hangar42 film subsidy deal.
Buena Vista on ‘restructure’ list "Consistently poor academic
performance will require Buena Vista High School to be "restructured," though
officials aren't saying exactly how."
The Facebook postings sometime show up just minutes apart. But it's not from a heart-broken teen posting about a fractured relationship.
State Rep. Justin Amash is using social networking to lift the cover on the inside maneuverings of the bill-making business at the state Capitol. Amash, a Republican from Kentwood, is giving his 5,000-plus Facebook fans the type of insight you'd expect from a political newsletter.
He can make as many as 20 to 30 posts a day during a legislative session as he explains each bill he is voting on, how he is voting and why.
2010 House Bill 6180 (Create "uncompleted subdivision" renaissance tax break zones)
Introduced by Rep. Jim Slezak (D) on May 18, 2010,to authorize the extensive tax breaks and exemptions of a “renaissance zone” for up to 10 particular subdivisions started before the subprime/housing crash, that benefited from a local property tax special assessment levied to pay debt service on money borrowed by the local government to build infrastructure for the subdivision, and which now are only 20 percent completed. “Renaissance zone” status means that businesses and individuals within the zone are essentially exempt from all state and local taxes.
See also House Bill 6181, which creates a state revolving loan fund to bail out the local governments that aren't collecting the special assessment revenue they were counting on to pay the debt on the infrastructure projects. The bill is cosponsored by Reps. McDowell, Denby, Rogers, Marleau, Walsh and Daley.
Reports vary on higher education staffing "In separate reports about higher education
staffing, a Michigan newspaper says that more colleges and universities are
reducing faculty while another report says total higher education employment is
stable even in light of the recession."
Every week, MichiganVotes.org sends a report to newspapers and TV stations showing how just the state legislators in each publication's service area voted on the most important and interesting bills and amendments of the past seven days. The version shown here instead contains a link to the complete roll call tally in either the House or Senate.
The Department of Natural Resources and Environment today announced the denial of the permit to install applied for by Wolverine Power Supply to build a new 600 megawatt coal fired power plant near Rogers City.
Revenue from Michigan's sales tax is expected to be down just 1 percent this year, which is one more reason why talk among legislators about expanding it to services is a bad idea, Fiscal Policy Analyst James Hohman writes in this Oakland Press Op-Ed.
Catholic schools to share staff "Administrators and staff at two
Catholic high schools in Grand Rapids will consolidate this fall, but the
schools will not merge."
A movement to start a third party called "Tea Party" that doesn't have the support of the tea party movement will not work, a long-time Democrat consultant said Thursday.
Mark Grebner, a Democrat Ingham County Commissioner who runs Practical Political Consulting in East Lansing, called the effort "sneaky" and said it didn't have the front people to gain acceptance among the voters.
Earlier this week, Republican strategist Chetly Zarko uncovered a petition drive underway to create a third party called the "Tea Party." The petition drive has upset tea party officials who say they want no such thing.
Although distinctly a political act of war, Abraham Lincoln's Homestead Act encouraged the American dream of personal responsibility and right to property independent of government for over 100 years.
MIDLAND — Recent data compiled by the National Education Association shows that average salaries for Michigan public school teachers from 2003 to 2009 outpaced those of teachers in all other states when factoring in states' per capita personal income levels, according to analysis by Mackinac Center Education Policy Director Michael Van Beek.
In the free-market Club for Growth's just-released 2009 Congressional Scorecard, the average score for Michigan's Republican members of Congress is more than a dozen percentage points below the average score of 82.7 percent posted by all GOP members in Congress.
School aid fund has unexpected surplus "Surplus money in the School Aid Fund makes
it likely that public school districts will not see reductions in the 2011
education budget, but neither should they expect reimbursements for this year's
$165-per-pupil cut."
Last week, Sens. John Kerry and Joe Lieberman introduced the American Power Act, (Full text, section-by-section summary) the latest version of federal cap-and-trade legislation. Watch this Mackinac Center video to hear what impact this legislation would have on Michigan's economy.
Analysis and commentary by Education Policy Director Michael Van Beek figured prominently into media coverage of teacher salaries and health care recently.
Mixed voting seen on second ‘Race’ "Dowagiac Union Schools will not sign off
on the second round of the "Race to the Top" competition, while school
districts in Midland and Hancock will."
Constructing hundreds of wind turbines in the water, each approaching 400 feet in height with blades as long as 70 feet, would transform the scenic vistas of the Great Lakes into one of an industrial complex. Hardly "pure Michigan."
Teacher salaries in Michigan rank first in the nation when compared against relative state wealth, The Bay City Times reported. This despite claims by the Michigan Education Association that school personnel have made $1 billion in concessions over the past three years.
Personnel costs, primarily for salaries, insurance and retirement benefits, eat up 85 percent of the Port Huron Area School District's budget, according to this contract analysis by Mike Van Beek, education policy director, that appeared in today's Port Huron Times Herald.
The people who own a Michigan insurance company have been effectively deprived of their power to sell their own investment under a new law hurriedly introduced and overwhelmingly approved by the Legislature this spring. Fearing that they could not stop the owner-investors of Fremont Insurance from selling it to another company, the politically well-connected board of directors has decided to keep control in their hands by changing state law. Frank Kavanaugh, a stockholder with over $3 million invested in Fremont, says this decision by his own employees is akin to "investing in protection and influence instead of the success and growth of the business."
Another term for it is "crony capitalism" — when business and politicians gang up to thwart the marketplace and the rule of law.
MIDLAND — Recent data compiled by the National Education Association shows that average salaries for Michigan public school teachers from 2003 to 2009 outpaced those of teachers in all other states when factoring in states' per capita personal income levels, according to analysis by Mackinac Center Education Policy Director Michael Van Beek.
Reading 'proficiency' varies by test "While Michigan's own standardized
testing program showed that reading scores were up in 2009, a national report
says that Michigan trails other states in teaching its children to read well by
fourth grade."
Although the Utica Education Association consumes 70 percent of the district's budget, it just agreed to concessions worth only 18 percent of what's needed to keep the district in the black.
In 2006, Google's announcement that it was opening an AdWords office in Ann Arbor was trumpeted as the start of the transformation of a suffering Michigan economy.
The Michigan Economic Development Corp. lured the Internet giant to Ann Arbor with a 20-year tax credit valued at more than $38 million. The city of Ann Arbor also gave it up to 400 free parking spaces for four years in a city where parking spots are much in demand. Based on current costs for a spot in an Ann Arbor parking structure, the parking deal would be worth $633,600 a year to Google if all the spots are used.
For that lucrative deal, Gov. Jennifer Granholm said Google would bring in 1,000 direct and 1,200 spinoff jobs in its first five years. An MEDC press release stated, "Granholm said the Google decision is just the latest evidence that her economic recovery plan is beginning to deliver dividends of increased investment by high-tech companies that mean well-paying jobs for Michigan."
Yet, four years into the deal, few of the parties involved in the deal will talk about Google's performance in job creation since the announcement.
A lower court's interpretation of what constitutes a "public record" under Michigan's Freedom of Information Act would shield criminal and other improper government activities from public scrutiny, according to this "friend of the court" brief jointly submitted to the Michigan Supreme Court today by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy and the Michigan Press Association.
Click here to read the news release that explains the context of the case. The Mackinac Center's amicus brief for the Appeals Court hearing of this case is available here.
Audit reveals larger deficit "An audit shows the East Detroit Public
Schools Board of Education did not intentionally adopt a deficit budget for
2009-2010 — which is a violation of
state law — but did so because their top
officials handled finances so poorly."
"If the Michigan Legislature is going to interfere to deprive shareholders of the option to remove directors of public companies domiciled in Michigan whenever their boards are challenged, why would investors allocate capital in a state that deprives them of their rights?" Press Release from Biglari Holdings, as reported by MIRS News
The bill changed the rules of corporate governance in the middle of the game so as to benefit the politically well connected president of a Michigan insurance company against the will of a majority of the shareholders. Legislators may not know how to respond Bigliari's question ("We're sorry?"), but these comments from Larry the Liquidator suggest that he and other investors will know:
2010 House Bill 6155 (Require MDOT and local government "community benefit" agreements) Introduced by Rep. Coleman Young (D) on May 10, 2010, to require the Department of Transportation to enter "community benefits" agreements with local governments and/or "community representatives" (presumably from labor, environmental, and faith-based organizations, although the term is not defined) when undertaking large projects (such as the new Detroit River International Crossing or "DRIC"). The bill suggests that such “benefits” might include such things as paying higher-than-market wages on projects, increased state spending for additional welfare-like benefits in the area such as subsidized housing or health services, plus subsidies to local businesses, new recreational or other facilities, etc. They might also include additional state spending on environmental or aesthetic impact mitigations such as buffers, sound walls, etc. See also House Bill 6128
Districts may hire drivers through firm "Eight Muskegon area school
districts are considering hiring Michigan Education Transportation Services to
provide bus drivers, a move that could save districts anywhere from 5 percent
to 61 percent of current transportation costs."
A new paper from the National Institute on Retirement Security uses convoluted calculations to argue that public-sector employees receive wages that are 11 percent to 12 percent below private-sector averages. When calculated in a straightforward way, however, the alleged wage disparity disappears.
Every week, MichiganVotes.org sends a report to newspapers and TV stations showing how just the state legislators in each publication's service area voted on the most important and interesting bills and amendments of the past seven days. The version shown here instead contains a link to the complete roll call tally in either the House or Senate.
Another study castes doubts on what many are hoping will save Michigan's economy: schooling for 4-year-olds.
Teachers face retirement choices "Following action by the state Legislature
early today, thousands of Michigan school employees now must decide whether to
retire this summer with higher pension benefits or remain on the job and
contribute more to a retiree health care plan."
After a first attempt by politicians to defund a state organization failed, the state Senate is now taking its turn at trying to get rid of the Michigan Home Based Child Care Council (MHBCCC).
A Senate subcommittee approved language that would stop the Department of Human Services from finding money to give to the MHBCCC. The appropriations committee tried last year to cut the money to the council, but the DHS found money elsewhere from within its budget to keep it alive.
The New York Times has addressed an issue Labor Policy Director Paul Kersey first wrote about more than a month ago — that of the union's demands for an end to concessions despite being the beneficiary of GM and Chrysler bankruptcy restructuring.
"More revenue." "Stable source of funding." "Increased investment." These are the phrases we're hearing these days, to justify higher taxes. So is there a genuine revenue need that would justify the extra tax burden? Advocates for government programs are passionate — K-12 public school advocates particularly. They say that their areas are investment, and more resources are needed. Are they? The first question should be: What are you doing with the money you already get? Advocates point all around, but the answer, particularly for K-12 public schools, is stunning. Their income is locked in labor costs.
Linden reopener depends on MEA "Support staff employees in Linden Community
Schools are willing to consider concessions as a way to protect jobs, but the
Michigan Education Association will have final say on whether the local can
reopen its contract."
The News cites research by James Hohman, fiscal policy analyst, which shows Michigan film jobs have decreased despite the state handing out millions of dollars in subsidies to movie makers.
Today's editorial in The Detroit News is titled "Reforming education retirement benefits has turned into money grab" and both cites and draws heavily from this Michigan Capitol Confidential article by Jack McHugh, senior legislative analyst.
The Mackinac Center Legal Foundation and the Michigan Press Association jointly filed an amicus brief at the Michigan Supreme Court seeking to protect the Freedom of Information Act, according to the Livingston Daily Press & Argus.
Mike Van Beek, education policy director, recently wrote this analysis of the UCS teachers' contract, a version of which appeared in the print edition of the Macomb Daily over the weekend.
A new report from the Michigan Department of Education shows that average teacher salaries in Michigan grew by 3 percent to $58,721 in 2009. However, the average salary for unionized teachers in conventional school districts (93 percent of all teachers) was $62,556.
MIDLAND — In a filing yesterday with the Michigan Supreme Court in the lawsuit Loar v. DHS, Mackinac Center attorney Patrick J. Wright lodged a response to a Department of Human Services brief that he later described as a "thin hodge-podge of technicalities." The filing by Wright, director of the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation, called on the Supreme Court to immediately rule in favor of the home day care business owners the Mackinac Center represents in the case.
Utica teachers agree to freeze "Utica Community Schools teachers will forego
raises for one year and chip in toward their health insurance coverage under a contract
extension approved by the district and the Utica Education Association."
Last year, Paul Mayers was a school custodian employed by the Durand Area Public Schools. But in December, Mayers' job was outsourced to PCMI, which hired him back at the same salary wage but reduced benefits.
This month, Mayers ran for the school board and won. He takes office July 1.
His victory sets up an interesting scenario involving unions and their opposition to outsourcing at public schools.
Anyone who is concerned about protecting the Great Lakes from diversions should be worried when the state Legislature has to resort to a non-binding House Concurrent Resolution as a last line of defense against large scale diversions from Lake Michigan.
Custodians agree to concessions "Ann Arbor Public Schools custodial
and maintenance workers agreed to lower wages, less vacation time and higher
health insurance payments in their most recent contract agreement with the
district, which now will retain the 164 workers and their seven supervisors rather than
outsource the work."
A state house committee is looking into an Auditor General's report that the state's flagship economic development program may have given out an estimated $150 million in tax credits erroneously.
The State House Tax Policy Committee will hold a hearing at 9 a.m. Wednesday on the audit of the Michigan Economic Growth Authority program.
The MEGA gives out tax credits to approved businesses for jobs they create.
Last year, Don Volaric offered his expertise in the insurance business to U.S. Congressman Sander Levin.
Volaric, who owns a small health insurance agency, was upset about what he said was incorrect information on health care coming from both parties. Levin was his congressman.
"They said, 'Thanks but no thanks,' " said Volaric.
Now, Volaric has decided to run against Levin in the 12th Congressional District, which is north of Detroit and includes Southfield, Warren and Clinton Township.
MIDLAND — A lower court's interpretation of what constitutes a "public record" under Michigan's Freedom of Information Act would shield criminal and other improper government activities from public scrutiny, according to an amicus brief jointly submitted to the Michigan Supreme Court today by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy and the Michigan Press Association.
A new report from the Michigan Department of Education shows that average teacher salaries in Michigan grew by 3 percent to $58,721 in 2009. However, the average salary for unionized teachers in conventional school districts (93 percent of all teachers) was $62,556.
There are good reasons why so many Americans are disgusted by the current state of politics, and a story in today's MichiganCapitolConfidential.com captures many of them. It describes progress in the Legislature of a modest school employee pension reform proposed by Gov. Jennifer Granholm. Here's the gist: Most Democratic and many Republican lawmakers are self-interestedly serving the system, not the people.
Audit: Extra high school money had little effect "The
Michigan Department of Education spent more than $67 million to help
low-performing high schools meet federal academic achievement goals from 2005
to 2009, but to almost no effect."
Law would allow algebra substitutes "Michigan lawmakers have adopted legislation
under which high school students would not have to take algebra II in order to
graduate, as long as they take statistics, data analysis or some other substitute
class."
Bobb wins in court — for now "An appeals court has cleared the way for Robert
Bobb, emergency fiscal manager of Detroit Public Schools, to continue an
overhaul of the district's academic program and facilities, but opponents say
they will try again to block his plan."
Both editorials cite this recent blog post by Russ Harding, senior environmental policy analyst, in which he deemed the bill the "Newspaper Death Act."
Rate hike takes up most of savings "Teachers in Montabella Community Schools agreed
to higher deductibles and co-pays as a way to bring down health insurance
costs, only to learn that their insurance administrator will raise premium
rates by about 15 percent in the coming year."
Michigan GOP candidates for governor are starting to often use a statistic about the exodus of residents from Michigan. It purports to show the rate at which people are leaving.
Rick Snyder, a GOP candidate for governor, has it on his website that every 12 minutes, a family leaves Michigan.
Mike Bouchard, another gubernatorial Republican candidate said Saturday in Clarkston, "Every 12 minutes, someone leaves this state."
Where did the statistic come from? Is it a "family" or a "person"?
Senior economist David Littmann told The Oakland Press that Thursday's large stock market drop is an indication the United States could face a "very, very serious secondary recession."
Politicians raiding various pots of tax money to fix their self-created overspending crises and balance the state budget have left certain line items short, according to this Detroit News editorial.
Patrick J. Wright, director of the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation, is scheduled to be on The Frank Beckmann Show on WJR-AM760 at 9:19 a.m. to discuss several e-mails that shed light on how 40,000 home-based day care owners were shanghaied into a union despite being small-business owners.
Northwest considers privatization "The superintendent of Northwest Community
Schools says that privatizing custodial and transportation services could save
the district about $1 million in 2010-2011, but support service workers have
asked the board not to outsource."
If President Barack Obama can't get his controversial "cap-and-trade" energy legislation passed, some experts feel he'll turn to the Environmental Protection Agency to get the same results.
Los Angeles' looming bankruptcy was caused by the same process of "Detroitification" that plagues Michigan: A political class progressively hollowing out the private economy to prop up the perks and privileges of an unsustainable government establishment.
On Monday, a Michigan Capitol Confidential story brought to light a series of e-mails between Nick Ciaramitaro, director of legislation and public policy for AFSCME Council 25, and representatives from the Michigan Department of Human Services and the Michigan Home-Based Child Care Council (MHBCCC).
A bill that would temporarily trim the taxpayer-provided 401(k) matching payments for employees of the Michigan Legislature was overwhelmingly approved on April 21, on a vote of 91-17. Just three Republicans voted against the measure, along with fourteen Democrats. A similar proposal that applies to the lawmakers themselves was approved on a vote of 99-9, with Democrats providing all nine "no" votes.
Millage results vary by region "Voters in Metro Detroit turned down several school
millage requests Tuesday, while those in the Lansing area approved them."
People often respond to government-generated disincentives such as high taxes by voting with their feet, migrating to places with greater economic freedom and opportunity.
At a Mackinac Center forum on April 29, Dr. Margaret Thorning discussed the impact cap-and-trade and other climate change legislation would have on Michigan's economy. Earlier that day, Thorning and Jack McHugh, senior legislative analyst, were guests on The Frank Beckmann Show on WJR-AM760.
Michael Van Beek, director of education policy, corrects a common myth about school funding in "Special Report: The Changing Face of Education in Michigan," by WILX-TV in Lansing.
GVSU approves first virtual charter school "Michigan Virtual Charter
Academy, the state's first online charter public school, will open this fall
with up to 400 kindergarten through eighth-grade students."
Notwithstanding the claims of many tax-friendly Lansing politicians and their government employee union patrons, it appears that taxation really does matter.
Per capita figures make Michigan seem worse off by comparison to other states since population is less responsive to economic changes than are tax revenues. Still, Michigan's per capita tax burden increased over the past decade.
A package of 17 bills sponsored by State Rep. Justin Amash would eliminate or reduce targeted business tax breaks in favor of across-the-board business tax relief. The idea is to minimize state interference in business by preventing government planners from handing out special favors to a favored few, while simultaneously granting a measure of relief to all MBT payers. After all, if tax cuts create economy- and job-boosting "incentives" for a few hundred firms selected by government "economic development" officials, won't lower taxes do the same the 100,000-plus firms who get no special treatment?
Anecdotes and snippets from the Americans for Prosperity "Defending the American Dream Summit" in Clarkston on Saturday.
Bobb says Teach for America returning to DPS "Teach for America will return to Detroit
Public Schools this fall, according to DPS emergency financial manager Robert
Bobb, but the teachers union president has called the announcement premature."
Most Tea Party activists didn't plan to take on their role, and many are brand new to politics — literally accidental activists created by the times, rather than their passion for politics.
Aside from voting regularly, business owner Ben DiPonio of Milford says he wasn't ever anyone's definition of a political activist. But as the train to federalized health care clattered clumsily to the president's desk earlier this year, a frustrated DiPonio, 64, found himself repeatedly screaming at his television. His wife Joanne told him to either shut it off, or do something about it.
The Italian immigrant, who became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1982, decided to do something, and attended his first Tea Party at the state capitol last month.
The organization set up as the employer of 40,000 home-based day care workers, some of whom were unionized without their knowledge, was a union-driven experiment without legal or administrative precedence that had the support of the state's Executive Office, according to a batch of e-mails involving union members and the Michigan Home Based Child Care Council.
Three of the top GOP candidates for governor had a debate Saturday at the Americans for Prosperity summit in Clarkston.
Attorney General Mike Cox, Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard and U.S. Congressman Peter Hoekstra all squared off for a 90-minute debate. AFP spokespeople said missing candidate Rick Snyder was also invited but wasn't present.
Here's the topics and each candidate's response.
Berrien Springs partners with home-schoolers "Following a successful year in
forensics, Berrien Springs Public Schools wants to expand its partnership program
with home-school families, Superintendent Jim Bermingham told the school board
recently."
When Sarah Palin was told to leave Michigan in 2008 when her running mate John McCain pulled the plug on their presidential campaign in this state, Palin said she was shocked.
On Saturday, she told a crowd of 1,400 in Clarkston it definitely wasn't her idea and she paid a political price for saying so.
Palin was the keynote speaker Saturday at Americans for Prosperity's Defending the American Dream Summit at Mt. Zion Church in Clarkston.
Every week MichiganVotes.org sends a report to newspapers and TV stations showing how just the state legislators in each publication's service area voted on the most important and/or interesting bills and amendments of the past seven days. The version shown here instead contains a link to the complete roll call tally in either the House or Senate. To find out who your state Senator is and how to contact him or her go here; for state Representatives go here.
Vote 1 of 4 in this report: Senate Bill 1227, School employee pension reform package, passed in the House (59 to 45) The House version of a school employee pension reform package proposed by Gov. Granholm. As in the Governor's and Senate-passed versions, this one would increase school employee contributions to their post-retirement benefits by 3 percent. However, it would use the money to pay for retiree health care benefits, rather than bolster the underfunded pension fund or reduce school district contributions. It would also increase by 13.3 percent the cash pension benefits of certain school employees who retire by July 1 (twice the amount the governor proposed); force all charter school employees into the conventional schools' traditional pension system; and allow some "retired" teachers to collect a pension while continuing to work. Finally, a slightly less generous system for new hires proposed by the Governor is not included in the House version.
School taxes on Tuesday ballot "A number of Detroit area public school
districts will ask voters Tuesday to approve higher taxes for school
improvements."
Tuesday's committee hearing gave senators a chance to quiz the MHBCCC about its purpose, its creation through an interlocal agreement between the Department of Human Services and Mott Community College, and the big question: the council's relationship with the Child Care Providers-Together Michigan or CCPTM, the so-called "day care union."
The testimony disclosed at least one unexpected revelation.
About nine months before an Auditor General's report questioned the accuracy of job projections in tax incentives handed to companies by the state, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy did its own study highlighting the problem.
The Mackinac Center study states that for every 1,000 jobs companies projected they would create, about 294 jobs were actually created, on average — about 29 percent.
That report was vindicated by the Auditor General report that was released April 23. The report looked at company projections from 2005 through 2007 and concluded that about 28 percent of projected jobs came to fruition.
This year, Gov. Jennifer Granholm proposed requiring that school and state employees contribute an additional 3 percent of their pay into their traditional "defined benefits" pension fund, in return for a 6.6 percent early retirement pension benefit "sweetener." This week, the House of Representatives passed its version of the proposal, Senate Bill 1227, which was loaded down with "poison pills" and costly giveaways to unionized school employees, presumably extracted by the politically powerful Michigan Education Association union. These may cause the measure to actually increase school expenses over time, even with the higher employee contributions.
Tuesday's committee hearing gave senators a chance to quiz the MHBCCC about its purpose, its creation through an interlocal agreement between the Department of Human Services and Mott Community College, and the big question: the council's relationship with the Child Care Providers-Together Michigan or CCPTM, the so-called "day care union."
The testimony disclosed at least one unexpected revelation.
The editorial in today's Livingston Daily Press & Argus takes to task the Michigan film subsidy program, saying the state has failed "to produce any hard data that would allow the public - or state lawmakers, for that matter - to determine" if the giveaway is working.
An editorial in today's Oakland Press says that small-business owners who were forced into a union "weren't treated fairly" and that "the process of adding them to the union seems skewed and wrong."
Dollar Bay takes over alternative school "Dollar Bay-Tamarack City Area Schools
will take over operation of a nearby alternative high school and open the
enrollment process so that students do not need permission from their assigned
district to attend."
One of the entry-level jobs at the City of Ann Arbor's waste transfer station entails separating glass bottles from aluminum as they come down a conveyor belt.
For that job, FCR, the company that manages the waste station, usually pays the minimum wage of $7.40 an hour.
But because the city of Ann Arbor passed a "living wage" ordinance, those sorters make $13.05 an hour this year. Thanks to a deal struck with the city council, the city reimburses FCR so that it can pay the higher "living wage."
But a recent Michigan Supreme Court decision may invalidate such arrangements, as cities no longer have the authority to mandate wages with contractors they hire, says Paul Kersey, director of labor policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.
There is no perfect method known for measuring a state's economic well being, or forecasting its future prospects. Nevertheless, over time many scholars using different methodologies have presented a relatively consistent picture: Michigan's economic performance and outlook have trended in a negative direction since their first reports. It's not hard to understand why: Lawmakers here continue to stifle growth with counterproductive policies.
At bottom, Michigan Education Association President Iris Salters’ latest commentary in The Detroit News is an attempt to lay a guilt trip on Michigan taxpayers, essentially saying, "If you really cared about your children you’d send us more money." This sort of manipulation can be annoying when it comes from an acquaintance. When it comes from the president of a multimillion dollar government employee union and lobbying group, it’s bound to be expensive.
A new study published by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, called "Economic Freedom and Employment Growth in the U.S. States," concludes that there is a link between economic freedom and employment growth. Other studies have come to the same conclusion. One of the things that makes this one different is its findings on labor markets. The authors write: "In addition, we find that less restrictive state and national government labor market policies have the greatest impact on employment growth in U.S. states."
That conclusion doesn't bode well for Michigan, which is known for having a relatively hostile labor climate and which over the last 10 years has seen its overall national economic freedom ranking tumble.
The Michigan Auditor General yesterday released a 72-page audit of the Michigan Economic Growth Authority program, finding that it is poorly administered. MEGA is the state's flagship "jobs" program, granting selective tax breaks and subsidies to particular firms selected to be "winners" by its staff.
The Auditor General's examination focused on reviews conducted by the agency that oversees MEGA. In other words, this was a review conducted to determine whether or not MEGA companies granted selective tax breaks have used proper "job count and salary information."
Moments ago, the Michigan House of Representatives passed a bill that would force every charter school in the state to enroll its teachers in the underfunded and hugely expensive "defined benefits" pension system to which conventional public school employees belong. This year, conventional school districts are required to pay an amount equal to 16.94 percent of their payroll into this system, which promises its members lifetime monthly pension payments and health insurance upon their retirement. To deal with the increased cost pressures, next year, school contributions are expected to rise to 19 percent of payroll.
A revelation during a Michigan Senate committee hearing last week is drawing some new connections to the mechanism that enabled some 40,000 home-based day care owners to be categorized as public employees and unionized. There are indications that some of the so-called dots that need connecting may include the Granholm administration and Lt. Gov. John Cherry.
Just two members of Michigan's delegation to Congress have signed a national pledge to repeal and replace ObamaCare with "real reforms that lower health care costs without growing government."
At the beginning of this year, as the president and Congress began pushing toward the finish line with their effort to federalize control of the U.S. health care system, the Washington D.C.-based Club for Growth began retargeting its opposition toward the 2010 election by creating the "Repeal It" pledge. It asks 2010 candidates for Congress to pledge to strike down the federalized health care law. As of Monday afternoon, 72 current members of Congress and 307 candidates have signed on. This includes just two current members from Michigan and twelve challengers.
Moments ago, the Michigan House of Representatives passed a bill that would force every charter school in the state to enroll its teachers in the underfunded and hugely expensive "defined benefits" pension system to which conventional public school employees belong. This year, conventional school districts are required to pay an amount equal to 16.94 percent of their payroll into this system, which promises its members lifetime monthly pension payments and health insurance upon their retirement. To deal with the increased cost pressures, next year, school contributions are expected to rise to 19 percent of payroll.
The state's "flagship" economic development program may have doled out an estimated $150 million in tax credits erroneously in the last five years to companies that didn't meet the criteria due to a lack of oversight, according to State Rep. Tom McMillin, R-Rochester Hills.
McMillin met with the state Auditor General's office Tuesday after it released a report this week that said the state didn't follow up on company job projections that often fell short of required triggers to receive tax credits but still received the money.
The report comes a little more than a month after it was learned that the Michigan Economic Growth Authority (MEGA) board approved a $9.1 million tax credit to Richard Short, a convicted embezzler who was CEO of a company named Renewable and Sustainable Companies LLC (RASCO).
Groups train residents how to lobby "Two organizations opposed to cuts in
public education taught Kalamazoo area residents Saturday how to lobby legislators
and talk to politicians about protecting school funding."
There are 50,000 petitions to defeat the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act out in 73 of Michigan's 83 counties, according to the petition drive's director.
Wendy Day, director of Michigan Citizens for Healthcare Freedom, said the movement also has coordinators in more than half of the counties.
The petition drive is an attempt to roll back the federal health care law recently approved by the U.S. Congress. The petition would put a proposed state constitutional amendment on the ballot in November to be voted upon.
At 14, Elliot Gaiser says he was reading the Wall Street Journal.
Six years later, Gaiser is trying to offer balance to a generation he says doesn't hear the conservative viewpoint.
Gaiser, 20, is a sophomore at Hillsdale College who launched the Conservative Private Radio Network. He posts his podcasts on his website: www.conservativeprivateradio.com
Gaiser is part of what he calls the "Starbucks generation" — the 18-24 age group that he says is likely to vote for Barack Obama.
Trenton board won’t support tax "The Trenton Public Schools Board of
Education voted 6-0 against supporting a proposed new, countywide school
millage."
A national think tank is saying the state constitution in Michigan doesn't have to be changed to nullify the federal healthcare reform law known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
Michael Boldin, founder of the Tenth Amendment Center in Los Angeles, said his think tank is saying it is as simple as standard legislative action.
The Tenth Amendment Center is proposing a template for its Federal Health Care Nullification Act legislation that Boldin said would nullify the federal health care law.
There was an $835,000 Michigan State University study on the ecology of plankton, a $440,000 University of Michigan study on galaxies with black holes and a $322,000 Eastern Michigan University study on languages of the Arctic.
All were paid for by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act — the federal stimulus program that Congress approved in 2009 to help jump-start the economy.
While shovel-ready construction jobs got most of the media attention, there was $3 billion given out by the National Science Foundation to support academic research as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
It raises a question about the stimulus program's approach to solving Michigan's economic woes, said Jack McHugh, senior legislative analyst for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.
Every week MichiganVotes.org sends a report to newspapers and TV stations showing how just the state legislators in each publication's service area voted on the most important and/or interesting bills and amendments of the past seven days. The version shown here instead contains a link to the complete roll call tally in either the House or Senate. To find out who your state Senator is and how to contact him or her go here; for state Representatives go here.
Vote 1 of 6 in this report: House Bill 4394, Ban texting while driving, passed in the House (74 to 33)
To concur with the Senate-passed version of an explicit "texting while driving" traffic violation, which changes the previous House-passed "secondary offense" only version to one making this a primary offence, meaning that a driver can get stopped just for this.
Some actions that are not — and should not be — illegal are nonetheless reprehensible. Civil society plays a key role in these instances to foster good behavior. In the case of Pittsburgh Steelers' quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who was accused of sexual assault last month, the NFL is correctly enforcing social norms outside of the legal system.
Earth Day does not seem to have much to do anymore with a desire for cleaner air, land or water but instead with promoting a left-leaning political ideology.
Things are about to get much tougher for the 440 or so Michigan school districts that buy employee health insurance from the Michigan Education Special Services Association. MESSA recently reported that it's predicting a statewide average increase of 13 percent in the price of its premiums.
Michigan joins ‘Innovation’ competition "Nearly 2,500 schools or organizations,
including 83 in Michigan, have indicated they will compete for "Investing in
Innovation" grant money from the U.S. Department of Education."
The average state employee compensation package costs approximately $93,039. Inflation-adjusted wages and benefits have increased 25 percent since fiscal 1999. The figures include the value of all benefits from state-paid retirement contributions to dry cleaning allowances.
Jobs in the film industry fell nearly 10 percent, despite Michigan giving away millions of dollars of tax money in subsidies to movie makers, according to the Detroit Free Press.
The LM-2 forms for 2009 are up on the Department of Labor website. Let’s look at some of the highlights. Up first, the United Auto Workers. It was a tough year all around for the crew at Solidarity House:
Rick Lowe of the Nassau Institute posted a blog entry April 3 about his experience with a group gathered near his home in the Bahamas to watch and discuss Michael Moore's latest film, "Capitalism: A Love Story."
It has been two years since Michigan's film subsidy program became law, which is sufficient for it to have gotten off the ground and had some measureable impact on the state's economy. According to the most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics, 18 months after its launch there were 9.8 percent fewer people employed by the film industry in Michigan than when the subsidy program began.
MESSA rates up 24 percent in Jackson "Jackson Public Schools will see a 24
percent hike in health insurance rates next year, an amount that Superintendent
Dan Evans called "obscene."
What's 410 feet tall, makes a humming sound and could be at a lake near you soon?
Answer: Wind turbines — an alternative source of power that is creating a stir on both sides of the state.
Lake St. Clair is the latest target for 160 wind turbines, according to State Rep. Timothy Bledsoe, D-Grosse Pointe Farms. Bledsoe has scheduled a community forum on May 3 to discuss the impact the wind turbines will have on the lake.
Michigan law requires that all teachers participate in professional development programs even though recent studies show that professional development does nothing to help teachers improve student achievement. Instead of fruitlessly trying to transform ineffective teachers, schools should focus on hiring and retaining high-performing ones.
Today the Michigan House of Representatives is expected to take up the Senate version of legislation that would create a specific new "driving while texting" traffic offense. The measure had already passed the House with an important provision that was stripped out by the Republican-controlled Senate: It now would be a "primary" offense, meaning a driver could be stopped just because a police officer sees him or her texting.
With a secondary-offense only provision, I would be agnostic on the ban and not view it as per se unreasonable in the way of seatbelt or motorcycle helmet mandates, which infringe on my right to wrack my own body as I see fit (but not others').
So I asked my Mackinac Center colleagues whether I have turned into a squish on nanny-statism.
It has been two years since Michigan's film subsidy program became law, which is sufficient for it to have gotten off the ground and had some measureable impact on the state's economy. According to the most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics, 18 months after its launch there were 9.8 percent fewer people employed by the film industry in Michigan than when the subsidy program began.
The shell corporation created by Gov. Jennifer Granholm's administration and labor allies to shanghai 40,000 home-based day care providers into a union has "no authority to set rates or provide benefits," according to the Detroit Free Press.
As mentioned in a related article published in Michigan Capitol Confidential ("Analysis: What's Next for Michigan Tea Parties?" April 20), although Tea Party rallies held across the state and nation last week had mixed results in turnout, the movement itself appears strong, according to recent polls, including a Rasmussen one showing that 24 percent of U.S. voters now say they consider themselves a part of the Tea Party movement.
My own observations at several Tea Parties suggest that whatever the exact attendance figures, there appear to have been far fewer of those "shell-shockedm" middle-aged, middle-class people who swelled the turnout a year ago, and who described themselves as being frightened at was happening in Washington, and had never previously been involved in any political activities.
In Houghton County, C.J. Williams researches political candidates and then posts the information on the "MichigansNewsandViews.com" website.
In Luce County, Tea Party organizer John Waltman scours numerous news websites looking for information on Michigan political candidates and then sends his findings to a list of 800 members.
Who is their northern Michigan audience?
Tea Party members that now research politicians — especially Republicans.
Tax Day Tea Party rallies were held across the state and nation last week, with mixed results in turnout. Regardless of the exact attendance, the movement represents a potent new force on the American political landscape. Its leaders and members are currently focused on changing the composition of Congress in November, but their real challenge will be finding ways after the election to pressure the political class — especially Republicans — to stick to the fiscal restraint promises made in the heat of the campaign.
One reads and rereads Hoffa’s musings in vain for some hint of a solution to the state’s problems — even a misguided one — but there is none. Hoffa has no answers.
Yesterday marked the 15th anniversary of the creation of the Michigan Economic Growth Authority, a business-tax credit and subsidy program designed to create new and keep existing jobs in the state. The Mackinac Center has published two rigorous analyses of MEGA: "MEGA: A Retrospective Assessment" in 2005, and "Michigan Economic Development Corporation: A Review and Analysis" in 2009.
Both studies found that the program had no impact on overall job creation in the state. Another study found that Michigan would have been better off economically if the state had just cut taxes for all businesses instead of operating a targeted tax break program.
Attracting residential and commercial expansion to the Detroit Region Aerotropolis — some 60,000 mostly vacant acres between the Detroit Metro and Willow Run airports — should occur using private money, according to one Mackinac Center analyst.
Schools around Michigan are cutting services and reducing staff, yet teachers in more than half of the districts statewide pay nothing toward the cost of their own health insurance.
Two Republicans joined a united Democrat caucus in the Michigan House to oppose a recent vote on whether local governments in Michigan should be permitted to create "right-to-work zones." Within these proposed zones, employers would be prohibited from compelling an employee to join a union under threat of either being fired or never hired in the first place. Free-market labor analysts have repeatedlynoted that there is a strong correlation between a state's economic growth and whether it provides right-to-work protections to its workers. And polling data has indicated strong public support for Michigan becoming a right-to-work state.
Judge: Bobb overstepped authority "In a power struggle between the Detroit Board of
Education and Robert Bobb, the district's emergency financial manager, a Wayne
Circuit Court judge has ruled that Bobb may not close schools or implement his
academic plan without consulting the board."
State Representative Dave Agema, R-Grandville, has submitted a resolution asking that the Michigan Supreme Court hear a case involving home-based day care workers who say they didn't realize they were unionized by the state.
Last Week Detroit News Editorial Page Editor Nolan Finley blogged about an article that Mackinac Center senior legislative analyst Jack McHugh wrote for Michigan Capitol Confidential about how government employee unions were using their political power to prevent the Legislature from passing modest pension and compensation reforms needed to address a $1.5 billion budget deficit. It cited, and Finley quoted, three examples from before the Legislature's recent two-week spring break. They were:
Every week MichiganVotes.org sends a report to newspapers and TV stations showing how just the state legislators in each publication's service area voted on the most important and/or interesting bills and amendments of the past seven days. The version shown here instead contains a link to the complete roll call tally in either the House or Senate. To find out who your state Senator is and how to contact him or her go here; for state Representatives go here.
Vote 1 of 4 in this report: Senate Bill 1226, Senate state employee pension reform package, passed in the Senate (22 to 16) To require state employees under the pre-1997 traditional "defined benefits" pension plan to pay an additional 3 percent of their salary into their pension fund. (State employees hired since 1997 have 401K-type "defined contribution" pensions.) The measure will save some $35 million in the next fiscal year and $304.5 million over 10 years. Senate majority Republicans failed to achieve a caucus consensus on an earlier version that would have saved around $104 million next year.
Complete Roll Call Vote Tally
Once upon a time a band named Pink Floyd was a fixture on the Billboard album chart. For 741 weeks, the band's "Dark Side of the Moon" reigned as one of the top-200 selling albums in the United States. The album's themes range from mortality to madness.
Sadly, the album now comes to mind when you think of Michigan. The state's unemployment rate is 14.1 percent for the month, making it the nation's highest for 48 months straight.
Theresa Dickerson stood among nearly 1,000 Tea Party protesters Thursday with a common complaint.
She was tired of another misconception in the media about the movement she had heard earlier in the day. Dickerson, of Middleville, said a commentator was chastising Tea Partiers for not wanting any taxes.
"We don't want to abolish all taxes," Dickerson said. "We want to cut out all the waste and all the favoritism that goes on."
Thousands of Tea Party activists came out Thursday all across Michigan.
Senate plan drops pension ‘sweetener’ "The Michigan Senate has adopted a revised
plan intended to save about $230 million by nudging eligible state workers and
public school employees into retirement."
Today is April 15, the last day to file your 2009 tax return. Protests are happening around the state alleging rampant growth of government, overtaxation and overregulation.
In 1992, incumbent Republican Congressman Bob Davis chose not to run for re-election in the Michigan 1st District because he was one of the top five politicians implicated in the House “check kiting“ scandal. Davis had represented the district covering the northern Lower Peninsula and the entire Upper Peninsula since 1978. Poor decisions made then by a state Republican establishment alienated many grass roots “true believers” in the district, opening the door for a former one-term Democrat state Representative, who won and went on to an 18-year Congressional career.
Fast forward to 2010: The 1st District seat has once again become open due to a misstep by the incumbent, that once little-known Democrat who won the seat in 1992. His name, of course, is Bart Stupak, and the misstep was his vote in favor of President Barack Obama’s health care bill. And once again, members of the Republican establishment are making moves that could diminish grass roots support for the party’s eventual candidate in the November general election, potentially leading to the ascension of yet another Democrat “dynasty” in the 1st District.
Today is April 15, the last day to file your 2009 tax return. Protests are happening around the state alleging rampant growth of government, overtaxation and overregulation.
Teacher contracts are coming under greater scrutiny as Gov. Jennifer Granholm and the Michigan Legislature continue to create overspending crises that mean fewer dollars going to public schools.
Goodrich, Fenton opt for state’s “choice” program "Goodrich Area Schools will join the
state's school choice program in 2010-2011, and Fenton Area Public Schools will
remain in the program as well."
MSU drops retiree health benefit "As of July 1, a job offer at Michigan
State University will no longer include retirement health benefits."
Michigan's Tea Party organizers say they are prepared if a national Web site follows through on its plans to infiltrate the limited-government movement and portray it in a negative light.
The Web site, www.crashthetteaparty.org, is advertising that it will infiltrate the Tea Party movement and "exaggerate their least appealing qualities (misspelled protest signs, wild claims in TV interviews, etc.)."
The Web site calls the Tea Party movement a "loose affiliation of racists, homophobes, and morons ..."
The threat to pose as obnoxious Tea Partiers has drawn national media attention, since there will be Tea Party protests all over the country on Thursday. Michigan will have dozens of protests throughout the state.
A recent Macomb Daily editorial agrees with the point made a month ago by a Mackinac Center scholar regarding proposed legislation to cap teacher and superintendent salaries.
The Legislature returns today after a two-week break to take up perhaps the greatest challenge facing state government since 1983: an estimated $1.5 billion budget shortfall. Making this all the more difficult is the apparent inability of lawmakers to adopt what most struggling private-sector workers and small-business owners view as modest reductions in state employee pay and benefits. That failure was highlighted in three separate events just before the break.
Union backing still seen as key to 'Race' "Education officials say that union support
will be needed if Michigan wants to win money in the second round of the Race
to the Top competition, but few details have emerged on just how that will
happen."
Two of the world's most polarizing politicians will both be in Michigan on May 1.
Sarah Palin and President Barack Obama will be about 50 miles apart as each gives a speech on that day.
Palin will speak May 1 at the Americans for Prosperity's "Defending the American Dream" event at Mt. Zion church in Clarkston. President Obama will give the spring commencement address at the University of Michigan on the same day.
Scott Hagerstrom, the chairman of the Michigan chapter of AFP, said he felt lucky to get Palin, since he was told she gets 2,500 requests a year.
More home-based day care providers are speaking out about being forced into a union they didn't know existed and did not vote for, according to The Oakland Press.
The odds of a local municipality in Michigan passing a tax increase in the current economic climate are fairly low, according to Michael LaFaive, director of the Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative.
The Brown Township woman's sign for Sunday's Tea Party rally was a play on what she sees as the end game to the conservative free-market movement: get more conservative politicians elected.
"For me, success would mean Tea Parties around the country would actually make a change in the (U.S.) House and Senate," Solano said. "To me, that would be more important than defeating (President Barack) Obama."
Solano said without control of the House and Senate, Obama's power evaporates.
About 4,000 people showed up in Clinton Township for the final leg of the national Tea Party Express tour.
ISD, local district could share superintendent "A single individual could serve
concurrently as superintendent of a local public school district and an
intermediate school district under legislation proposed recently in the
Michigan House of Representatives."
Onaway reduces spending "Onaway Area Schools will reduce spending by
about $500,000 and use $220,000 in fund equity to make ends meet in 2010-2011."
Back to semesters in Grand Rapids "Grand Rapids and West Ottawa public
schools have already announced a move back to semesters next year, while other
West Michigan high schools are remaining on a trimester schedule."
MichiganVotes.org sends a weekly report to newspapers and TV stations around the state showing how state legislators in their service area voted on the most important or interesting bills of the past week. Because the legislature did not meet this week, rather than roll call vote results this report presents a sampling of recently proposed state laws. Go here to see the concise and objective (but “brutally honest”) MichiganVotes descriptions of these bills.
The recent death of Alex Chilton apparently wasn't as much from a heart attack as it was a lack of nationalized health insurance, if one is to believe Facebook comments prompted by a recent article by Keith Spera of the Times-Picayune.
Nearly every aspect of a teacher's job falls under the rules of a union contract. The following is an analysis of the current collective bargaining agreement for teachers and a few other employee groups in the East Lansing School District.
While nearly all of the Republican lawmakers in Lansing have been generically very eager to proclaim their desire to cut the cost of state government — and for reductions in the cost of the state workforce in particular — some have been voting down the Secretary of State's effort to actually implement a specific plan to do so — when it impacts their interests.
On the day the national Tea Party Express set up camp in his back yard, U.S. Democrat Congressman Bart Stupak, who became the target of health care reform critics, announced his retirement on Friday.
The Tea Party Express, which is headquartered in California, had raised $80,000 to defeat Stupak, who is from Menominee. Tea Party Express officials said they had committed $250,000 in advertising to defeat Stupak.
Union backing seen as necessary "Everyone agrees that union support will be needed
if Michigan wants to win any money in the second round of the Race to the Top
competition, but few details have emerged on just how that will happen."
The actual competitiveness of the Big Three never rated highly as a value for the government’s restructuring of the industry, and the UAW has shown it is prone to act cavalierly towards those same companies as they struggle back toward profitability.
District saved $25,000 on four-day week "The Adams Township School District saved
about $25,000 by experimenting with a four-day schedule for three months, but
now students are back to a five-day school week."
Bold strokes, such as cutting taxes and reducing the cost of public-employee benefits, are needed to help Michigan rebound, Center President Joseph G. Lehman said Tuesday as part of a panel discussion at Wayne State University.
When a reporter told Joan Fabiano, founder of Grass Roots in Michigan, that he wanted to attend one of their meetings, the Holt woman informed him via Facebook that reporters were not allowed at their meetings.
The reporter, whose last article on Fabiano's activism referred to the Tea Party movement as "tea bag" in a headline, showed up anyway and — once turned away — stood in the parking lot of a church interviewing members.
Fabiano wrote about the experience on her blog and posted a link to it on Facebook that went out to her 900-plus Facebook friends.
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]-->Late to the technology party, the Tea Party movement is now utilizing new media and other social networking tools to build their following and get their message out.
Firm develops iPad math programs "A Grand Haven company that already
publishes educational tools such as flash cards and laptop computer programs
now is providing applications for the new Apple iPad."
It is disturbing that Detroit City officials and its contractors would flagrantly disregard well-known environmental laws regarding the removal of asbestos. It is more disturbing that state environmental regulatory officials seem to be applying different enforcement standards to government agencies and the private sector.
Tired of a series of embarrassing comments and controversies from the leader of the national GOP, some Michigan Republicans say they have no confidence in Michael Steele.
Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee, made national news yesterday when it was reported that the RNC struck a curious deal with the Michigan GOP. According to the Daily Caller, 15 Michigan donors maxed out their donations at the end of 2009 so as to give $500,000 to the RNC, which then returned the money within two months to the state GOP. It raises questions about campaign finance violations.
Gerry Hildenbrand, a former chair of the Allegan County GOP who now serves on its executive committee, said he doesn't have confidence in Steele to lead the GOP.
The illegal shanghaiing of home-based day care providers into a government employees union has attracted the attention of the Small Business Legal Center at the National Federation of Independent Business. It filed an amicus brief with the Michigan Supreme Court requesting that the Court grant the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation's appeal in the Loar v. DHS lawsuit challenging the forced unionization.
It is disturbing that Detroit City officials and its contractors would flagrantly disregard well-known environmental laws regarding the removal of asbestos. It is more disturbing that state environmental regulatory officials seem to be applying different enforcement standards to government agencies and the private sector.
The Tea Party movement won't have an impact on congressional elections in November, is "a lot of noise, no muscle" with popularity that "thins out" outside the rallies, according to an Associated Press analysis of the movement.
"I don't think they (media) understand what we are doing," said Wendy Day, founder of Common Sense in Government. "They don't get it. I bet the media and the political elite feel much like England did in 1776. That something was brewing and they didn't understand it so they discounted it and ignored it."
The Thomas More Law Center has filed a motion for a preliminary injunction on the enforcement of the individual mandate provision of the newly enacted health care reform act, the Ann Arbor-based law firm announced Tuesday.
It was filed in a federal district court. The government has 21 days to respond. The basis for the lawsuit and the motion is that Congress exceeded its authority under the Constitution by mandating that private citizens purchase health care coverage or face a penalty, according to the press release.
Cox: Schools can publish some photos, video
"Public school districts may use
certain photos and videos of students without written parental consent, as long
as parents had been told that such materials were considered "directory
information" and were given the chance to deny permission."
Radio and television host Glenn Beck's new book will be titled based on a theory established by the Center's late vice president, Joseph Overton, according to The Washington Post.
Some question ‘Race’ process "Michael Flanagan, Michigan's state superintendent
of public instruction, was among school officials who questioned the process by
which Race to the Top winners were picked, though he said he was satisfied by
federal officials' explanation."
A national campaign was launched today to get public schools that have shown Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" to give equal time to the opposing view of global warming.
The Independent Women's Forum launched its Balanced Education for Everyone campaign today. It hopes to have the 2009 documentary "Not Evil, Just Wrong" shown in classrooms around the country. "Not Evil, Just Wrong" claims to expose erroneous claims about global warming.
MichiganVotes.org sends a weekly report to newspapers and TV stations around the state showing how state legislators in their service area voted on the most important or interesting bills of the past week. The Legislature did not meet this week, so instead of votes this week's report contains several newly introduced bills of interest. Go here to see the concise and objective (but “brutally honest”) MichiganVotes descriptions of these bills.
A plan to reform public school pensions and set them more in line with private-sector retirement standards — and thus save Michigan taxpayers an estimated $3.5 billion over the next 10 years — stalled in the Michigan Senate as that chamber prepared to leave for its spring break. Although GOP senators cast blame for the failure at Gov. Jennifer Granholm and Democrats, Republican sources said that only 18 votes could be mustered for the measure, leaving it two votes shy of passage in a chamber where Republicans hold a 22-16 majority.
Dozens of parents filled the bleachers at South Arbor Academy in Ypsilanti recently to find out of their children would be one of the few to win a seat in the popular charter public school.
Clerks: School elections waste money "A coalition of Michigan county clerks
is pushing to eliminate May school board elections, claiming they are a waste
of money, given the typically low voter turnout."
House Bill 5963, sponsored by Rep. Tim Melton (D-Pontiac) would force schools to spend down their general fund balances to 15 percent of their current operating expenditures. This attempt to micromanage their budgets isn't likely to help schools become more fiscally stable or deal with dwindling enrollment and the resulting declines in revenue.
The Detroit Free Press reported today that the White House announced yesterday that it will buy the first 100 plug-in electric vehicles to roll off American assembly lines before the end of the year. Surprise: The only car to meet that qualification is the Chevy Volt, which coincidentally started production at the Detroit-Hamtramck plant on the same day of the White House announcement. Apparently, federal purchasing requirements have been creatively constructed to allow the U.S. government to purchase the vehicles from General Motors, of which the federal government has a 61 percent ownership.
Whitehall teachers OK contract "Whitehall District Schools teachers have
ratified a three-year contract that gives them a 1 percent raise in the third
year and also moves them to a less-expensive health insurance plan."
Nearly every aspect of a teacher’s job falls under the rules of a union contract. The following is a synopsis of the agreement for Fruitport Community Schools.
Readers of the state of Michigan's various Web sites would be hard pressed to find evidence of one of the more embarrassing incidents to have happened this year to the Granholm administration.
On March 16, Gov. Jennifer Granholm announced in a press-release a series of state tax credits awarded to businesses, including one to a now-infamous company named RASCO. The press release stated the "the new-to-Michigan leader in renewable energy, water and telecommunications sectors" was approved for a $9.1 million tax credit and would create 1,813 new jobs.
The state nixed the deal when it found that RASCO CEO Richard A. Short was a convicted embezzler. The Flint Journal reported that at the same time he was working on the state tax deal, authorities said he was scamming an 86-year-old neighbor with dementia out of thousands of dollars.
The Lansing State Journal editorial board takes up the cause against the forced unionization of day care owners, and the Times-Herald publishes an Op-Ed by Michael Van Beek evaluating the benefits of early childhood education.
Bypassing Congress, the Obama administration finalized a rulemaking process on December 7, 2009 — just ahead of the Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change — that would require the EPA to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. The impact of the EPA's unpopular regulation of GHGs has now been conveniently delayed until after the November elections.
If we are to treat the workplace as political rather than as an economic arrangement, its politics ought to be fully democratic, respecting the rights of all interested parties to speak.
Spokespersons for Michigan government employee unions contend that they have given up hundreds of millions of dollars in wages and benefit concessions over the past few years. The claims are in dispute, and data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis offers some support for those challenging them. It shows that since 2000, government employee compensation in Michigan has increased 11.4 percent, while private sector employees are getting 5.1 percent less.
Grand Rapids bus contract up in air "After one member asked to switch his
vote, a school board finance committee in Grand Rapids Public Schools
recommended against extending the district's contract with a private bus
company."
The fallout over U.S. Congressman Bart Stupak's role in the passing of the federal health care reform bill has gone nationwide as the Tea Party Express has launched its own campaign to knock out the politician from Menominee.
The national Tea Party tour has raised $65,000 thus far in its "Defeat Bart Stupak" campaign, according to Tea Party Express Spokesman Joe Wierzbicki.
Spokespersons for Michigan government employee unions contend that they have given up hundreds of millions of dollars in wages and benefit concessions over the past few years. The claims are in dispute, and data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis offers some support for those challenging them. It shows that since 2000, government employee compensation in Michigan has increased 11.4 percent, while private sector employees are getting 5.1 percent less.
To make the state eligible for $400 million in federal "Race to the Top" grants, last December the Michigan Legislature passed a package of school reforms, one of which creates a state "school reform/redesign officer" and office in the Department of Education, with the authority to take over the management of 5 percent of the lowest achieving public schools statewide. The office would then implement one of four strategies specified in the RTTT guidelines: a "turnaround" model, a "restart" model, a "transformation" model or a "school closure" model.
A new report from the Brookings Institution suggests that the state should rely primarily on the last, "school closure."
MichiganScience No. 13 MichiganScience is a Mackinac Center quarterly magazine that helps meet the need for accurate and accessible information about the increasingly complex scientific issues confronting voters and lawmakers. The magazine reflects the idea that even the most technical scientific policy issues can be discussed with lively prose and compelling visuals.
There is a bitter irony in seeing the president of the state’s most powerful union lecture the people of Michigan about decisions she disapproves of from her perch in one of the safest jobs in the state.
Dozens of parents filled the bleachers at South Arbor Academy in Ypsilanti recently to find out of their children would be one of the few to win a seat in the popular charter public school.
Michigan 21st in 'Race to the Top' "Michigan lost points in the "Race to the Top" competition when teachers unions declined to sign on, officials who reviewed the applications reported."
As Bob Carr of Muskegon made his 150-mile trip across the state Monday to Howell, he said he was curious as to how many people would show for the kickoff of a state-wide petition drive to repeal the national health care law.
He was surprised to see about 220 people show up at the Howell High School Freshman Campus cafeteria.
"We thought it was a basketball game going on," Carr said.
Wendy Day of Common Sense in Government is spearheading the drive to have an amendment to the state's Constitution that would repeal many aspects of the nationalized health care bill that recently passed.
The recent news that the state's Michigan Economic Growth Authority offered a convicted embezzler's company a $9.1 million tax credit has caused quite a stir in Lansing. Last week, legislators held hearings on how the Michigan Economic Development Corp., MEGA's parent agency, could have let someone with the embezzler's background be part of a multi-million-dollar selective tax break deal.
There is so much money sloshing around economic development programs around the nation — up to $50 billion or so as late as 2004 — that it would be surprising if there were not many questionable deals brokered by similar agencies across the nation.
Mackinac Center scholars cited on forced unionization, stimulus funding, transparency, open meetings and superintendent pay.
Bill would force schools to spend balance "State lawmakers are considering a plan to withhold state funding from public school districts that have set aside what lawmakers think is too much fund equity."
Michigan House Bill 4248 would allow retired nurses who worked for the state Department of Corrections to return to a job with the department on a part-time basis and collect both their full pension payout and a salary. This "double dipping" by state workers is prohibited by a 2007 law, according to the House Fiscal Agency. The new bill was advanced because the DoC states that it has a nursing shortage and is in need of an enticement to bring more help to their facilities.
A memo from the Senate Fiscal Agency indicates that the policy might bring about "modest savings" for the department.
However, the SFA also notes that savings for the DOC could come at a cost in another area because it will encourage current nurses to retire early and then return for the salary on top of their full pension payout. To the extent that this occurs, it will increase claims against the state's public employee pension system.
A state workers' union has fought efforts to cut salaries and benefits during Michigan's budget crisis and has cited $700 million in concessions state workers have made since 2004.
That's the figure used by the United Auto Workers Local 6000, which represents workers in every department in the State of Michigan's government.
But Charlie Owens, state director of the National Federation of Independent Businesses, is challenging that number.
Thousands are signing on to an effort to pass the Michigan Citizens Healthcare Freedom Amendment, according to Wendy Day, director of the effort. The ballot initiative, to be officially launched this Monday, seeks to place a state constitutional amendment proposal on the November 2010 ballot.
The Detroit News cited the Mackinac Center in an editorial opposing a $25 billion broadband internet plan put forth by the Federal Communication Commission.
Arguing that "Americans can't afford it and don't need it," the piece draws upon the Mackinac Center's report on Michigan's own failed experiment with governmental broadband efforts.
Michigan dropped to 37th nationwide in 2009 for per capita personal income, sliding one spot as income dropped from $34,953 to $34,025. If one includes Washington D.C. in the rankings, Michigan is now 38th.
Two releases from government statistical agencies this week show that the state's economy is still pretty bad, but that its long fall may have finally bottomed out. The state unemployment rate is 14.1 percent, down from its peak. Michigan's per capita personal income was down again, but Michigan was not the worst in the country.
Two releases from government statistical agencies this week show that the state's economy is still pretty bad, but that its long fall may have finally bottomed out. The state unemployment rate is 14.1 percent, down from its peak. Michigan's per capita personal income was down again, but Michigan was not the worst in the country.
How deep does this hole have to get before the people demand that the political class finally turn its back on what are now clearly recognized are not "economic development" programs but a self-serving political development agenda?
The Mackinac Center Legal Foundation has appealed to the Michigan Supreme Court its lawsuit defending the rights of small-business owners who were shanghaied into a union, according to WEYI-TV 25 in Saginaw.
In her first public statements since it was revealed that the Michigan Economic Growth Authority approved a $9.1 million tax credit deal for a convicted embezzler, Gov. Jennifer Granholm was quoted by the Gongwer Michigan Report as saying, "And obviously, a mistake was made, and it cannot happen again."
School asks for state investigation "Coldwater Community Schools will ask the Michigan Department of Attorney General to investigate a disagreement between the district and an assistant county prosecutor over an embezzlement case."
The state housing authority that one developer called the backbone for development and economic activity in Michigan is another victim of the collapse of the housing market.
The Michigan State Housing Development Authority's financial reports show it is in danger of losing money for the first time since the mid-1960s when it was created.
Amid declining revenues and increased delinquent payments on loans it has issued to support development of affordable housing, MSHDA's finances are on shaky grounds, says one expert.
If Michigan wants to recover from its economic doldrums, it would help if local governments could get their finances back in balance. And if local governments are going to balance their books, it would help if they could get some relief from labor laws that empower unions at the expense of taxpayers.
This week, the Michigan House and Senate are both holding hearings on the Michigan Economic Development Corp. after a convicted embezzler on parole duped the Michigan Economic Growth Authority into offering his company a $9.1 million tax credit. The real issue they should examine is not whether the occasional criminal wins an "incentive" deal, but the lack of transparency that characterizes this entire operation.
LANSING — The Mackinac Center Legal Foundation will appeal the
case of Loar v. DHS to the Michigan
Supreme Court, according to Director Patrick Wright.
The public-interest
law firm brought suit against the Michigan Department of Human Services in
September on behalf of home-based day care providers who were forced into a
government employees union and had dues withheld from state subsidy payments
provided to low-income families. In late December, the Michigan Court of Appeals dismissed
the case without explanation.
Charter high school to close "Morey Public School Academy is closing its high school program at the end of the school year."
The Thomas More Law Center has joined the slew of legal action sparked by the passage of President Barack Obama's health care legislation.
The Ann Arbor-based conservative law firm filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday challenging the constitutionality of federalized health care in the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. The president signed the 10-year, $938-billion piece of legislation into law on Tuesday.
The parole violation arrest last week of convicted embezzler and Michigan Economic Growth Authority tax credit winner Richard A. Short has caused deep embarrassment for state officials. But for me it has occasioned some poignant reflection on two former colleagues, Martin M. Wing, Ph.D, and Joseph P. Overton, who co-authored the Mackinac Center's first MEGA study in 1995, with a third scholar, before the program even became law.
The Michigan House and Senate plan to hold hearings this week on how a convicted embezzler on parole duped the Michigan Economic Development Corp. and Michigan Economic Growth Authority into offering his company — which was being run out of a Flint mobile home park — a $9.1 million tax credit. (This could have become a "refundable" credit, meaning the state would likely be writing checks to the embezzler.)
New Census Bureau data published today confirm a trend shown in previous releases: While the amount of tax revenue flowing into the Michigan treasury has fallen, the state's tax trends look brighter than the state's economy.
When Tina Dupont got her 1,000th member for the TEA Party of West Michigan, she blogged about it on Jan. 27.
Now, the founder from Rockford has seen the group swell to 1,231 as of Monday — and it appears to be growing by the hour.
"In the last four days, it has been explosive compared to what we are used to," said Dupont, who estimated they've been getting 15 new members a day since the focus on the national health care bill.
TEA Party groups from around the state are reporting that they are seeing more and more people join their cause.
WHEREAS, an Act 312 arbitrator is unaccountable to the municipality for the short and long term financial consequences of an Act 312 Award after its issuance...
Plan would add 'teacher consultants'
"As Kent City Community Schools
considers ways to cut costs, one idea on the table is to hire 'teacher
consultants' to supervise students for part of the school week."
The Detroit News' March 22 editorial says the Department of Human Services has more explaining to do about why it continues to operate the Michigan Home Based Child Care Council, even though the Legislature voted to defund the agency.
Russ Harding, senior environmental policy analyst and director of the Property Rights Network at the Center, will take part in a live chat hosted by The Grand Rapids Press at 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday, March 23 (see grey box in Press story titled "Michigan 10.0" for details). The talk will be about how Michigan can best use its natural resources to drive economic recovery.
Nationalized health care's rough journey through Congress ended Sunday.
Wendy Day of Common Sense in Government and other allied opponents of the federal plan will help fire Michigan's first counterpunch today when they announce a citizen petition drive that they hope will halt the proposal in its tracks.
The U.S. House of Representatives approved President Barack Obama's health care legislation Sunday night, which among other things will mandate that nearly every American purchase health care.
Pinckney joins regional bus plan "Pinckney Community Schools has become the
fourth school district in Livingston County to join a consolidated busing
program operated by the Livingston Educational Service Agency."
With a vote on President Barack Obama's health care reform bill expected Sunday, a group of protesters are holding a last-minute rally to show politicians it is time for states to flex their own muscles.
Joan Fabiano of Grassroots in Michigan is hosting a health care protest Sunday from 2 to 3:30 p.m. in Lansing at the State Capitol building.
"They are not listening to us in Washington at all," Fabiano said.
What Transparency Should Look Like at the MEDC (but Doesn't) The award of a $9.1 million tax credit to a convicted embezzler has raised serious concerns about the lack of transparency at the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. The concerns could be alleviated by two transparency/due diligence reforms that would protect the state (and taxpayers) from fraud. However, the real issue is not whether the occasional criminal wins an "incentive" deal, but the lack of transparency that characterizes this entire operation. This is the measure by which the responses of politicians and economic development bureaucrats to this embarrassment should assessed.
In the wake of the news that the Michigan Economic Growth Authority awarded a $9 million tax break/subsidy deal to what appears to be a "shell" company created by a convicted embezzler, Sen. Jason Allen, R-Traverse City, has been assigned the task of managing Senate hearings on the vetting procedures used by MEGA and its parent agency, the Michigan Economic Development Corp. During his 11 years in the Legislature, Allen has become perhaps the most ardent promoter and defender of selective tax breaks and subsidies for particular firms and industries. Since 2001, Allen has introduced at least 60 bills in this category, many of them thinly disguised favors benefiting specific companies. Here are concise descriptions of a selection of these bills, from MichiganVotes.org:
Lou Schimmel, former director of municipal finance and an adjunct scholar with the Center, has been tapped for his expertise to solve the city of Warren's $10 million overspending crisis.
Lakeview considers private busing "Bus drivers in Lakeview Community Schools in Montcalm County say the district
has refused to bargain with them over plans to privatize transportation, while the
district superintendent said the union failed to submit a bid when invited."
The Kent Intermediate School District approved a one-year agreement with its unions that would halt privatization even though school administrators acknowledge it is not enforceable.
The Mackinac Center for Public Policy received the contract between the Kent County ISD and its unions this week through a Freedom of Information Act request.
There is a provision in the agreement dated March 8 that all districts that approve the contract agree not to privatize for "the life of the agreement."
This conflicts with Michigan's Public Employment Relations Act, Sec. 15, subsection 3(f), which states that privatization of "noninstructional support services" may not be the subject of a collective bargaining agreement so long as the district allows the school employee unions providing such services the opportunity to enter as a fair participant in the competitive bidding process and make their case for keeping the contract.
Henry Payne, editorial cartoonist for The Detroit News, writes about the Mackinac Center's climate change panel, in which he participated, at National Review Online.
A Detroit News editorial today calls a plan to cap salaries of public school superintendents and teachers based on what politicians are paid, "gimmicky," and cites this commentary by Mike Van Beek, director of education policy, which states that only 1 percent of school expenses go toward superintendent pay and benefits.
James Hohman, fiscal policy analyst, does have a suggestion in this Dearborn Times-Herald Op-Ed about what legislators should focus on if they really want to cut spending.
Cap-and-trade legislation will hit Michigan hard by 2030 if passed, costing the state as many as 91,000 jobs while raising residential energy costs as much as 60 percent and cutting a family's disposable income by as much as $1,400 a year, according to a new study.
Only $8.8 million of a proposed $554 million in taxes earmarked to help Michigan schools would go to teaching and testing supplies and textbooks, according to a Mackinac Center for Public Policy analysis.
Meanwhile, $434 million — more than 78 percent — would go to school employee salaries and benefits, according to Michael Van Beek, the director of education policy at the Mackinac Center.
Online classes planned in Grand Rapids "Grand Rapids Public Schools plans to
shift to more online instruction by fall, a move that administrators said will
benefit students, but that has teachers wondering if their jobs will be cut."
More Michigan public school districts are posting their checkbook registers online as a way for taxpayers to see exactly how their money is spent, but most districts get a failing grade when it comes to transparency.
The Associated Press is reporting that a convicted embezzler currently on parole has been approved for business tax credits under the state's Michigan Economic Growth Authority program. The article also noted that when the deal was announced, the embezzler, Richard A. Short, "shared the stage" with Gov. Jennifer Granholm.
Had the program managers performed even a cursory background check, they certainly would have discovered Short's past.
Nearly every aspect of a teacher's job falls under the rules of a union contract. The following are analyses of the current collective bargaining agreements for teachers and a few other employee groups in select Michigan school districts.
The summaries highlight and explain particular noteworthy items from each contract, and the detailed analyses break down each element of the districts' agreements.
DPS will shrink along with city "Detroit Public Schools will end up with 100 fewer
school buildings than it had in 2006 if a new closure plan is carried out."
Show Michigan the Money project Director Ken Braun said he is pleased that at least eight Kent County school districts began posting their check registers online in early 2010. In response to a news release issued earlier today, one Kent County school district notified Braun that the district had been posting check registers online. Repeated requests from Braun seeking participation from the region's districts appeared to produce no posted check registers — and even some resistance — in 2009, but a breakthrough appears to have occurred this year in eight Kent County districts.
The Michigan School Business Officials and a tax-increase advocacy group called "Save Our Students, Schools and State," have released results from a canvass of 300 school districts, dubbed the "Survey of Pain." Tax hikes are proposed to alleviate the pain, but official data on the economy and Michigan's tax system cast considerable doubt on Michigan's ability to afford their remedy.
Paul Chesser spoke of the nearly 20 controversies that have been recently uncovered involving the science promoting global warming.
There was China-gate, Climate-gate, PeerReview-gate. Those were just a few of the 19 documented controversies that have shined a light on the faulty data and assumptions behind global warming.
Chesser, special correspondent for the Heartland Institute and director of Climate Strategies Watch; Henry Payne, Pulitzer Prize nominated cartoonist for The Detroit News; and Shikha Dalmia, senior analyst at the Reason Foundation, spoke for about 90 minutes at Oakland University shooting down the hype surrounding global warming. The event was called "The Changing Debate on Climate Change" and was put on by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.
MEAP reading scores up "Reading scores improved in all
grades, and math scores in most grades, while science and social studies scores
dipped slightly on the Michigan Educational Assessment Program tests taken in fall
of 2009."
The Michigan Information & Research Service (subscription required) reprinted this blog post by Paul Kersey, labor policy director, explaining why it would not be a violation of labor law for the Legislature to reject a 3 percent raise for state employees as some lawmakers claimed.
Parents ask for teacher concessions "Some parents who attended a South Redford School District forum recently called on teachers to make wage or benefit concessions as a way to protect school programs."
Senate Bill 1148, introduced recently by Sen. Bruce Patterson, R-Canton, would limit the total compensation of public school superintendents to 75 percent of what the governor is paid and prohibit districts from paying any teacher more than what a state legislator makes.
Mayoral control a sticking point "An ambitious proposal to overhaul Detroit Public
Schools ran into opposition Thursday over the issue of dissolving the school
board and allowing Mayor Dave Bing to take charge."
Following a report that estimates Michigan taxpayers have paid for $1.7 billion in road improvements in other states over the past 50 years, State Sen. Wayne Kuipers said it's time the state got payback.
Kuipers, R-Holland, said he will soon introduce controversial legislation that would have Michigan keep federal gas tax dollars and only pay Washington a penny on every dollar collected.
Alternative education under pressure "At least 14 public school districts in the
Muskegon area offer some type of alternative education, either on their own or
through a consortium, but the programs are under both budget and academic pressure."
Whether residents approve a constitutional convention on this November's ballot may come down to how much it would cost to rewrite the state constitution.
But there is a disagreement over just how much it would cost.
Melton: Let voters decide school spending "Michigan voters may see a ballot initiative in August asking them to
approve a sales tax on services, with the understanding that their approval
would also mean education spending reform, the chairman of the House Education
Committee said Wednesday."
A Michigan congressman wants to repeal legislation that has been one of the few bright spots in the state's slumping economy over the last decade.
Flint to review administrator load "All Flint Community Schools administrators, including members of the superintendent's cabinet, are likely to receive layoff notices this spring, though the majority could be back next year."
Lawmakers opposed to President Barack Obama's plan for national health care reform are hoping to spur a nationwide "civil disobedience" that can derail Obamacare.
State Rep. Brian Calley, R-Portland; State Rep. Justin Amash, R-Grand Rapids; and State Sen. Wayne Kuipers, R-Holland, have each introduced similar constitutional amendments that seek to trump the national health care bills.
The state higher-education establishment and its lobbyists argue that spending more tax dollars on their system will improve Michigan's economy.
The very latest research on this issue, performed not by self-serving beneficiaries of government spending, but by disinterested scholars, finds that "increased spending on higher education generally exhibits a relatively large negative effect" on a state's economy.
Mackinac Center Legal Foundation Director Patrick Wright testified Tuesday on proposed legislation that would end the stealth unionization of home-based day care owners and prevent the same thing from happening to home health care workers.
Teacher research in Michigan "Research done by the dean of the University of Michigan school of education was featured at length in a New York Times magazine article recently about training effective teachers."
2010 census a civics project in Niles "Sara McLaren is taking a once-in-a-decade opportunity to tie the U.S. Census directly to her civics and social studies curriculum at Niles High School."
Michigan legislators who might consider borrowingbillions to prop up government employee pension and post-retirement health care benefits should first look at recent developments in California. That state's massive state pension system, CalPERS, may lower its expectations for investment returns. According to the Wall Street Journal, it is considering a drop in its return expectations from 7.75 percent to as low as 5 or 6 percent.
The MEA gave up nothing in the "Race to the Top" deal. They made no concessions in terms of teacher compensation or performance. They may — depending on just how the law is interpreted — have made privatization, which has saved school districts and taxpayers across the state millions of dollars a subject of collective bargaining again. Oh, and the state hasn’t gotten a nickel in federal funds so far.
Energy policy that makes it more expensive for developing countries to provide electricity to their citizens only leads to more human suffering and premature death.
Mackinac Center Legal Foundation Director Patrick J. Wright will testify today before the Senate Families and Human Services Committee on proposed legislation to end the forced unionization of home-based day care owners and prohibit any stealth attempts to unionize contractors involved in home health care services. The committee will consider Senate Bills 1173, 1178 and 1179 at 2:30 p.m. in Room 210 of the Farnum Building.
Arguing against a 3 percent pay hike for state employees is actually an argument in support of saving their jobs, according to an Op-Ed in The Michigan Daily.
Group plans seven Detroit high schools
"Michigan Future Inc. has awarded an
$850,000 grant to Detroit Edison Public School Academy to help it open a new
high school this fall, the first in a planned series of grants."
Divided opinion on service tax "A public education advocacy group
said Monday that Michigan should begin taxing consumer services at 5.5 percent,
while reducing the existing sales tax from 6 to 5.5 percent, as a way to
generate $550 million for schools in 2011."
Standing before a crowd of TEA party activists last month, a member of the audience asked State Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, R-Rochester, whether a constitutional convention was a good thing.
“That is a very bad thing,” Bishop told the crowd. “Any time you open a window, all the flies can come in. There are a lot of flies out there now.”
The federal government has many options to mandate health care for every American, whether or not it is declared unconstitutional, some constitutional law experts say.
While the question of forcing Americans to get health insurance may ultimately be decided by the United States Supreme Court, the federal government has many other tools to implement its policies, said Richard Hardy, chair of the political science department at Western Illinois University.
A recurring topic on conservative talk radio shows has been that mandated health care is unconstitutional and could derail President Barack Obama’s health care reform. But three constitutional law experts say that scenario is unlikely.
The Michigan Education Association is taking heat even from some of its friends in the media because of the state's failure to qualify for $400 million in competitive "Race to the Top" federal grants. The blame game is afoot, but perhaps the the most curious comment on the exercise comes from the Democratic Speaker of the House, Rep. Andy Dillon: "House Democrats were fighting for major education reforms long before Race to the Top entered the picture." Fighting against whom?
Wages for state employees have gone up half again as fast as they did for workers throughout the state. Certainly they can afford to go without an across-the-board raise this year.
Court upholds Grand Rapids privatization "The Kent County Circuit Court has upheld an arbitrator's decision that Grand Rapids Public Schools did not violate a labor contract when it privatized transportation workers in 2005, even though their contract with the district had not expired."
Fenton support staff moves to Teamsters "Members of the Fenton Education Support Personnel have voted to leave the Michigan Education Association and join Teamsters Local 214, saying they want better representation."
Michigan’s congressional delegation performed significantly worse in 2008 than their national peers on a broad-based measure of economic growth polices as tabulated by the Club for Growth, a free-market advocacy group in Washington, D.C.
DPS could get grant money, if sides agree "The Detroit school board and its emergency
financial manager must work together on a school redesign plan if they want to
receive federal funding intended for low-achieving Michigan schools."
Districts may share superintendent "Hudson Area Schools and Morenci Area Schools are considering sharing a
superintendent and other services, though the plan is still exploratory."
The bottom line is the Legislature has always had the authority to prevent pay raises authorized by the CSC, and collective bargaining agreements between the state and unions representing its employees have always been subject to the Legislature’s acquiescence.
The Congressional Budget Office today said a proposal by the Obama administration to levy a "tax" on banks would ultimately be "borne to varying degrees by an institution's customers, employees, and investors," according to ABC News.
David Littmann, the Center's senior economist, explained why the idea was faulty way back in January.
An editorial in today's Midland Daily News says a study about the failures of the Michigan Economic Development Corp. should be "required reading" for legislators.
Since December members of the Legislature have proposed 13 amendments to the Michigan Constitution. To become law these must garner a two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate, and then be approved by voters at the next general election.
The U.S. Department of Energy should be providing us with unbiased energy information. All Americans should be concerned when federal agencies are used as a political tool to advance policy objectives of the president or members of Congress. Is it any wonder that trust for government it at such a low point?
The average salary of the 346 employees of the Michigan Education Association increased 19 percent - to more than $89,000 each - since 2005, according to the Lansing State Journal. Union President Iris Salters was paid $239,000 in 2009, the State Journal reported, which is more than four times the average pay of the classroom teachers the MEA represents.
Northville Public Schools removed a press release from its district Web site announcing that a school board member was running for the Michigan House of Representatives after being contacted by Tom Gantert, senior correspondent for Michigan Capitol Confidential, according to Hometown Life, part of the Observer & Eccentric newspaper chain in metro Detroit.
Senior Legal Analyst Patrick Wright explained that the press release was a violation of state campaign finance law.
The process of collective bargaining cannot be allowed to trump the will of the people or the public interest; otherwise, our representative government is in danger of morphing into a plutocracy controlled by government employee unions, who could use collective bargaining to lead the rest of the state around by the nose.
We have 37 days to restore fiscal sanity in Michigan.
MichiganScience No. 12 MichiganScience is a Mackinac Center quarterly magazine that helps meet the need for accurate and accessible information about the increasingly complex scientific issues confronting voters and lawmakers. The magazine reflects the idea that even the most technical scientific policy issues can be discussed with lively prose and compelling visuals.
Private backers boost Bobb’s income "Robert Bobb will receive an $81,000 raise in his
second year as emergency financial manager of Detroit Public Schools, putting
his income at $425,000, though most of the increase will come from private
philanthropic organizations."
Two votes in the state Senate on Wednesday may cause residents to question how seriously lawmakers are treating the need to restrain government spending. The first vote was on a resolution rejecting a government employee pay hike. (See previous post on this site.) The second measure would spend $9.5 million on tourism subsidies in the form of advertisements paid for by taxpayers. This despite the fact that the main beneficiaries this spending have explicitly rejected using their own money to pay for the ads, as reported by the Mackinac Center's Michael LaFaive.
Excerpts from Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 35, which would have rejected a 3 percent raise for unionized state government employees for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, 2010:
The UAW chief tells us that there are 190,000 new automotive sector jobs about to be created, and we can have them all right here if Republicans and Democrats do…something. What exactly Gettelfinger hopes they will do isn’t spelled out or even hinted at but it probably involves gobs of taxpayer money.
The forced unionization of home-based day care owners, which the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation is fighting against in Michigan, is spreading to other states.
The second annual report from the Michigan Film Office shows that $69 million was transferred from Michigan taxpayers to movie makers in 2009, but is sketchy on further details, according to the Livingston Daily Press & Argus.
Excerpts from Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 35, which would have rejected a 3 percent state government employee pay hike for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, 2010:
Group launches Detroit high school initiative "Michigan Future Inc. has awarded an
$850,000 grant to Detroit Edison Public School Academy to help it open a new
high school this fall, the first in a planned series of grants."
When Chrysler filed for bankruptcy on April 30, 2009, President Barack Obama publicly laid much of the blame at the feet of a group of hedge funds — investment firms that held Chrysler debt but did not initially cooperate with a deal being pushed by the White House as a means of preventing the bankruptcy. Those hedge funds had a far different story to tell, one of protecting investors large and small who had a legitimate right to a much better deal than what the White House was eventually able to impose. But a bipartisan coalition of Michigan politicians was in no mood that day to hear that side of the story.
Just when there was hope that Congress might actually be listening to the majority of Americans who do not want higher energy costs through federal cap-and-trade legislation, here comes another attempt by some in Congress to take more money from consumers and kill more American jobs.
According to the Michigan Information & Research Service's Capitol Capsule (subscription required), a new poll by EPIC/MRA shows 57 percent of voters favor a plan that would require government employees to pay 20 percent of the cost of their own health insurance premiums.
Michigan not seen as 'Race' front-runner "Will Michigan be included when
first-round finalists in the Race to the Top program are named, possibly this
week? Not according to most predictions by national education writers and
observers, though the final decision is up to U.S. Education Secretary Arne
Duncan.."
Health care poll: Public workers should pay more "About 57 percent of voters likely
would support requiring public employees, including teachers, to pay 20 percent
of their health care premiums, according to a recent poll."
Proponents of a tax hike on Michigan residents are using the wrong numbers to support their argument, according to a recent Op-Ed by James Hohman, fiscal policy analyst, in The Dearborn Times-Herald.
Before raising taxes, however, policymakers should take a closer look at how they spend the billions of dollars they already take from Michigan's families and businesses. Hohman explains how in this Oakland Press Op-Ed.
A state representative called out a union lawyer for a gross exaggeration last month in an emerging controversy over just how many of the 70,000 home-based day care workers in Michigan knew they were being unionized.
Last year in a complicated union deal, about 70,000 day care workers in Michigan learned they had joined a union known as Child Care Providers Together Michigan and were now working for Michigan Home Based Child Care Council. About 40,000 of those home-based day care workers have union dues to the tune of $3.7 million a year automatically deducted from their state subsidy checks.
2010 Senate Bill 1174 (Rewrite corporate takeover rules for particular insurance company) Introduced by Sen. Gerald Van Woerkom (R) on February 25, 2010, to rewrite the rules for corporate acquisitions so as to raise obstacles to the acquisition of a controlling interest in the Fremont Insurance Company (which is located in the district of the bill sponsor) by the Indianapolis-based Steak and Shake Corporation. Specifically, the bill would require a two-thirds supermajority of shareholders to vote in favor of the sale if the current board of directors opposes being taken over.
University contributions down "Charitable contributions to colleges and
universities declined by 11.9 percent overall across the United States in 2009."
On a day when the nearby Troy shopping malls were packed, Ruth Alderisio stood on a nearby sidewalk holding a sign urging the Democrats to take back their party from radicals.
"We came out so our voices can be heard," the Troy woman said. "So all the things we say in our living room can be heard by our policymakers."
Alderisio was one of about 300 people who showed up for a couple of hours in Troy in freezing temperatures to protest President Barack Obama's policies. The event was put on by the South East Michigan 9.12 Project group.
As this recent story in Michigan Education Report shows, school districts in Michigan are finding it increasingly difficult to pay for the escalating costs of teacher health insurance.
Mixed results in bond votes "Voters in Hartland Consolidated Schools,
Pinckney Community Schools and Chippewa Valley Schools approved bond issues of
$28 million, $59 million and $89 million, respectively, this week, but Berkley
School District voters turned down a $168 million proposal."
Rather than mandating costly alternative energy, state policymakers should be encouraging energy production with efficient technology such as clean coal.
Tens of thousands of small business owners in Michigan could be freed from forced unionization if Senate Bill 1173 becomes law.
Union sues in privatization case "The union that represents six former
school custodians in Cass City is suing the private company that now provides
custodial service to the district, alleging that the company interfered in the
business relationship between the union and Cass City Public Schools."
The important thing is that the leadership of the GOP in Lansing thinks, at a minimum, that it can score political points by promoting right-to-work protections, which is a big shift for a state in which unions have held sway for so long.
The latest Business Employment Dynamics numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that from the third quarter of 2008 through the second quarter of 2009, 778,025 jobs were created in Michigan and 1,144,655 jobs disappeared. Among other things, the figures starkly illustrate just how ineffective the state's economic incentive programs are.
2009 House Bill 5567 (Grant property tax breaks to a particular subdivision)
Introduced by Rep. Woodrow Stanley (D) on October 29, 2009, to extend "Neighborhood Enterprise Zone" property tax breaks to the University Park Estates subdivision in Flint, which is less than 10 years old, and is in a "renaissance zone" whose tax-exempt status is expiring soon. Under current law, these particular NEZ tax breaks are for subdivisions built before 1968. They cut the owner's local property tax liability on the structure in half.
As is the case with most, if not all, state spending, current resources should be spent more wisely before looking at raising taxes.
That is especially true of the gas tax, which Senior Legislative Analyst Jack McHugh wrote about in an Op-Ed for the Cadillac News. (Scroll to the bottom.)
McHugh has written previously about this issue here.
Detroit awards private bus contracts "Detroit Public Schools will hire First Student
Transportation Co. of Cincinnati and continue contracting with ABC Student
Transportation of Detroit to provide bus services as of May 1."
Regional concessions on the table "The Comstock Park Education Employees
Association voted to approve what could become a regional labor contract if
their colleagues in other school districts adopt it as well."
Some will get certificates, not diplomas "Bay City Public Schools is developing
a policy under which students who do not meet Michigan's new graduation
requirements would receive a "certificate of completion" rather than
a diploma."
The Michigan Senate Fiscal Agency has performed an initial review of Gov. Jennifer Granholm's executive budget recommendation, which reveals that the proposed service tax would actually raise taxes by $1.3 billion — much more than the $900 million originally reported.
When Doug Pratt and other government union officials talk about raising taxes, what they're really saying is, "You can take a hit to your income and economic security, but don't even think about asking my politically powerful troops to give up a penny of their pay and bennies (including full health coverage for age-50-something retirees). And we have the power to make it stick."
The term "Detroitification" — which I first coined in 2007 to describe the process by which the private sector is hollowed out to prop up an unsustainable government establishment — has been catching on in various places around the country.
Covert owes $700,000 to MESSA "Covert Public Schools has accumulated about
$700,000 in past due health insurance premium bills, which it will try to pay
off in monthly installments of about $130,000 each."
Back to semesters in West Ottawa "A west Michigan high school is switching back to semesters in 2010-2011
as a way to save up by $500,000 annually by hiring fewer teachers."
Gov. Jennifer Granholm argues (with some remorse) that during her seven-year tenure, Michigan has cut more from its budget than any other state. The claim is dubious, but another milestone about which she does not boast is verifiable: Since Gov. Granholm's first inauguration in January 2003, Michigan has led the nation in tax increases.
States rely on four major taxes to finance their general operations: income, sales, business and tobacco taxes. Gov. Granholm has signed into law increases in three of these: tobacco taxes in 2004 and business and income taxes in 2007. Only two other states, Maryland and New York, have increased all three of these taxes since 2002.
Teacher evaluation talks begin "Michigan
is moving into "unchartered territory" as school districts begin to evaluate
teachers and administrators in new ways under the state's Race to the Top
legislation."
Michigan is a great state. A Renaissance in public policy is needed most. Businesses are not leaving the state willingly; they are being run out by unenlightened leadership that does not attract as many innovators as we should.
Had Joe Biden's stimulus-boosting, damage-control visit to mid-Michigan this week been made open to the public rather than just a few hand-picked visitors, maybe someone could have asked him why a four-year-old "taxpayer" received a "first-time homebuyer" tax credit of $8,000.
In presenting her executive budget, Gov. Jennifer Granholm stated, "I have cut more state spending than any governor in Michigan history, having resolved more than $10 billion in deficits since 2003." It's unnecessary to state that one of those budgets was "resolved" with a $1.4 billion tax hike — not exactly cutting more than anyone — but even the $10 billion is an overstatement.
While states are fighting for an ever larger share of the so-called stimulus money, Michigan should be glad it did not receive more than it did for a Detroit-to-Chicago high-speed rail corridor.
Randal O'Toole, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and an adjunct scholar with the Mackinac Center, explains why in this Detroit Free Press Op-Ed.
Recent news reports that the Canadian premier of Newfoundland and Labrador would obtain heart surgery at an American hospital occasioned teeth-grinding by supporters of a government-run health care system like Canada's, and snickers from those opposed to the Congressional plan to impose a system with many of the same features here.
The news that a Canadian government official sought care in this country was no surprise to those who watched the Mackinac Center's popular YouTube videos posted last fall documenting the pain and suffering that Canada's health care rationing imposes on individual citizens (more than 800,000 Canadians are on a waiting list for care at any given moment).
Flags are everywhere at the Olympics, but the games are not about international strife. There, patriotism trumps nationalism, and performance eclipses politics. The Olympics highlight the fact that individuals, not governments, make countries great.
Lansing to study millage "The Lansing School District may ask voters
to approve a new millage in 2011 to pay for facility upgrades or energy
improvements."
Last week, Gov. Jennifer Granholm introduced the final budget of her tenure. She proposes spending $2.1 billion more than the current year, and requests a $554 million net tax increase for fiscal 2011. The tax hike comes from immediately increasing the tax burden on consumers by expanding the sales tax to services, while gradually implementing a reduction in business taxes.
This net tax hike would ensure the health of state government at the expense of families and business owners.
A new study claiming that charter public schools are segregated should be ignored according to comments by Mike Van Beek, the Center's director of education policy, in the Chicago Tribune.
While President Barack Obama started a nationwide campaign this week to promote the success of his economic stimulus program, two prominent economists grade it as an “F.”
Board adopts beverage ban "Sugared and caffeinated drinks are now
off limits to students and staff at Pennfield Middle School in Battle Creek,
even if they bring it from home."
Cutting corporate taxes, not "punitive" actions, are the best way to revive American industry, according to David Littmann, senior economist for the Center.
Littmann told Industry Week magazine that calls from labor for a national industrial policy will result in special interests, not the marketplace, coming out ahead.
Read more about the negative impact of tariffs here.
A few days ago on the Facebook page of one of Michigan's Tea Party leaders (Wendy Day of "Common Sense in Government"), some reader comments were posted revealing confusion regarding the purpose and composition of that movement. I took the opportunity to expand on an answer from the Mackinac Center's "Tea Party Activist Toolbox," as follows:
Radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh on Friday spent several minutes talking about the lawsuit filed by the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation against the Michigan Department of Human Services over the forced unionization of tens of thousands of home-based day care providers.
John Stossel of Fox Business News Thursday had written about the issue and aired a segment on Fox News Channel.
Pros, cons of social promotion "Social promotion is now banned in Detroit
Public Schools, but opinion varies on whether the ban will boost student
achievement and at what expense."
Henry Payne, editorial cartoonist for The Detroit News and contributor to The MC, wrote recently at National Review Online about what he sees as the "green indoctrination" of public school students.
Dollar figures touted by Gov. Jennifer Granholm in her State of the State address last week came from a study about the supposed benefits of tourism subsidies that is not yet complete.
Gov. Granholm said that the state gets $2.23 back for every dollar it spends on advertising through the "Pure Michigan" campaign. That information came from a report that won't be finished for another month, according to the Livingston Daily Press & Argus.
Mike LaFaive, director of the Center's Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative, told the Livingston Daily that releasing such information without the full study is uncommon.
The lead editorial in yesterday's Lansing State Journal called for ending post-retirement health care benefits to state retirees of working age: "It's time for the state to stop subsidizing health benefits for former workers who are still of working age . . . In the private sector at least, the clear trend is that if people under age 65 want subsidized health insurance, they should expect to be full-time employees."
For some time I have been making the same point in articles and speeches. I've pointed out that there's not enough money in the world to pay these benefits — the LSJ cites a Pew Center report showing some $8 billion would be required — and also that these aren't really contractual obligations, like pensions appear to be.
More homeless students identified "School districts in the Charlevoix-Emmet Intermediate School District are using
federal grant funding to better identify and serve homeless students."
Union: Retirement idea unfair " Teachers union officials in Bay City say
that a proposal to cut off vision and
dental benefits of long-term teachers
who don't retire by Oct. 1 is unfair."
Ann Arbor wants to bring back students "Better customer service, smaller learning
communities or specific teaching techniques all may be reasons parents choose a
charter public school over their conventional public school district, a local
administrator told an Ann Arbor school board committee recently."
Michael LaFaive, director of the Morey Fiscal Policy Center, was a guest on "The Frank Beckmann Show" on WJR AM760 today, discussing Gov. Jennifer Granholm's proposed fiscal 2011 budget. He pointed out several shortcomings in her plan and offered suggestions on what the state should do to reduce costs, lower tax burdens and create a job-friendly atmosphere. You can read more about those items here.
The exodus of young and educated young people from Michigan is one of those “clear, simple and wrong” explanations often cited as a factor in Michigan’s poor economic performance. The reality is that young people are already highly mobile even in a good economy, and that even in Michigan’s ongoing bad times, we're actually doing pretty well in attracting college graduates to the state.
Fox News aired a segment by John Stossel titled "Whose Business is it Anyway?" Thursday afternoon on "Shepard Smith's Studio B," about the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation's lawsuit against the Michigan Department of Human Services over the forced unionization of home-based day care providers. MCLF Director Patrick J. Wright was interviewed for the taped piece.
Stossel also wrote about the issue at Fox Business on Thursday, the second time he has written on the matter.
Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm introduced a series of tax hikes today to raise more revenue to cover its overspending. But adding a tax hike would increase the revenue to a system that's already giving Lansing more revenue than typical among states.
Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm presented her executive budget today. In it, she argues that Michigan needs to raise taxes in the over the next few years because its revenues are far below its constitutional revenue limit. She states, "The gap has grown as a result of the economic downturn and is anticipated to widen further as currently enacted tax changes take effect in the next several years."
Churches play role in education "While several churches have helped to establish public charter schools, at
least one prefers working to strengthen the conventional public school system."
In her State of the State address last week, Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm listed the reasons why she believes the state's economy has fallen. "We all know the reasons — trade policies that dismantled factories here and built them in Mexico, the auto industry in meltdown, the banking crisis, the mortgage crisis, and on top of all that, a severe national recession." While the latter reasons may have played their part, company and job relocation to Mexico has been the least of Michigan's problems. Furthermore, trade with Mexico has actually been a bright spot for the state.
Judge: District can impose insurance cap "A Wayne County Circuit Court judge ruled
Friday that the Woodhaven-Brownstown School District has the right to deduct
money from employee paychecks for health insurance premiums."
Wesley Reynolds, Mackinac Center operations intern, writes about President William Henry Harrison to commemorate the 237th anniversary of his birth at Landmarks of Liberty.
Members of a panel discussion on WXYZ TV's "Spotlight on the News" program agreed that Gov. Jennifer Granholm's final State of the State address last week was well delivered, but lacked substance.
Catholic school will forgive tuition
"Students won't have to leave De La
Salle Collegiate High School next fall if their parents become unemployed and
can't afford tuition during the school year."
Is Detroit’s economic plight a bellwether for the nation? “Detroitification,” a phrase coined by my colleague, Jack McHugh, is defined as the hollowing out of the private economy to prop up unsustainable (and often unresponsive) government establishments. Is this an apt description of Washington’s policies?
The president of the Michigan Education Association stated on the radio recently that school employees have "given and given and given and given." Comparing teacher salaries to personal income demonstrates that the taxpayers bearing school employee costs have "given" a lot more.
School group eyes ballot initiative "Michigan voters could see an education funding
question on the ballot this year if the state Legislature doesn't take action
on the issue."
MEA can’t be on agenda "In an apparent flap over who is allowed to
book time on the school board agenda, the Novi Education Association said that
if it can't bring in a representative from the Michigan Education Association
to speak at a board meeting, then it will hold a community meeting of its own."
Lou Schimmel, a Mackinac Center adjunct scholar, has been appointed to a committee that will investigate whether the city of Pontiac should contract with the Oakland County Sheriff's Office for police services or maintain its own department.
Even though the state Legislature voted to defund the Michigan Home Based Child Care Council in the current budget, the agency is still operating, and the Department of Human Services, which oversees the MHBCCC, won't tell the Legislature where the money is coming from.
DHS cites a lawsuit filed by the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation as its defense for remaining tight lipped.
The same forced unionization problem the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation is battling on behalf of home-based day care owners is now stirring up controversy in the in-home health care provider field.
Michigan Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land is trying to make people "drive further and further, just to receive assistance," according to state Sen. Roger Kahn, R-Saginaw, who says his fellow Republican should focus her attention instead on "bringing services closer to the people." Kahn's criticisms were directed at the Dept. of State's ongoing Branch Office Modernization Program, which aims to save scarce taxpayer dollars by consolidating branches into fewer, but more technically-savvy and customer-friendly, locations. For Kahn's district, this means the loss of a branch in Frankenmuth and enhanced services at another in Saginaw — decision that Kahn calls "a mistake," but that Land's office defines as "fiscal responsibility."
Regardless of whether Michigan receives a share of federal education money under the "Race to the Top" program, new legislation in Michigan could help improve education by opening the door for more charter public schools and using student achievement as a starting point for teacher merit pay.
Controversy continues to swirl around the application for tax subsidies associated with a film by Michael Moore that attacks banks for taking bailout money.
Incessant poor-mouthing is a staple of the public school establishment's perennial effort to extract more revenue from taxpayers. However, as described in a previous post, total state funding for Michigan public schools has actually increased by 14 percent this decade in real, inflation-adjusted terms. When combined with a 50,000-student decline in school enrollment, it adds up to our schools spending $2,000 more per pupil in 2008 than at the start of the decade.
From the AnnArbor.com news site comes additional evidence that our schools very well funded indeed.
While labor law can be complicated and intimidating, school districts and the public should take a union’s claims about its own authority with a proverbial grain of salt.
Schools buy ‘best school’ rating "Nine southeast Michigan school districts
paid $25,000 each to be named a "top school district" in Michigan by a
Detroit-area public relations firm."
Last week Oregon voters approved a union-funded ballot initiative imposing a $700 million hike in business and personal income taxes. Expect this outcome to embolden similar groups in other states, including Michigan. Indeed, the campaign here is already underway. MIRS News reported Tuesday on a state Capitol press conference organized by a group calling itself A Better Michigan Future (BMF), in which spokespersons and members of the union and liberal interest group coalition behind it made their case for a graduated income tax, and for imposing the state sales tax on services.
Mackinac Center Fiscal Policy Director Michael D. LaFaive on Wednesday will continue his tradition of counting and categorizing new initiatives offered by Michigan governors in their annual State of the State addresses. Mackinac Center analysts will compare the total number of proposed government expansions and limitations in this year's address to gubernatorial speeches dating to 1969.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm gives her last State of the State speech tonight.
Mackinac Center analysts have reviewed each State of the State speech dating back to 1969 and tallied the number of proposed expansions and limitations of government that each governor has offered. The "scorecard" of proposals below provides some insight into each administration's desire to see government solve perceived public policy problems.
These counts are not an exact science, but determining whether a proposal expands or limits state government is usually not too difficult.
Below is a set of historical averages covering the administrations of Governors William Milliken, James Blanchard, John Engler and Jennifer Granholm.
A new study published in Environment Science and Technology analyzes the environmental impact of school choice policies in St. Paul, Minnesota. The authors found that eliminating school choice would lower emissions rates by 3 to 8 times and curb the "significant environmental consequences" of providing more educational opportunities for children.
David Littmann, senior economist for the Mackinac Center, was a guest on "The Frank Beckmann Show" on WJR AM760 Monday morning. He discussed Michigan's economic woes and proposed spending cuts Gov. Jennifer Granholm is said to recommend in her "State of the State" address Wednesday night.
Michael LaFaive, director of the Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative, told The Detroit News that he is impressed by Gov. Granholm's calls to offer retirements incentives for state employees and restructure parts of their benefits. "It appears she wants to make the tough calls that will reduce the cost of government."
Two plead guilty in DPS payroll scam "Two former Detroit Public Schools employees accused
of defrauding the district of $400,000 in a payroll scam pled guilty in federal
court."
Students protest layoffs, seniority "Students rallied outside Pontiac High
School last week to protest the layoffs of 15 teachers, but comments made by
one student suggested that the youths also disagreed with
teacher seniority rules."
Media interest continues to abound over the story Mackinac Center scholars broke Thursday about filmmaker Michael Moore's latest movie being approved for a taxpayer-funded subsidy under the Michigan Film Incentive.
Michael Van Beek, director of education funding, writes in an Op-Ed in Sunday's Lansing State Journal that "Proposal A is a marked improvement over the previous method of financing public education, and Michigan schools, students and taxpayers have all benefited from it."
Van Beek also has assembled several resources to help address the question, "Are schools underfunded?"
Granholm: Change pensions to save money "In a bid to reduce state spending by up to
$450 million, Gov. Jennifer Granholm has proposed modifying the pension and
health care plans for future school and state retirees, but also would offer an
incentive to any who retire this summer."
Schools team up to seek custodial bids "Three public school districts and an intermediate district are jointly seeking bids from private custodial firms, though one official said that doesn't necessarily mean the districts will privatize the work."
Single-payer fans always seem to ignore what happens when the forgotten man of socialized medicine — the doctor — just "shrugs" and walks off the job.
Security upgrades planned "Surveillance cameras, secured entryways, swipe cards and enhanced alarm systems are the new face of school security in metro Detroit."
Since UAW workers are looking forward to profit sharing, it shouldn’t come as a shock if the company restores some perks for its white-collar work force as well.
A brand new survey shows that parents of school children in Detroit overwhelmingly desire more school choice. Every single one of the 600 Detroiters surveyed support more scholarships and financial aid for private schools, and 95 percent of the respondents favor tax incentives for businesses to fund those scholarships.
Prusi says: "If they're negotiating out of fear, then they don't belong at the negotiating table."
He has a point.
Expects cuts in 2010, lawmakers tell parents "Schools can expect at least a $268-per-pupil cut in state funding next year and likely will be asked to contribute more to employee pensions, legislators told Livonia parents this week."
A Mackinac Center news release details how filmmaker Michael Moore's latest movie was approved for a taxpayer-funded subsidy through the Michigan Film Incentive, even though Moore himself appears to criticize the program in this video from Communications Specialist Kathy Hoekstra.
Michael LaFaive, director of the Center's Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative, further examines the details of this subsidy, including the fact that Moore is a member of the Michigan Film Office Advisory Council. The council advises the Michigan Film Office, which is responsible for approving applications for subsidies to the Michigan Film Incentive.
Introduced by Rep. Justin Amash (R) on Jan. 27,
2010, to establish that a person whose private employment compensation comes
from a direct or indirect government subsidy is not considered a government
employee, and so is not subject to being inducted into a government employee
union, as happened to the home day care providers who are the subject of a
Mackinac Center lawsuit, or the Medicaid-recipient home personal care
services providers subject to a similar scheme for which Senate
Bill 731 would give statutory authorization.
Previous posts here have described legislation passed by the House (House Bill 4075) and pending on the Senate floor (Senate Bill 927) to let local governments borrow to pay for retirement health insurance benefits that current and past officials have offered to local government employees.
President Obama's call to provide tax relief for some, but not all, job providers was a "mixed bag," according to Michael LaFaive, director of the Mackinac Center's Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative. Obama talked during last night's State of the Union address about eliminating the capital gains tax on small businesses.
Court blocks union e-mail release "E-mail messages distributed among teacher
union members on public school computers are not subject to the Michigan
Freedom of Information Act in most cases."
The American labor movement reached what may prove to be a critical milestone last year when government employees, for the first time ever, made up a majority of union members.
MIRS News reports that two Michigan legislators will introduce legislation to increase the state gas tax by 8 cents per gallon and the state diesel tax by 12 cents per gallon.
Under the proposed increase, Michigan would have the fourth highest tax on gasoline, behind only California, New York and Hawaii. This would add yet another obstacle to recovering from the economic death spiral this state appears to have entered.
Although public charter schools are required by law to admit all students that apply, a common criticism is that charters fail to enroll enough special education students. Statistics show that public charter schools have proportionately smaller special education enrollments than conventional public schools, but recent trends suggest the difference will continue to wane.
President Obama should make tax cuts a centerpiece in his State of the Union address tonight, according to a Detroit Free Press columnist, and Michael LaFaive, director of the Morey Fiscal Policy Center, agrees.
Furloughs planned in Livonia "Livonia Public Schools teachers will take
three furlough days this year and four next year under the terms of a tentative
agreement reached between the district and the Livonia Education Association."
One of the new ideas to come out of Lansing is sure to make state government more expensive by increasing the cost of the state vehicle fleet. House Bill 5042 introduced by Rep. Alma Wheeler Smith, D-Salem, requires that all future new light trucks purchased by the state be alternative energy vehicles.
Two bills would convert what currently appear to be nothing more than politicians' promises into a genuine financial obligation and liability on taxpayers.
David L. Littmann, the Center's senior economist, said a proposed new tax on banks could hamper their growth and reduce their willingness to loan money.
Benton Harbor recall over privatization "A Feb. 23 recall election in Benton
Harbor Area Schools is a referendum on the school board's decision to privatize
busing."
Michigan's unemployment rate of 14.6 percent was the highest in the country, according to today's release from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The next closest state was Nevada, which increased to 13.0 percent.
Parents are demanding more public charter schools according an annual survey conducted by the Center for Education Reform. Demand grew by 21 percent over the last year, and for every public charter school in the country, there are 239 students denied the opportunity to attend.
Bradley Smith, a former member of the Mackinac Center Board of Scholars and former chairman of the Federal Election Commission, weighs in on Thursday's United States Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which found that some parts of federal campaign finance laws violate First Amendment rights.
Smith, now chairman of the Center for Competitive Politics, issued this press release.
An editorial in today's Livingston Daily Press & Argus compares the forced unionization of home-based day care owners to "stealing candy from babies."
The Livingston Daily editorial board also says "The only ones who seem to get it" are the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation and "a handful of home day care providers."
Read about the most recent developments in the MCLF's lawsuit against the Michigan Department of Human Services here.
Board turnover in Madison "In a rapid and somewhat confusing turnover of school board members, Madison District Schools is accepting applications to fill three seats following four resignations."
A plan introduced yesterday by Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, R-Rochester, to reduce state spending by $2 billion and suspend collective bargaining for government employees could gain enough interest among voters due to Michigan's budget problems, according to Paul Kersey, the Center's director of labor policy.
Part of the new Michigan Senate Republicans' spending reform proposal would mandate public school districts to seek competitive bids for food, custodial and transportation services. The Mackinac Center surveys each district annually to see whether they contract out for these services. You can view the 2009 survey results here.
In response to Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop's plan to, among other things, reduce public employee pay by 5 percent, the Michigan Education Association is repeating a claim they've made in the past. This time around, the MEA asserts that they've saved taxpayers $1 billion by accepting reduced compensation packages through their locally bargained contracts. The statistics tell a different story.
The Mackinac Center Legal Foundation yesterday filed a motion to reconsider with the Michigan Court of Appeals over that court's dismissal of the foundation's lawsuit against the Department of Human Services.
According to the Livingston Daily Press & Argus, the DHS claims people who own home-based day care businesses are "government employees because they care for children whose parents qualify for government assistance with day care."
The electric car is the fashion statement of this year's Detroit Auto Show. Government officials and automakers (in some cases, they are the same) are extolling the virtues of electric vehicles. But they will not determine their success; the consumer will.
The Mackinac Center Legal Foundationcontinues its quest for answers in the day care scheme being perpetrated by the Michigan Department of Human Services and a so-called home child care union by filing a motion with the Court of Appeals to reconsider its curt dismissal of Dec. 30, 2009.
It's worth noting that Michigan is not unique in having had day care providers unionized. In Michigan the dues are siphoned directly from subsidy payments.
We compiled a handy, interactive map which displays the states that currently have unionized home day care providers. Simply click on the icon for each state to open an information box about each state's home child care union set-up.
Michigan Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land is trying to make people "drive further and further, just to receive assistance," according to state Sen. Roger Kahn, R-Saginaw, who says his fellow Republican should focus her attention instead on "bringing services closer to the people." Kahn's criticisms were directed at the Dept. of State's ongoing Branch Office Modernization Program, which aims to save scarce taxpayer dollars by consolidating branches into fewer, but more technically-savvy and customer-friendly, locations. For Kahn's district, this means the loss of a branch in Frankenmuth and enhanced services at another in Saginaw — decision that Kahn calls "a mistake," but that Land's office defines as "fiscal responsibility."
Woodhaven caps insurance costs "The Woodhaven-Brownstown Board of Education has capped the amount the district will pay for teacher health insurance premiums at $13,000 annually."
Lansing policymakers are discussing plans to shift taxes around and are being supported by some faulty observations. Some of them made their way into an op-ed by Susan Demas in The Detroit News. She noted, "Michiganders have gone from paying 9.5 percent of their incomes in taxes in 1999 to 7 percent today."
Actually, Michiganders pay much more in taxes. These are simply figures from the state's Headlee amendment revenue limit calculations, which do not count local or federal figures, nor all of the state's non-federal revenues. Adding local tax burdens increases the figure to 10.7 percent. Overall, Michigan citizens face a much broader burden of government. The federal government takes in 21.6 percent of the entire country's personal income and Michigan pays its share, leaving Michigan citizens tax burdens around 30 percent instead of 7.
Besides, the state tax system is very good at capturing revenues from growing economies. That's largely the reason why state government coffers were closer to the Headlee cap in the high-growth 90s. But Michigan has not grown in a long time.
Many photographers have given us startling images of the effects of the swift, mass emigration of businesses and residents from Detroit. Time Magazine and others find the rubble morbidly fascinating and eerily artsy, but for Detroit residents, the reality is anything but charming. Entire neighborhoods are crumbling, and the city struggles to address that spreading disease: blight.
Schools cutting, but also building "Public school districts in
southwest Michigan may be cutting their operations budgets, but they're also
spending tens of millions on facility upgrades."
The School Aid Fund, the mechanism through which millions of taxpayer dollars flow to public schools, is perpetually in trouble according to some. The SAF makes up a large portion of Michigan's overall budget, which also is in a constant state of "deficit," according to some. Mackinac Center scholars take a deeper look at these issues.
Investigations by the US Department of Labor Office of Labor Management Standards led to two officials from AFSCME Local 100 in Pontiac being brought up on charges from the embezzlement of nearly $40,000 of union funds.
Grand Rapids Press Editor Paul Keep asked for suggestions on how to "fix" Michigan. Mackinac Center scholars responded with two, both involving law enforcement, and will weigh in with more ideas as The Press begins a 10-month series focusing on Michigan's future.
A study conducted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services shows the limited effectiveness of early education programs. Students in the nation's most extensive pre-kindergarten program — Head Start — were shown to have lost all cognitive gains by the end of first grade. Proponents of universal and state-run pre-K should take notice.
Dome Magazine's cover story, "Desperate for Diversification: A brief history of Michigan's economic development strategies," correctly points out that Mackinac Center scholars have disagreed with the state's central planning attempts under both Republican and Democratic governors.
Straus signs ‘Race’ application "Kathleen Straus, president of the State Board of Education, signed Michigan's "Race to the Top" application Saturday."
Teachers’ union mum on concessions "Union solidarity is showing signs of wear in Brighton Area Schools, as the teachers union apparently snubbed a request from support staff employees to consider districtwide concessions."
As much as 50 percent of the cigarettes consumed in the state of Washington would be smuggled in if a proposed $1 increase in cigarette taxes there passes, according to an Op-Ed by Center scholars today in the Seattle-Tacoma News Tribune.
You see a lot of union members at political rallies. One can’t help but wonder how many are genuine volunteers who are motivated by support for the union’s agenda, and how many are there for the money.
Recent Michigan legislation hypothetically makes it easier for schools to remove ineffective teachers from classrooms. However, some districts are claiming they already have good evaluation systems in place. For a glimpse into how the current process works, here's a step-by-step look at how one school district handles ineffective teachers.
Unions: Let’s not Race "Teacher unions in at least three states besides Michigan are trying to put the brakes on their states' Race to the Top applications, in each case saying the reform measures would affect teacher assignment, evaluation or pay."
The state of Washington is considering an increase in its cigarette taxes by $1 per pack. As we've shown in our 2008 study on cigarette taxes, these tax hikes carry a large degree of unintended consequences. Increasing cigarette taxes is expected to ensure that half of all cigarettes smoked in Washington are smuggled in from other states.
In December 2008 we published a study "Cigarette Taxes and Smuggling: A Statistical Analysis and Historical Review." The study reviewed the efforts of states trying to fight the growth of smuggling, documented the history of cigarette taxes in Michigan, New Jersey and California, and modeled the level of illicit tobacco use in states due to cigarette tax rates. We recently updated the model to include changes to the Federal Excise Tax, as well.
The 2008 study already found that Washington has the fourth highest smuggling rate. In applying the model to the proposed tax increases, we found that a $1.00 per pack increase in taxes would jump the state's smuggling rates from 39.3 percent to 51.5 percent.
Yesterday it was reported that the Obama Administration would be "unrelenting" in putting Americans back to work. Indeed, Congress has named this its "top priority."
However, our elected representatives (never known for their economic knowledge) don't understand that there are, in fact, countless jobs in an economy.
Advice to board: Tax, spend, save "Separate events brought school
administrators, economists and policy analysts to Lansing on Tuesday, but
according to media reports the topic everywhere was the same: the cost of
public schools."
Wesley Reynolds, Mackinac Center operations intern, writes about John Hancock to celebrate the 273rd anniversary of Hancock's birth, Jan. 12, 1737, at Landmarks of Liberty.
The Michigan State Board of Education heard from invited guests today, including Michael Van Beek, Mackinac Center director of education policy, about how to restructure school financing.
An article from the Summer 2002 issue of Michigan Privatization Report proved prescient. A follow-up by Michael LaFaive, director of the Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative, eight years later is trying to warn officials in Kalamazoo not to repeat their folly.
The 2002 commentary, written by Ray Wilson, former Kalamazoo County commissioner and founder of the Kalamazoo County Tax Payers Association, explained that subsidizing a grocery store in an area of the city where three private enterprises had already failed did not make sense.
In this Kalamazoo Gazette Op-Ed, LaFaive explains that Wilson was right and why city, state and federal officials are about to make the same mistakes again.
Yesterday, forecasters from the Michigan House Fiscal Agency, Senate Fiscal Agency and Treasury Department met to agree on an estimate for the next fiscal year's state revenues. These revenues are important because coupled with spending figures, they tell us whether fiscal 2011 will result in a surplus or deficit.
Despite Michigan's poor economy, state government revenue is expected to increase from this year to next. Nevertheless, the state is expected to spend $1.6 billion more than it receives in revenues.
Russ Harding, senior environmental analyst and director of the Center's Property Rights Network, will talk about cap-and-trade tonight at 7 p.m. in Livingston County.
A new online database contains health insurance information for more than 95 percent of Michigan's 551 public school districts, according to Michael Van Beek, director of education policy. In more than 300 of those districts, teachers do not contribute a single penny toward the cost of their own premiums. Health insurance for school employees costs Michigan taxpayers nearly $2 billion per year.
State board to discuss school finance "As part of an effort to pull together
recommendations on school finance reform, the state Board of Education will
host a philosophically diverse group of panelists at its meeting Tuesday."
Nobody happy with ‘Race’ memos "Tuesday
is the new deadline for school districts and unions to sign off on Race to the
Top reform plans, but school
administrators remain frustrated and confused."
Poor showing could affect ‘Race’ "Just as Michigan is trying to win more
federal education money, another pair of studies puts the state at or near the
bottom in educational achievement among poor and minority studies."
It's been said many times before, and yet people rarely seem to understand that believing in the free-market does not necessarily make one a fan of business. Business (especially large corporations) is often willing to fight government over taxes, and yet join government when it suits its own purpose.
More important than the cost of compliance is the potential loss of American jobs. A stricter ozone standard will render America less competitive in attracting and keeping jobs, especially in manufacturing where the nation and Michigan in particular have suffered heavy job losses.
DFT recall organizers rally "Members of the Detroit Federation of Teachers say
they have enough signatures to force a recall vote against their union
president, but the president called the recall leaders "dissidents" who want to
"turn the DFT into a socialist organization.""
In November, I wrote about the "Luckiest ZIP code in Michigan", which, according to the official Web site that tracks federal stimulus dollars, was a ZIP code in Lansing. Further review of all 674 ZIP codes on the Michigan list, cross-checked with United States Postal Service ZIP Code lookup finds $573,161 in federal stimulus money went to five ZIP codes in Michigan that do not exist. $1,254,110 went to ZIP codes in other states, including $1,143,025 that went to ZIP Code 55411 (Minneapolis, Minn.) and created zero jobs.
Suit alleges ‘secret’ insurance fees "Government and school officials in Saginaw
have filed suit against Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, alleging the
insurer overcharged them a combined $7 million in hidden administrative fees."
With apologies to John Lennon, I imagine a city without cars. Exhaust fumes replaced by fine boutiques and fern bars. All the people walk to workplace and shops, And the streets are patrolled by mo-ped cops. All city life is one of perfect precision, Nothing's out of place if you have a Grand Vision.
Even with an expected budget overspending crisis of $1.8 billion next year, Michigan government's revenue situation is doing much better than the rest of the economy.
State tax receipts are largely determined by how well a state's economy is doing. When workers earn more, they pay more income taxes. When consumers buy more, they pay more in sales taxes.
Because of those ties to the economy, every state's tax base is naturally exposed to cyclical factors. But each state responds differently. Over the past year, Michigan's has been far less responsive to the recession than most states.
Patrick J. Wright, director of the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation, said he will explore further options after the Michigan Court of Appeals dismissed - without explanation - the foundation's lawsuit against the state Department of Human Services in a case aimed at preventing union dues from being taken from home-based day care owners.
Private students lose aid, too "While the end of the Michigan Promise
scholarship program grabbed most of the headlines last fall, students at the
state's private universities saw a similar reduction."
Here's how to make an economic bubble: Throw in generous amounts of government money, add legislative mandates and stir with supportive media attention. Sound familiar? First we had the dot com bubble, then the housing bubble. Now we are headed for a green jobs bubble.
Called "arguably the greatest American in the 20th century," during his 95 years Norman Borlaug probably saved more lives than any other person. He is one of just six people to win the Nobel Peace Prize, the Congressional Gold Medal and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. And yet Dr. Borlaug, who died this past September, is scarcely known in his own country.
A draft of the Michigan Environmental Justice Plan was released for public comment on Dec. 11, 2009. Reading it took me back to the days I worked on environmental justice issues while serving as director of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.
The Michigan Court of Appeals is scheduled to hear a case today regarding a disagreement between Howell Public Schools and its teachers union over the release of teachers' e-mails. Mackinac Center Senior Legal Analyst Patrick J. Wright filed a "friend of the court" brief in the case, explaining that the e-mails are public record and thus subject to the Freedom of Information Act.
New jobs for education leaders "Central Michigan University's online program to train charter school leaders is drawing interest from students and prospective employers alike."
Unions: 'Race' memo goes too far "Now that the state Legislature has signed off on school reform intended to bring federal dollars to Michigan, local school districts and union leaders aren't sure they want to follow suit."
Despite Michigan's numerous shortcomings, one area where we excel is tax collections. In fact, over the past two years Michigan's tax revenue per job increased 3.5 percent while the national average fell 1.5 percent.
Which Michigan legislators missed the most votes in 2009?
Chesaning: MESSA costs up "Chesaning Union Schools is paying nearly 21 percent more for employee health insurance this year, even though teachers agreed to a plan with higher deductibles."
What happens when school employee groups are pitted against each other? Usually, the teachers are the champs.
