Most of the focus on Proposal 1 has been directed to its changes in the state’s fiscal policies, rather than a close look at its proposed constitutional changes. One issue demands further attention since its effects are unclear.
The constitutional amendments allow for a higher sales tax, earmark more money to the School Aid Fund and exempt road vehicle fuel from sales taxes. But they also remove “higher education” from the list of acceptable uses of the SAF while adding community colleges and some programs to the acceptable uses of the that fund. Here is this section of the proposed amendment:
The River Rouge School District buses students out of Detroit to attend its schools. This makes financial sense for the district: More than 400 River Rouge students live in Detroit and attend the district through the state's Schools of Choice program. These are families who have chosen to leave their neighborhood school.
By Jack McHugh
Now with one click you can approve or disapprove of key votes by your legislators using the VoteSpotter smart phone app. Visit votespotter.com and download VoteSpotter today!
The House and Senate are on a two-week spring break. Therefore, this report contains several recently introduced bills of interest.
Our friends at the Foundation for Economic Education recently published an interview with their current president, Lawrence W. Reed. Friends of the Mackinac Center will know Larry as the first president of this organization. He currently is president emeritus at the Center and a member of our Board of Scholars.
A Detroit coalition has released its long-awaited recommendations on education policy for Detroit. Though the coalition characterizes its recommendations as a way to improve the "education landscape" for all Detroit students, the coalition's main apparent goal is preserving the institution of Detroit Public Schools.
The Detroit News quotes Audrey Spalding, director of education policy, on school choice in Detroit.
According to the article, 25,000 Detroit students have chosen to use school choice to attend schools in the suburban areas, with 17,000 of those students attending charters.
The many friends and admirers of Robert P. (“Bob”) Crowner mourn his passing, which occurred this week at the age of 87, after a long bout with cancer.
Bob was an exemplar of the balanced life. He was successful in business before he taught the subject at the university level. He believed in the education of youth, devoting his attentions to enhancing it in both the public and private sectors. He knew a lot about a lot of things but never felt he knew enough that he could crow about it. He was an engineer who knew there was another engineer who towered over all others, the Creator who made us all. He worked hard at every job he held, but still found time to work a lot more as a volunteer for worthy causes. As a long-time member of the Mackinac Center’s Board of Scholars, his bio spells out some of the details:
Specifically, if voters approve Proposal 1’s $2 billion tax increase (and if as expected legislators pass a necessary “clean up” bill), then most of the revenue from the measure’s $1.2 billion fuel tax will initially go to repay debt on past road repairs. In the first year $815 million will be used to repay debt. In the second year, this falls to $456 million. Only in the third year will the full gas tax amount go to current transportation funding, rather than paying for road repairs that politicians put on the state’s credit card years ago.
According to Grand Rapids ABC affiliate WZZM 13, Michigan taxpayers spend $1.3 million every year on administrative costs and board member transportation to the meetings of 184 state oversight boards.
Michael LaFaive, director of the Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative at the Mackinac Center, was quoted in the article, suggesting other uses for the money spent on these boards.
Gov. Snyder recently sent a letter to Michigan House Speaker Kevin Cotter and Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof explaining some of the problems of occupational licensure.
The governor summarizes some of the good work the Legislature has done, and outlines the principles he'll use in "determining whether to support any legislation providing for additional occupation regulation.” Below are these principles:
Assistant Director of Fiscal Policy James Hohman discusses his Proposal 1 study on "The Frank Beckman Show" on WJR AM760.
The May 5 ballot proposal raises revenue to fix the roads by increasing the sales tax from 6 percent to 7 percent and changing the way gas is taxed. The study shows the proposal will cost taxpayers $2 billion and the average household approximately $500 more per year. At the Energy Information Administration’s estimate average gas price for 2015 of $2.39, Proposal 1 would increase the price per gallon by 10 cents.
By Jack McHugh
Now with one click you can approve or disapprove of key votes by your legislators using the VoteSpotter smart phone app. Visit votespotter.com and download VoteSpotter today!
Senate Bill 56, Give judges a raise: Passed 33 to 3 in the Senate
To increase judges’ salaries around $12,000, and index them going forward to increases in the salaries paid to unionized state “civil service” employees. After the change salaries would range from around $150,000 to $163,000 depending on which level of court.
An article by American Enterprise Institute scholar Andrew Biggs in the Wall Street Journal (subscription required) explains how the bogus “transition costs” argument against reforming government pension systems recently became even more bogus.
To refresh, this was the argument used in 2012 by teachers unions and state pension bureaucrats to scuttle a transformational school pension reform bill that had passed the Michigan Senate. The measure would have closed the system to new hires, instead granting them generous 401(k) benefits.
Right-to-work is not for or against unions. In fact, the only effect of right-to-work on collective bargaining is that it takes away a union’s ability to get a worker fired for not paying them.
In 1999 Robert P. Hunter, a Senior Fellow in Labor Policy for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, created the Spectrum of Government Intervention in Organized Labor. On one side of the spectrum was government outlawing unions, labeling them a criminal conspiracy. On the other side was forcing all workers to be members of a union.
Yesterday the House Committee on Criminal Justice heard testimony on a package of bills that would amend or repeal several archaic laws. Among the laws under consideration are criminal prohibitions on participating in walkathons, playing “The Star‑Spangled Banner” as part of a medley, using “reproachful” language and selling dyed baby chicks and rabbits. The hearing was covered by the Detroit Free Press and MLive.com.
By Jack McHugh
Now with one click you can approve or disapprove of key votes by your legislators using the VoteSpotter smart phone app. Visit votespotter.com and download VoteSpotter today!
To require the Secretary of State to develop a “Choose Life” license plate, with fees collected from its sale given to organizations and projects that promote alternatives to abortion.
Author’s Note: This was originally published Friday, March 20, in the Post Bulletin (see Postbulletin.com).
The Post Bulletin’s recent op-ed arguing for maintenance of the state’s existing automatic tax increase on cigarettes (Our View: Cigarette tax should be left alone, March 12, 2015) is misleading and shortsighted on several fronts.
The Detroit News and WLNS 6 News have reported on the deal between the Michigan Education Association and Lansing School District where the district pays Steve Cook’s $201,613 salary and $51,976 pension contribution, which is then reimbursed by the Michigan Education Association.
The Detroit Free Press wrote a follow-up article on a December story broken by Senior Investigative Analyst Anne Schieber. The original story was about two men who had thousands of dollars’ worth of property seized in raids of their homes, without being charged with a crime. Since the publishing of the story, both men have been arrested.
The Wall Street Journal cites Mackinac Center research by James Hohman, assistant director of fiscal policy, and Jarrett Skorup, digital engagement manager, in an article on the potential end of the Michigan film producer subsidies. The film incentives program, in its current form, costs taxpayers $50 million per year, or 2.5 million potholes that could have been filled.
(Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on March 18, 2015 by Center of the American Experiment.)
Minnesota has a large smuggling problem and it is set to get worse. We estimate that the 130 percent excise tax increase on cigarettes in July 2013 raised Minnesota’s smuggling rate to 33.7 percent of the total market from a much lower 18 percent. This hike in tax evasion and avoidance is a direct function of high excise taxes — which will likely increase each year — and the ease with which consumers can acquire lower priced cigarettes places like North Dakota, Indian Reservations and the Internet.
Mitch Albom’s March 14 defense of subsidies for film makers should inspire lawmakers to end this public policy mistake. Corporate welfare programs rarely produce net new jobs, especially in light of superior alternatives.
In order to subsidize the jobs of a few “carpenters and drivers,” among others, which Albom says resulted from the program, money must first be taken from many others. The net effect is at best a wash, most likely a loss.
An article in The Detroit News on FOIA law reform highlighted a current Mackinac Center Legal Foundation case. The lawsuit against the Michigan Liquor Control Commission disputes a $1,500 fee being charged for an electronic transfer of an already prepared file.
By Jack McHugh
Now with one click you can approve or disapprove of key votes by your legislators using the VoteSpotter smart phone app. Visit votespotter.com and download VoteSpotter today!
Senate Bill 72, Let landlords refuse rental for smoking medical marijuana: Passed 34 to 3 in the Senate
A Washington Examiner article quotes Director of Labor Policy F. Vincent Vernuccio on the subject of agency fees. In February, Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner signed an executive order stopping the collection of union fees from the paychecks of public employees who have chosen not to be members of the union. Gov. Rauner’s decision was based in part on the Supreme Court’s ruling in Harris v. Quinn, which ended a dues skim from home healthcare workers in Illinois.
