The latest issue of Michigan Education Digest is now available online. Topics include overspending crises, student count day and the emergency manager law.
Members of the political class here and elsewhere have a reputation for always taking care of their own. Chasers of public office may wax eloquent about their selfless “public service,” but the truth is that no one checks their self-interest at the doors of the Capitol.
The Mackinac Center welcomes two new academics with strong Michigan ties to its Board of Scholars. Members of this board write for the Center, review its publications, and provide other consultation and guidance. The two new scholars are Michael J. Clark of Hillsdale College and Ross B. Emmett of Michigan State University's James Madison College.
Last spring, the Michigan House passed a bill to gut a 2011 reform establishing a rigorous, empirical teacher rating system based on how students in an educator’s classroom actually perform on state tests. Related 2011 reforms raised the stakes by basing teacher “tenure” and other school employment decisions on these ratings.
Mackinac Center scholars have long lamented the long-reach of government in matters great and small. Now comes another intrusion in the latter category, and this one rhymes: Legislation proposing an “Official State Poem” of Michigan.
From a description of the bill on MichiganVotes.org:
By Jack McHugh
Senate Bill 730, Mandate restaurant manager food allergy training: Passed 31 to 7 in the Senate
To mandate that restaurants must post a window sticker or notice on the menu that customers have an obligation to inform the server about any food allergies. The bill would also mandate that restaurants employ at least one manager who has received training or viewed an approved video on food allergies (in addition to current requirements for one manager to have a food safety certification).
Nathan Lehman, who worked as a labor policy intern at the Center this summer, and F. Vincent Vernuccio, labor policy director, write in a Detroit News op-ed today that a recent UAW dues hike was unnecessary and members could exercise their freedoms under right-to-work because of the union’s political agenda.
The latest version of Michigan Education Digest is now available. Items include anti-school choice legislation, teacher pensions and school district consolidation.
WILX-TV10 in Lansing is reporting on proposed legislation that would prevent unions from bullying members who choose to opt out. Michigan Capitol Confidential reported that the Operating Engineers Local 324 printed in its newsletter the names of 19 former members who left under Michigan’s right-to-work law, calling them “freeloaders.” Now, more than 500 members have opted out of the union.
With a good deal of validity it has been said that history is written by the victors. Keeping that in mind, it follows that if Gov. Rick Snyder loses the 2014 Michigan gubernatorial election, the defeat almost surely will be attributed to his support and enactment of right-to-work.
The ongoing PBS documentary "The Roosevelts" ignores several key facts about the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his so-called New Deal. For another view, please see "Great Myths of the Great Deperssion."
By Jack McHugh
House Bill 5785, Expand permissible criminal court cost levies: Passed 95 to 14 in the House
To expand the costs that can be imposed on an individual convicted in a criminal case. The bill would authorize imposing assessments covering a share of court employee salaries and benefits, of "goods and services” used in operating the court, and of court building “operation and maintenance" costs. In addition, it would establish that a court has no duty to provide a “calculation of the costs involved in a particular case.” The bill reverses a state Supreme Court case that limited charges to those specifically allowed in a particular statute; its provisions would expire in 27 months, presumably to allow the legislature to rationalize these impositions for all courts across the state.
For the second year in a row, the Michigan Senate has approved a resolution supporting Sept. 19 as “International Talk Like a Pirate Day.”
Fiscal Policy Director Michael LaFaive wrote about this very issue last year, noting that such meaningless resolutions are the best evidence yet that Michigan should have a part-time Legislature.
In light of the historic “no” vote for Scottish independence Thursday, we revisit this essay by President Emeritus Lawrence W. Reed about a time when Scotland did win its independence from Britain.
[A review of “The End Is Near, and It’s Going To Be Awesome: How Going Broke Will Leave America Richer, Happier, and More Secure” by Kevin Williamson; Broadside Books, 2013, $27.99 hardcover/$15.99 eBook; 198 pp.]
Back in the days of classic British humor, a comic impersonating an unctuous variety host proclaimed: “Ladies and gentlemen, Petula Clark sings!” To which another comic responds sotto voce, “Yes, we know that.” I was reminded of this bit while reading Kevin Williamson’s “The End Is Near, and It’s Going To Be Awesome.” Those familiar with Williamson’s prodigious output neither will be surprised by the title’s first clause nor the glib nature of the second. Simply put, ladies and gentlemen: Kevin Williamson is apocalyptically anarchistic. But most readers knew that already.
Today, Sept. 17, is Constitution Day, which the Mackinac Center commemorates in this piece by President Emeritus Lawrence W. Reed.
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.
