By Jack McHugh
This report contains more votes from the very active final week of legislative sessions ending June 13, before an extended summer break.
Senate Bill 324, Require certification of federal health care law "navigators": Passed 37 to 0 in the Senate
To require certification for the individuals and organizations acting as "navigators" authorized by the federal health care law ("Obamacare") to assist individuals who apply for government subsidized health benefits through the law's exchange, including criminal background check and training in a program that protects the privacy and security of Michigan residents' personally identifiable information. The bill authorizes administrative sanctions and fines for individuals and organizations who violate various rules, including steering a person toward a particular policy.
The Tax Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based nonpartisan research think tank, says a report by Michigan Future that claims Minnesota is more prosperous than Michigan because of its higher tax rate “misses the mark.”
You can read the entire piece at the Tax Foundations’ Tax Policy Blog: http://taxfoundation.org/blog/michigan-future-misses-mark.
(Editor’s note: These are remarks delivered recently by Michael LaFaive, director of the Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative, to the Michigan Liquor Control Commission.)
Thank you Commissioners. My name is Michael LaFaive and I am director of the Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.
Labor Policy Director F. Vincent Vernuccio and recently retired teacher Lisa Jelenek were on Fox News Wednesday with host Neil Cavuto, discussing how the Michigan Education Association is threatening the credit ratings of teachers who have stopped paying union dues under Michigan’s worker freedom act by turning them over to collections agencies.
Gathering up-to-date public pension data is no trivial task. While all municipalities are required to report basic accounting and financial information, many make it quite difficult to obtain.
Cities and townships are required to file audits and most list a Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) with this information. But just because the reports have to be filed doesn't mean they are easy to find. Even among Michigan's 100 largest municipalities, there are large discrepancies between how the reports are posted online.
Labor Policy Director F. Vincent Vernuccio was a guest Tuesday on “The Wilkow Majority” with host Andrew Wilkow on SiriusXM satellite radio, discussing the MEA’s attack on teachers who exercise their worker freedom rights and how teachers can opt out of the union.
The Washington Examiner today is reporting on how the Michigan Education Association is attacking the credit ratings of its members who chose to opt out of the union under Michigan’s new right-to-work law.
Fox News also reported on the situation.
Research Associate Jarrett Skorup told WNEM-TV5 that an over-budget project in Lansing involving which buildings state workers should occupy shows why legislators should not be pushing for a gas tax hike.
The Legislature has adjourned for an extended summer break, but not before there was a high volume of activity.
House Bill 5477, Replace fuel tax with higher wholesale tax: Failed 17 to 21 in the Senate
To replace the current 19 cents per gallon gas tax and 15-cent diesel tax with a 7 percent wholesale fuel tax, gradually increasing to 15 percent in 2019, which would be equivalent to around 41 cents per gallon at current fuel prices. When combined with the sales tax levied on fuel this would give Michigan the highest gas and diesel taxes in the nation.
An old saying goes, "Those who love sausage or legislation should never watch either being made."
The road funding debate now underway in the state Capitol is a prime example, with multiple proposals swirling around Lansing. Currently, rather than trim some fat from Michigan's $52 billion budget and reallocate the money to road repairs, Republicans in the state Senate have suggested reaching more deeply into taxpayer pockets for an additional $1.5 billion.
During the debate in Michigan over right-to-work, critics commonly incited fear that it would result in lower incomes for Michigan workers.
For example, President Obama claimed in 2012 that the law meant "giving you the right to work for less money."
As right-to-work is being discussed in other states, including Missouri, the fears about its impact on income are reiterated. The Committee to Protect Missouri Families, a coalition fighting right-to-work legislation, claims on its website that the law "cuts wages and stifles job growth by reducing people's discretionary income. When people have less discretionary income, they spend less, which in turn, hurts the economy."
WJRT-TV12 in Flint and the MIRS newsletter are reporting on a new website the Center has established — www.AugustOptOut.org — to help teachers wishing to resign from the Michigan Education Association.
“Union members around Michigan have the ability to say ‘yes I want to stay in a union’ or ‘no I want to opt out,” F. Vincent Vernuccio, director of labor policy, told WJRT.
Executive Vice President Michael J. Reitz was cited in a Cadillac News story today about legislation dealing with the Open Meetings Act, saying it is “essential for citizens to know what their elected officials are doing.”
Reitz recently joined the board of directors for the Michigan Coalition for Open Government and has written previously about government transparency.
In the midst of the city going through a bankruptcy, talk of a Detroit turnaround is in the air from Gov. Rick Snyder on down.
And while the emergency manager and bankruptcy process are making solid strides toward fixing the city's fiscal mess, it is in the other ways of governing that Detroit needs to improve if it wants to retain and attract residents.
By Jack McHugh
House Bill 5574, Give Detroit $195 million: Passed 21 to 17 in the Senate
To appropriate $194.8 million for a gift to Detroit, which is related to a potential bankruptcy settlement. The Senate adopted the same House-passed reform conditions on the gift, except it did not adopt one banning the renewal of a 10-year regional property tax imposed to subsidize the Detroit art museum.
MLive and MIRS are reporting on a request the Center filed with the Michigan Employment Relations Commission requesting that MERC promulgate a new rule to help make public-sector union members more aware of their rights during so-called opt-out time frames.
Senate Bill 934, Preempt $10.10 minimum wage initiative; hike mandated minimum: Passed 24 to 12 in the Senate
To concur with the House-passed version of a bill to repeal the current state minimum wage law that makes it unlawful to employ a worker for less than $7.40 an hour, and replace it with a new law gradually increasing the mandated minimum to $9.25 an hour in 2018. The minimum amount the employer of a "tipped" worker must pay will rise from $2.65 to $3.52 by 2018. (A tipped-worker’s employer must pay the difference between this and the regular minimum if tips come up short).
During the battle of Michigan becoming a right-to-work state, opponents predicted doomsday scenarios about what would happen to workers and the state. But in each of the most important economic measures — job growth, income growth and population — right-to-work states are far outperforming non-right-to-work states.
Mackinac Center President Joseph G. Lehman and Fiscal Policy Director Michael D. LaFaive wrote in Saturday’s Wall Street Journal about Michigan’s GOP-controlled Legislature and how it caved to Democrats on raising the minimum wage in exchange for support in raising the gas tax.
Some Michigan legislators appear to not understand the effect of Detroit pension legislation passed by the House last week as a condition of giving the city $194.8 million in state dollars — and as a result are misrepresenting what the bill does.
For example, on Facebook House Speaker Jase Bolger, R-Marshall, stated: "We did not mandate that they go to a DC (Defined Contribution retirement system); we said, however, that the employer (taxpayer) cannot contribute more than 7 percent."
A story in MLive on the movie "Batman vs. Superman" being filmed in metro Detroit demonstrates why it is so hard to get rid of programs that are nearly universally seen as economically destructive.
Susan Dorris, Oakland County film commissioner, provided little concrete evidence of any real economic impact the project will have, despite Warner Bros., which made $1.2 billion last year, receiving $35 million in corporate welfare courtesy of Michigan taxpayers.
While pondering all of the reasons the state House should not have approved a $195 million partial bailout of the Motor City Thursday, I couldn't help but think aloud (with tongue firmly planted in cheek) what a blessing it is to have a full-time, highly paid Legislature.
Senate Bill 791, Revise, make permanent non-transportation 7/8th cent gas tax: Passed 38 to 0 in the Senate
To eliminate the 2016 sunset on a 7/8ths cent-per-gallon gas tax that was originally supposed to expire in 1998 and only be used to clean up leaking underground fuel tanks, but which has been extended several times, and was diverted to other government spending by a 2004 “fund raid” enacted to avoid spending cuts in that and subsequent years' budget.
Numerous media reports are misinterpreting the way Detroit's retirement system will operate going forward.
According to the Associated Press, the bills eliminate, "a provision that would have required new hires to have 401(k)-only retirement plans once collective bargaining contracts expire. Instead, the city and unions could negotiate for pension or hybrid plans as long as the city does not contribute more than 7 percent of an employee's salary to retirement."
As I noted in a previous blog post, Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr has suggested that Detroit's lenders in effect deserve to lose their shirts because they should have known the city was "openly and notoriously" driving itself into bankruptcy.
Gov. Rick Snyder took a similar shot at lenders last year on the national "Face the Nation" TV program:
