If Michigan Republicans capitulate to special interests and accept the Obamacare Medicaid expansion, they’re likely to make a big deal about a supposed “opt-out” clause in the instrument of surrender, declaring the state can bail at some future time if certain promises and expectations don’t come true.
(Editor’s note: The following is a sneak peek at the summer issue of IMPACT, the Center’s bimonthly magazine.)
The Mackinac Center for Public Policy’s job is to be prescient and offer policy solutions that may not seem palatable at the time they are introduced.
By Jack McHugh
Senate Bill 173, Ban local mandates that private employers must grant employee leave: Passed 25 to 13 in the Senate
To preempt local governments from adopting ordinances or policies that require private sector employers to provide paid or unpaid employee leave that is not required under state or federal law. This is related to a nationwide campaign promoted by left-of-center groups and unions to lobby for such local mandates.
The Republican-controlled Michigan Legislature has passed a budget allocating $50 million for the state's film subsidy program.
Previously, the budget from House Republicans proposed eliminating the program, while Gov. Rick Snyder, who has said he is philosophically opposed to the program, asked for $25 million. But the GOP and Democratic leadership in the Michigan Senate wanted a minimum of $50 million annually.
Executive Vice President Michael J. Reitz is cited in Thursday’s Wall Street Journal on the possibility that Republicans in the Michigan Legislature could be close to caving in on support for Medicaid expansion under Obamacare.
Here is a compilation of analyses and commentary on why that should not happen.
The Mackinac Center will be among dozens of local and national organizations in 30 states promoting National Employee Freedom Week June 23-29.
NEFW “is a national effort to inform union employees of the freedom they have regarding opting out of union membership and making the decision about union membership that’s best for them.”
In an attempt to thread the needle between Left and Right on Medicaid expansion, Michigan House Republicans recently unveiled House Bill 4714, which expands Medicaid to everyone earning less than 138 percent of the federal poverty level, but only if certain reforms are approved by the federal government.
By Jack McHugh
Does Michigan have enough schemes for local governments to tax-and-spend without full democratic accountability, or could it use more?
Does it benefit the people of this state to expand the ability of local governments to borrow-and-spend on “business improvement” projects designed to benefit certain property owners more than the community as a whole?
A recent Huffington Post article calls Michigan’s public charter school sector “questionable” and spins the results of the most comprehensive study of these schools into something negative. Authors Joy Resmovits and Ashley Woods take issue with the references former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush made to a 2013 Stanford University report, claiming “the study of Michigan’s [charter] schools…is less definitive than [Gov. Bush] made it sound.”
Oliver Porter, a nationally recognized expert on public-private partnerships, writes in today’s Detroit News how privatization can help Detroit and other financially distressed cities in Michigan, particularly with long-term debit associated with legacy costs.
By Jack McHugh
House Bill 4228, Final 2013-14 state education budget: Passed 25 to 12 in the Senate
The final House-Senate compromise version of the K-12 school aid, community college and university budgets for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, 2013. This authorizes $13.361 billion for K-12 public schools (a record high in nominal terms), compared to $12.944 billion the previous year; $1.430 billion will go to state universities, compared to $1.399 billion the previous year; and $335 million to community colleges, up from $294 million. Of these amounts, $1.861 billion is federal money.
Some highlights include: A $30 per pupil "foundation allowance" increase for school districts, and $60 for ones whose spending is at the lower end. Spending on preschool programs will increase by $65.0 million to $174.6 million. Students in grades 5 to 12 will be allowed to take up to two online courses per term. Universities would get less money if they raise tuition more than 3.75 percent.
Senior Investigative Analyst Anne Schieber was a guest on “The Tony Conley Show” on WILS AM-1320 in Lansing this morning, discussing her story and video about cities adopting “cost recovery” ordinances in an effort to squeeze extra money out of law breakers by charged extra fees, particularly on cases involving drunk driving.
Labor Policy Director F. Vincent Vernuccio writes in today’s Washington Times that unions should sacrifice some of their massive wealth to help shore up underfunded pension funds instead of seeking to reduce retiree benefits.
New data released by the Michigan Department of Education shows that the average public school teacher salary in Michigan increased slightly for the 2011-2012 school year to $62,631.
This was up 1.7 percent from 2010-2011 year, but 0.6 percent less than the all-time high of $63,024 reported by the MDE for 2009-2010.
“A popular Government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or, perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance: And a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.” ~James Madison
Seems you don't want to be the guy who tells the Detroit Institute of Arts that its treasures are in jeopardy if the city winds up in bankruptcy.
In typical shoot-the-messenger style, the DIA is spinning a story that Detroit Emergency Financial Manager Kevyn Orr actually wants to sell the city-owned artwork to settle a portion of the Motor City's $15 billion debt.
A group of bureaucrats and legislators expressed disdain for parents being able to choose what sort of school best fits their children at a recent “townhall” meeting, according to C & G News.
Oakland Schools Superintendent Vickie Markavitch told the crowd that “competition in education” is “the wrong path to improving student performance.”
This past fall, The Leona Group, a for-profit charter management company, spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to fix up Highland Park schools.
The schools were filthy — toilets had to be replaced, ceilings had to be repaired, and exterminators had to be hired. After these repairs, one student told me he had never seen a classroom look so clean.
Middle school students at Corpus Christi Catholic School in Holland, Mich., extensively studied the Holocaust this spring. I was pleased to give them the outstanding documentary “The Power of Good” and also Lawrence Reed’s monograph, which relate the story of Sir Nicholas Winton and the rescue of 669 children from Prague in 1939. My visits with Nicky and with three of those saved “children” have made his story very personal to me.
Oliver Porter, who led the creation of the country’s first contract city, is interviewed in the latest edition of The Freeman, a publication of the Foundation for Economic Education. Porter will speak at a June 5 Issues & Ideas forum in Lansing hosted by the Mackinac Center and FEE. Porter will discuss how privatization and contracting can help financially distressed cities in Michigan, including Detroit.
In almost every profession, workers are compensated based on how much value their employers think they bring to the company. Of course, the workers generally want more money and the employers want to pay less, but something of equilibrium is reached, which is how the market determines wages.
Senior Legislative Analyst Jack McHugh was a guest recently on “Current State” on WKAR public radio in East Lansing, discussing why Michigan should not expand Medicaid under Obamacare.
By Jack McHugh
Senate Bill 163, Revise wetland use permit details: Passed 25 to 12 in the Senate
To expand certain exemptions to a state wetland permit mandate, increase some wetland permit fees and reduce others, require permit denials to document their rationale and authority, authorize grants to local governments to create “wetland mitigation banks,” slightly reduce wetland regulatory burdens imposed on county drain commission projects, slightly increase the state's burden to justify restrictions on an owner's use of his or her property, prohibit the Department of Environmental Quality from imposing regulations that are beyond the scope those required by federal law, and make other changes to these land use restrictions.
FBI officials raided the office of the Indianapolis Land Bank on May 28 after a months-long investigation revealed evidence its officials were receiving kickbacks for selling properties to favored nonprofit groups.
The land bank's director, Reginald Walton, has been charged.
Imagine a world where you could have anything you desired and could jettison those things you don’t. For example, I recently purchased a CD box set of the band 10cc, and I could do without the majority of songs recorded after Lol Crème and Kevin Godley departed the group. Likewise, I’d love it if 1964’s “Beatles for Sale” didn’t include the song “Mr. Moonlight,” which I humbly consider the nadir of the Fab Four’s entire body of work.
