This week’s Michigan Education Digest is now available online. Topics include the retirement of the Detroit Federation of Teachers president, a school district saving $737,000 by dropping union insurance and the number of districts that have self-created overspending crises.
It’s been six months since the Michigan House passed House Bill 4001, but the Senate has taken no action on it apart from referring the bill to the Government Operations Committee.
The bill, which drew bipartisan support in the House, promotes government transparency and accountability by modernizing the state’s Freedom of Information Act. This law enables residents and journalists to request and obtain government records. The Mackinac Center relies on FOIA to conduct its public policy research and to promote government accountability; each year we file hundreds of FOIA requests.
Michigan Capitol Confidential today exposes several flaws in a Detroit Free Press opinion piece written by former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich that accuses “mostly white” Oakland County for Detroit’s financial problems.
Steve Malanga at Public Sector Inc. reports on Pennsylvania governments increasing taxes in order to pay increased pension requirements.
Malanga follows tax increases in Scranton, York City, and in a number of school districts. He also notes that districts are looking to challenge property assessments in search of more revenue.
By Jack McHugh
Senate Bill 156, Reverse effect of Supreme Court business tax ruling: Passed 34 to 3 in the Senate
To clarify the intent of provisions in the Michigan Business Tax enacted in 2007, so as to reverse the effect of a recent state Supreme Court ruling (IBM v. Treasury) that reportedly would force the state to refund more than $1 billion to many companies headquartered outside this state. The case involved the interaction of MBT provisions with a separate multistate Tax Compact entered in 2006. (The MBT was repealed in 2011 but is still in effect for certain companies awarded state subsidies and tax breaks under its provisions).
Dean Stansel, an economics professor at Florida Gulf Coast University will give a speech on behalf of the Mackinac Center titled “Economic Freedom: What It Is and Why It Matters” at noon on Sept. 16 in Troy. The event is free and open to the public — more information can be found here.
Patrick J. Wright, the Mackinac Center’s vice president for legal affairs, was a guest on “Let it Rip” on WJBK-TV2 in Detroit Sunday, discussing a labor law judge’s decision last week that, if upheld, will allow public-sector union members to leave their union at any time. Currently, several unions have arbitrary ‘windows’ that limit members’ freedom to certain times of the year.
By Jack McHugh
Initiated Legislation 2, Preempt referendum banning wolf hunt: Passed 65 to 43 in the House
To preempt the effect of a referendum placed on the November ballot by interests opposed to wolf hunting. Specifically, this measure (Initiated Legislation 2) - which was sponsored by groups in favor of a wolf hunt - would make “referendum-proof” a 2013 law giving the legislature and Natural Resources Commission exclusive authority to decide which species may be hunted in Michigan. It would do so by making a small change to that law and adding a modest appropriation, which under a 2001 Supreme Court ruling makes the law not subject to referendum. The Senate passed this measure (Initiated Legislation 2) on Aug. 13, and with this House vote the no-wolf hunt measure on the November 2014 ballot will not go into effect, even if a majority of voters approve it.
It is time to reassess Michigan’s gubernatorial race; and flipping a coin might be the best approach to picking the winner. Polls show Gov. Rick Snyder and Democratic challenger former Congressman Mark Schauer neck and neck with Gov. Snyder’s momentum heading downward.
More than 200 media outlets nationwide and in other countries are reporting that the Michigan Education Association’s so-called ‘August window’ that limited when members could resign from the union to the month of August has been found illegal according to a labor law judge.
The newest edition of Michigan Education Digest is now available online. Topics include charter public school oversight, enrollment declines and Saginaw teachers’ pay cut.
Christopher Douglas, an associate professor of economics at the University of Michigan-Flint and a member of the Mackinac Center’s Board of Scholars, writes in Crain’s Detroit Business that the Detroit City Council and state Legislature should have caved to corporate welfare demands made by the Detroit Red Wings for the team’s new arena.
The Detroit News, WWMT-TV3 in Kalamazoo and Michigan Radio have all reported recently about teachers seeking to leave the Michigan Education Association under the state’s right-to-work law.
More information can be found at https://michiganunionoptout.com.
Some of the most courageous people I know are teachers.
Their job requires them to face students, parents, administrators, colleagues and the general public constantly. Their performance receives criticism regularly.
For the past year, we at the Mackinac Center have had the privilege of getting to know some of the bravest teachers in Michigan. They stand for principles rather than power. The organization that is supposed to represent them has chosen not to inform them of their rights.
Last night I shook hands with the son of one of my favorite heroes. The Holocaust Memorial Center in metro Detroit hosted Nick Winton, who gave a most inspiring presentation on the life of his father, Sir Nicholas Winton.
Sir Nicholas, who prefers to be called Nicky, was a 29-year-old London stockbroker who gave up a skiing holiday to visit Prague and witness firsthand the refugees who were fleeing Nazi tyranny. That visit led to his heroic deeds which enabled 669 children to escape.
(Editor’s note: The following cover letter is tongue-in-cheek satire, written after spotting a legitimate job offer online for another Michigan Economic Development Corp. vice president.)
August 28, 2014
Ms. Valerie Hoag
Senior Vice President
Business Development
Michigan Economic Development Corp.
300 N. Washington Square
Lansing, Michigan 48913
Scholars with the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, as well as other institutions, have used descriptive statistics in conjunction with empirical evidence to tell stories — sometimes profound ones. A good example of this was published recently by “Opportunity Ohio” and should be explored further.
Michigan Strategic Fund board members voted Tuesday to divert almost three-quarters of a million dollars in local and school taxes to a private entity so that a Redford Township car dealership can upgrade its facilities, MLive reports. The Michigan Economic Development Corp. will give the dealership $719,528 to renovate its building and install a car wash on an adjacent piece of land it owns.
The latest edition of Michigan Education Digest is now available online. Topics include Detroit Public Schools’ overspending crisis, year-round classes and charter public school decisions.
Labor Policy Director F. Vincent Vernuccio has written a lengthy commentary about the problems plaguing the UAW — including its defeat at VW’s plant in Chattanooga, a 25 percent dues hike and leadership failures — for Capital Research Center’s “Labor Watch.”
Labor Policy Director F. Vincent Vernuccio is a finalist in Think Freely Media’s “Great Communicators Tournament.” Think Freely Media is a nonprofit organization that assists pro-liberty and pro-free market groups communicate more effectively. You can vote for Vernuccio online through midnight on Sept. 2. A dozen finalists will be chosen to participate in the tournament at the State Policy Network’s annual meeting Sept. 23-26 in Denver.
An Associated Press story about teachers opting out of the Michigan Education Association this month has drawn large-scale attention, appearing in more than 100 news outlets around the country, including The Detroit News, Huffington Post, Education Week, Bloomberg Businessweek, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the San Francisco Chronicle, the San Antonio News-Express, Townhall, the Las Vegas Sun, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Investor’s Business Daily, the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette, the Houston Chronicle, the Albany Times-Union, Salon, Crain’s Detroit Business, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, WJRT-TV12 in Flint and WILX-TV10 in Lansing.
Fox News and The College Fix are reporting on the irony of former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm teaching a graduate-level course this fall at the University of California-Berkeley that will focus on “creating jobs through better government policies.”
While the Legislature is on a summer break the Roll Call Report is reviewing key votes of the 2013-2014 session.
Note: There will be no Roll Call Report next week. The House has a session scheduled for Aug. 27, and if there are any noteworthy votes they will be reported in the following week's report.
The Lansing State Journal and WZZM TV-13 in Grand Rapids are both reporting on efforts by Michigan Education Association members to opt out of the union and the roadblocks they are facing. MEA members can visit www.Augustoptout.org for more information.
