If you listen to opponents of right-to-work laws, the claims are dire. But if laws allowing workers the choice of whether to pay money to a union lead to such alleged problems, why are so many people moving from forced unionism states to right-to-work states?
James Hohman, assistant director of fiscal policy, and Scott Drenkard, an economist with the Tax Foundation, write in today’s Detroit News about Proposal 1, which is estimated to save taxpayers about $500 million. You can read Hohman’s full assessment of the ballot measure here.
A 2013 Mackinac Center study found positive economic effects for states with right-to-work laws. RTW states enjoy increased real personal income growth, population growth and employment growth. New evidence supports this finding.
The evidence comes from a Competitive Enterprise Institute study. Authors Richard Vedder (a member of the Center’s Board of Scholars) and Jonathon Robe control for a variety of factors that impact state economic growth. They then compare the performance of RTW states and non-RTW states from 1977 to 2012. A chief finding is “that the overall effect of a RTW law is to increase economic growth rates by 11.5 percentage points.”
By Derk Wilcox
In a significant decision issued Tuesday, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that the IRS’s implementation of a significant portion of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was illegal. The case is called Halbig v Burwell, No. 14-5018. The DC Court’s opinion was very much in line with the interpretation of the ACA urged by Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette, who submitted a supporting brief on behalf of the state of Michigan in cooperation with the states of Kansas and Nebraska.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has just ruled that the federal health care law does not authorize insurance subsidies provided through health care “exchanges” that were set up by the federal government. Only exchanges set up by the states can qualify for these taxpayer subsidies.
Using polling to discover not only what percentage of voters believe in man-made climate change but also how much they know about related scientific facts could prove worthwhile. Survey questions might include asking voters if they believe greenhouse gases exist and, if so, whether they think that — if possible — all greenhouse gases should be eliminated.
An Associated Press story about the upcoming Proposal 1 on the Aug. 5 primary ballot cites a recent policy brief written by James Hohman, assistant director of fiscal policy, which shows the measure could be up to a $500 million tax cut.
The story appeared in Crain's Detroit Business, Traverse City Record-Eagle, Battle Creek Enquirer, Port Huron Times-Herald, Lansing State Journal, Grand Haven Tribune, Cadillac News and Midland Daily News. It was also cited in this online "editorial board" discussion at MLive.com.
While the Legislature is on a summer break from voting, the Roll Call Report is reviewing key votes of the 2013-2014 session.
House Bill 4714, Approve Medicaid expansion: Passed 76 to 31 in the House on June 13, 2013
To expand Medicaid eligibility to families and childless adults up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, which implements a key component of the federal health care law.
All criminal justice systems face competing tensions of protecting public safety while not overburdening taxpayers, and Michigan’s is no exception. Calls to reduce financial costs often face scrutiny on the grounds of potentially compromised security. In a Lansing hearing on July 1, which I was able to attend, the Council of State Governments brought to Michigan several suggestions related to criminal sentencing, claiming that these policy changes could ease the financial burden on taxpayers while simultaneously maintaining or even improving public safety.
James Hohman, assistant director of fiscal policy, will participate in a panel discussion from 8:30 to 10 a.m. Friday as part of an event titled “Detroit Rising.” The two-day event, sponsored by the Manhattan Institute and State Budget Solutions, kicks off Thursday at 5 p.m. with a panel discussion titled “How the Motor City is Rebuilding and Returning to Greatness.” Friday’s session is titled “Learning from Detroit: Hope for Cities on the Brink.” Both panels will be streamed live.
A Wall Street Journal editorial bemoans gimmicks used to “pay for” a federal road funding bill without either raising taxes or cutting other spending, which was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives yesterday:
“Under smoothing, employers are given permission to delay contributions to pension plans, thereby increasing corporate taxable income. That pushes immediate money to the Treasury, but at the cost of piling up pension liabilities in the longer-term, hurting employees and potentially the taxpayers who might have to bail them out. Congress used the same imaginary revenue-raiser to fund the 2012 highway bill, and the Members know most of the media won't report the boring pension details.”
A recent Michigan Future report calls into question a common economic theory: increasing taxes tends to lead to less private-sector growth. Comparing Michigan’s economic performance over the last two decades to that of Minnesota’s, the report claims that “rais[ing] taxes on the wealthy and businesses to invest even more in public services” was the Gopher State’s key to success. While this anecdote convinced the Detroit Free Press, a large body of economic research does not support this view.
The newest edition of Michigan Education Digest is available here. Topics include the new National Education Association president calling value-added assessments for teachers the “mark of the devil,” why the University of Michigan has to pay a student group $14,000 to settle a lawsuit, and how privatizing noninstructional services could help Flint schools reduce its overspending crisis.
The staff of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy mourns the loss of Andrew Kaluza, a 2011 summer intern, who passed away after a car accident over the weekend. Kaluza, an engineering major at the University of Texas-San Antonio, founded that school’s Young Americans for Liberty chapter and was a member of the executive board of Students for Liberty.
The economic effects of state right-to-work laws are important, but these laws are significant for other reasons, too, namely the fact that employees cannot be forced to contribute money to a union they disagree with as a condition of their employment.
While the Legislature is adjourned for a primary election campaign break, the Roll Call Report is reviewing key votes of the 2013-2014 session.
Senate Bill 257, Expand “Business Improvement Zone” tax-and-spend entities: Passed 35 to 2 in the Senate on April 11, 2013.
Ron French has a great article in Bridge Magazine looking at "the crazy economics of Michigan's favorite pitted fruit." The piece describes some of the federal cherry regulations that are mostly left over from the New Deal of the 1930s:
Michigan tart cherry growers are shackled by those restrictions more than most. There are no restrictions on sweet cherries – the kind you buy in the fresh fruit section of Meijer. The restrictions don’t even apply to all tart cherries – there are no restrictions on tart cherries grown in Oregon or Pennsylvania, or on imported cherries.
Labor Policy Director F. Vincent Vernuccio writes today at National Review about the failure of unions to overturn worker freedom reforms in the industrial Midwest — long a labor stronghold — and what reform-minded legislators in other states can learn from that lesson.
Two Mackinac Center experts were on “The Tony Conley Show” on WILS-AM1320 in Lansing recently.
Labor Policy Director F. Vincent Vernuccio discussed the MEA’s so-called “August window” and how teachers can opt out of the union, particularly those who the MEA has sent to collections agencies.
Senior Legislative Analyst Jack McHugh writes in this month’s Greater Lansing Business Monthly that political free speech is in jeopardy due to the “weaponization” of campaign finance laws by politicians.
Labor Policy Director F. Vincent Vernuccio was quoted in a Detroit News commentary by Ingrid Jacques, deputy editorial page editor, about the importance of teachers knowing their worker freedom rights.
“It can be extremely confusing,” he said, referring to the Michigan Education Association’s insistence that its “August window” bylaw trumps state law.
Mackinac Center President Joseph G. Lehman is cited in an article about Gov. Rick Snyder in the upcoming issue of National Review.
The story, which calls Gov. Snyder “The Turnaround Governor,” highlights several of his administration, including eliminating the Michigan Business Tax and signing right-to-work legislation.
As we watch countless numbers of human beings struggle for freedom and liberty around the globe, it is good to reflect upon the blessings we enjoy in the land that we love — this United States of America.
This is my 67th Fourth of July celebration and my memories of the day are some of those very blessings…family time in many places. All were amazing…captivated by fireworks in small-town America…aboard a small boat on the Mississippi River and also a huge cruise liner in Alaska…on the Palace Green in Williamsburg, Va.…in several baseball parks…attending the Baltimore Symphony at Oregon Ridge…attending the Detroit Symphony at the Henry Ford…and zooming across the night sky on a flight to Europe. My blessings include travel to all 50 states and there is something of interest and beauty to be found in each. The US of A is one of my greatest blessings in life.
By Jack McHugh
While the Legislature is adjourned for a primary election campaign break, the Roll Call Report is reviewing key votes of the 2013-2014 session.
House Bill 4369, Codify "education achievement authority" for failed schools: Passed 57 to 53 in the House on March 21, 2013
An editorial today in The Detroit News declares the recent ruling by the Michigan Employment Relations Commission that graduate student research assistants cannot be forced into a union a “win” for the students.
MERC recently confirmed its 1981 decision that said GSRAs at public universities were students and not employees, and therefore could not be unionized. The editorial cited the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation, which represented about 370 GSRAs who objected to the unionization attempts.
