State and national media are reporting on the victory of two Mackinac Center Legal Foundation clients over the Michigan Education Association in their fight against the union to exercise their worker freedom rights.
The Detroit News, Detroit Free Press, National Review Online, WZZM-TV13 in Grand Rapids, MLive, The National Law Review, the Washington Examiner and the Petoskey News-Review all reported on the union giving up in its battle to force teachers Miriam Chanski of Coopersville and Ray Arthur of Petoskey to pay union dues. Patrick Wright, director of the MCLF, also discussed the matter on “Capital City Recap” with host Michael Cohen on WILS AM1320 in Lansing and on "The Frank Beckmann Show" on WJR AM760, and Labor Policy Director F. Vincent Vernuccio was interviewed about the matter by National Review in Washington, D.C.
Senate Bill 783, Let landlords ban medical marijuana use: Passed 31 to 7 in the Senate
To prohibit the use of medical marijuana on any portion of private property that is open to the public, or where it is banned by the property owner. The bill would also permit a landlord to refuse to rent a residence to someone who uses medical marijuana on the property. Because the bill amends an initiated law adopted by the people, it requires a three-fourths supermajority vote in the Senate and House.
What could your household do with an extra $240 per year?
A new study estimates that Illinois electricity consumers have saved $37 billion from 1999 to 2013 as a result of increased electricity and natural gas competition. That works out to a total savings of $3,600 per household, or $240 annually. Illinois now boasts the lowest electricity prices in the Midwest.
Detroit's pension woes are in the news, but municipal employees around Michigan should not presume that their pension systems are secure.
Indeed, in most Michigan cities the underfunding problems are worse than those in Detroit.
On paper, the unfunded liabilities for Detroit's police and fire system are $147 million, and its general employee pension system underfunding comes to $838 million. That translates into 96 percent and 77 percent funded, respectively. That is, for every dollar in pension benefits earned by an employee, the city has an average of 87 cents saved.
Senior Legislative Analyst Jack McHugh was part of a roundtable discussion on “The Tony Conley Show” on WILS AM1320 in Lansing Tuesday, discussing wasteful government spending and how Michigan can use the tax dollars it takes from us more wisely and more efficiently.
The best tax systems include low rates, a wide base and limited exemptions that minimize the distortions caused by policy, while easing the burdens of paying the tax.
But many of the provisions that make the tax code so complicated are advocated for, and relied upon, by a variety of special interest groups, meaning changing the system is extremely difficult.
The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press are both reporting on a lawsuit filed by the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation on behalf of Susan Bank, a 39-year teaching veteran who is being threatened by the Michigan Education Association because she chose to stop paying union dues under Michigan’s right-to-work law.
House Bill 4168, Repeal mandate for sheriffs to kill unlicensed dogs: Passed 36 to 0 in the Senate
To repeal a 1919 law that requires county sheriffs to locate and kill all unlicensed dogs, and which defines failure to do so as nonfeasance in office.
Bradley A. Smith, a member of the Mackinac Center’s Board of Scholars and former chairman of the Federal Election Commission appointed by President Clinton, writes in a Wall Street Journal commentary that the media’s lack of coverage of the IRS scandal “betrays a remarkable, if not willful, failure to understand abuse of power.”
One could hear several varieties of apocalyptical claims while Michigan was in the process of becoming the 24th right-to-work state in the nation.
Rep. Sander Levin called it "frightful ... for the people of the state of Michigan and for the middle class." The Associated Press said it was a "devastating and once-unthinkable defeat to organized labor." And one union in Michigan claimed it was "a violation of the prohibitions against involuntary servitude." In other words, a form of slavery.
Audrey Spalding, director of education policy, and Jarrett Skorup, research associate, explain in a Detroit News commentary today why proposed legislation that would create what backers are calling a “pay it forward” program for college tuition would end up costing students and taxpayers potentially billions of dollars and drive up college costs.
With a projected $971 million surplus for next fiscal year, Michigan’s Legislature is considering cutting the state’s income tax rate from 4.25 to 3.9 percent.
The cut would be phased in over time and would be contingent upon the budget remaining in surplus. When fully phased in, this would result in a $170 annual tax cut for the typical Michigan family.
According to MIRS News, the backers of the ballot proposal that would increase the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour, "said the change would raise wages for about 940,000 people in Michigan, or 24 percent of workers."
That number is reached by looking at the number of workers currently making less than $10.10 per hour, adding in hundreds of thousands of other employees, assuming they will also get a raise and pretending that mandating a 36 percent increase in labor costs would have no effect on employment.
Proponents of the Michigan film subsidy program, which like all corporate welfare programs takes money from taxpayers and gives it to large companies in the name of "job creation," often say the incentives are temporary and needed to diversify the state economy.
The city of Detroit published its plan of adjustment detailing how it intends to solve the city’s financial and other problems. It contains important references to privatization of certain services, though it doesn’t go far enough.
A bolder vision might spare city retirees and creditors from as deep of cuts.
Michael LaFaive, director of the Mackinac Center’s Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative, and Mackinac Center board member Rodney Lockwood both spoke at a roundtable discussion Thursday about the future of Detroit, according to The Detroit News. The event was hosted by the Reason Foundation.
(Editor’s note: The following are prepared remarks by Michael LaFaive, director of the Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative, presented at the Reason Foundation’s “Revitalizing Detroit After Bankruptcy” roundtable discussion held at the Crowne Plaza Pontchartrain in Detroit on Feb. 20, 2014.)
Audrey Spalding, director of education policy, explains in this Op-Ed at MLive today that despite a negative portrayal in the media, school choice has benefitted tens of thousands of students across Michigan access better schools.
Senior Economist David Littmann writes in the latest edition of DBusiness Magazine that it is “Full Steam Ahead for State’s Economy.” In the article, Littmann discusses why certain factors — including increased auto sales, lower state taxes and Michigan’s right-to-work law — make for an optimistic outlook in 2014 for the state’s economy.
WOOD Radio in Grand Rapids and WWJ AM950 in Detroit are both reporting on the Center’s new VoteSpotter app, which allows users to give instant feedback on how their legislators vote on key bills. Executive Vice President Michael Reitz also discussed the app, which is powered by MichiganVotes.org, on “The Frank Beckmann Show” on WJR AM760 in Detroit. Leader Publications, which prints the Niles Daily Star and Dowagiac Daily News, also reported on the app.
The recent defeat of a unionization effort by the UAW at a Volkswagen plant in Tennessee was not only a major setback for the union, but also for those pushing "card check" legislation.
Card check legislation, officially known as the "Employee Free Choice Act," was introduced in Congress in 2009 and would "authorize the National Labor Relations Board to certify a union . . . when a majority of employees voluntarily sign authorizations designating that union to represent them."
Audrey Spalding, director of education policy, was a guest on “Let Iit Rip” on Fox2 Detroit, discussing college affordability and the statewide Educational Achievement Authority.
House Bill 4808, End mandatory life for very serious offenses by minors: Passed 35 to 3 in the Senate
To revise Michigan's mandatory life sentence with no chance of parole for certain very serious crimes committed by minors. The bill is linked to Senate Bill 319, which would make life without parole no longer automatic in these cases, but prosecutors could request it. Otherwise, the minimum sentence would be 25 to 40 years, and the maximum at least 60 years. This and SB 319 respond to the U.S. Supreme Court's Miller v Alabama decision. The bills would not apply the new standard retroactively to the approximately 350 current prisoners in this category, but include a provision authorizing parole hearings for them if a future ruling requires this.
Bridge magazine has a good article about the importance of encouraging students to have fulfilling careers in an area that best fits them rather than assuming more schooling means a greater education and always pushing them toward universities.
The piece is written by Glenda Price, president of the Detroit Public Schools Foundation and former president of Marygrove College. She wrote:
A new commercial is attempting to make Michigan residents fear electricity deregulation.
It claims that Texas "decided to experiment with deregulating their electricity," and subsequently, prices "shot through the roof" and "blackouts threatened communities." It then tells that a proposed bill in this state that would "deregulate Michigan's electricity."
