In response to government land banks side-stepping state law, a reform bill has been introduced by Rep. Ken Yonker, R-Caledonia, that would penalize land banks for acquiring property before tax auction.
It's no accident that this bill came from Rep. Yonker: Several people he represents were outraged at the actions of the Kent County Land Bank when it blocked the sale of more than 40 vacant properties last year.
Research Associate Jarrett Skorup was a guest on “The Tony Conley Show” on AM1320 in Lansing Thursday, discussing the latest incident in a long list of film subsidy failures in Michigan.
Michigan Capitol Confidential broke the story Wednesday of a movie company involved in the corporate welfare giveaway that left town owing hundreds of thousands of dollars in rent and back taxes.
House Bill 4118, Require drug testing of welfare applicants: Passed 77 to 33 in the House
To require drug testing of state welfare benefit recipients or applicants if an "empirical screening tool" indicates a reasonable suspicion, and prohibit benefits for six months if a person tests positive a second time (or refuses "treatment" the first time). This would begin as a one-year pilot program in three counties.
The Michigan House recently passed a $48.9 billion budget plan for Fiscal Year 2014, which is roughly $2 billion less than Gov. Rick Snyder wanted and is about the same spending level as the 2013 budget.
What the House passed is not the final version of what will come to be the state's 2014 budget, but it reflects the budget plan upon which House Republicans were able to agree. Think of it as the opening offer they have put on the table for the bartering, arguing and politicking process that eventually will lead to a final budget.
Research Associate Jarrett Skorup was a guest on “The Tony Conley Show” on WILS AM1320 in Lansing, “The Lucy Ann Lance Show” on WLBY AM1290 in Ann Arbor and “The John McCulloch Show” on WDTK AM1400 in Detroit Tuesday discussing his recent article about Michigan’s craziest laws.
By Jack McHugh
In a recent Wall Street Journal article, Goldwater Institute policy analyst Christina Corieri explains that if legislators in Michigan and other states decline Obamacare’s invitation to vastly increase Medicaid spending, they won’t be sending other states any dollars that Michigan might have received from some finite pot of money earmarked for this purpose.
As reported by Michigan Capitol Confidential and others, last week the Michigan House zeroed-out funding for an economically foolish state program that hands over tens of millions of state taxpayer dollars to “millionaire and billionaire” Hollywood film producers.
(Editor’s Note: An interview with Rodney Lockwood, Mackinac Center board member, about his plan to revitalize Detroit by privatizing Belle Isle is featured in The Freeman, a publication of the Foundation for Economic Education. The text of the interview is below.)
I admire Stephen Henderson, editorial page editor at the Detroit Free Press, because he is thoughtful in his commentary and has little patience for fiscal waste, but his recent column on Michigan's film incentive program should have applied this standard more strongly.
School boards are sometimes held as shining examples of democracy at its finest — where constituents’ and children’s best interests are truly represented.
This is in contrast to the simplistic narrative of what happens in Lansing and Washington, D.C., where rich lobbyists and power-hungry politicians rule the day. A recent story from a mid-sized Michigan school district, however, demonstrates that even at the local level, political self-interest can and does drive decision-making.
Senate Bill 182, Senate K-12 school aid budget: Passed 21 to 15 in the Senate
The Senate version of the K-12 school aid budget for the fiscal year that begins Oct 1, 2013. It would appropriate $13.225 billion for K-12 public schools, compared to $12.944 billion this year.
Michigan Radio recently criticized charter public schools for marketing to prospective families. The article suggested that some charter schools concentrate on appealing to parents by offering a high-quality learning program, while others simply use marketing to bring parents in the door.
Labor Policy Director F. Vincent Vernuccio was a guest on Fox Business with host Neil Cavuto Friday evening discussing a proposal by Microsoft chief Bill Gates that the government should spend $5 billion to put cameras in every classroom in order to monitor teachers.
Released on April 16, Steve Earle’s latest CD finds him once again supported by the stellar backup band, The Dukes (and the Duchesses). “The Low Highway” is quintessential Earle, harkening back to his classic debut “Guitar Town” from 1986 and 1997’s “El Corazon.”
A recent federal audit of the Internal Revenue Service’s handling of the Earned Income Tax Credit program found that between 21 and 25 percent of its payments were improper in 2012, costing taxpayers between $11.6 billion and $13.6 billion. This is a long-term problem, with this level of improper payments going back at least a decade.
House Republicans have passed a budget, part of which would end the Michigan film subsidy program and strip down some corporate welfare programs to devote that money toward road funding. This is good news for the state.
In the Legislature, typically the governor releases a proposal, the House and Senate pass their budgets, and members of the groups meet to hash out the differences. That’s where the process stands now.
Half-truths contain elements of reality that complicate refutation. That's why a half-truth can be worse than a lie. In addition, the art of the half-truth is a longstanding technique of political rhetoric.
Perhaps the most recognizable form of this is when government officials suggest that if they don't get what they want, there will be dire consequences. The classic example is when local officials want voters to pass revenue “enhancements,” such as tax increases or bond proposals.
Earlier this month, Michigan news outlets heralded Flint-area Congressman Dan Kildee's first sponsored bill, which proposed using $1.9 billion to fund demolitions throughout the United States.
MLive ran with the official narrative about the Democrat's proposal, publishing an article claiming that the "First bill proposed by Congressman Dan Kildee would help Flint, other cities eliminate blight."
By Jack McHugh
According to the Chicago Tribune, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, chairman of the U.S. House Budget Committee and 2012 Republican vice-presidential nominee, told the newspaper’s editorial board that states should not count on those increased federal Medicaid match-rates promised by Obamacare to lure states into expanding this program. Moreover, given federal budget realities, the promises are likely to be broken no matter which party is in charge.
A group of charter public school advocates, private-sector business people and state employees have been meeting to come up with ideas on how to provide better public education at a lower cost through technology and competition. The group hopes to provide a “value school” model costing about $5,000 per pupil, reports The Detroit News, which broke the story.
A new report from Education Trust-Midwest lays out an “education roadmap” for improving average standardized test scores in Michigan. Before describing the roadmap, however, the report goes to great lengths to criticize state policies that have enabled parents to enroll their children in public charter schools. But its case against charter schooling is weak, and the report ignores the best available evidence on the impact charter schools are having in Michigan.
Research and analysis by Mackinac Center experts dating back more than 15 years forms much of the basis for this Detroit News editorial calling on the Legislature to change Michigan’s alcohol control policies.
In particular, the editorial cites calculations by Michael LaFaive, director of the Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative, showing that Michigan’s regulatory regime leads to a 37 percent mark-up on spirituous liquor compared to neighboring Indiana.
I recently spent 96 mesmerizing minutes viewing the latest film release of the story of Sir Nicholas Winton at the Detroit Film Theatre within the Detroit Institute of Arts complex. “Nicky’s Family” (http://www.menemshafilms.com/nickys-family) portrays the bold actions of a young British businessman who saved 669 Jewish children from almost certain death in the days before World War II broke out on Sept. 1, 1939.
Michigan Capital Confidential reported in October 2012 that concerns had been raised that Traverse City Area Public Schools possibly violated state law by using tax dollars to print and mail a brochure to voters urging them to “support the continuation of TCAPS’ long-term capital infrastructure improvement plan by authorizing a bond proposal on November 6, 2012.”
Michigan is unique among states in that it has both no-fault insurance and unlimited personal injury protection for automobile drivers. That results in car insurance rates among the highest in the nation.
However, that may soon change.
Gov. Rick Snyder has unveiled a proposal to reform the law. According to the Detroit Free Press, the plan would cap benefits from the state accident fund at $1 million and could save the average family $250 per year. Under the current law, insurers are reimbursed for all costs above $500,000 from the Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association (MCCA), which is supported by an annual fee of $175 (soon to be $183) from drivers. The change would still leave Michigan with the nation's most generous auto medical coverage.
