Labor Policy Director F. Vincent Vernuccio was cited in both an editorial and a story in The Washington Times Monday about Proposal 2, including its cost to taxpayers and the reforms it would undo, then appeared on Fox Business Channel to discuss union election spending under the Citizens United Supreme Court decision.
Some research suggests that rewarding instructors on the basis of student performance improves outcomes. The Mattawan school board and teachers union agree — but only if the “instructors” are coaches and the “subject” is football or another sport. The district’s teachers’ union contract gives coaches bonuses for each state tournament victory their teams win.
(Editor’s Note: The following is excerpted and abridged from the text of a speech delivered by Michael LaFaive, director of the Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative for the Mackinac Center, to various groups around the state about the ballot proposals on the Nov. 6 ballot. We'll post one part each day this week explaining Proposals 1 through 5.)
In the fall of 2010, the Michigan Economic Development Corp. — the state's "corporate welfare” arm — uploaded a video to YouTube highlighting the battery manufacturer A123 Systems.
At the time, the company was promoted heavily by President Barack Obama, U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm and U.S. Sens. Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow. Since then, A123 has shed money, laid off half its workforce, recalled products and seen its stock price plummet to about 26 cents this week from a previous high of $26.
(Editor’s Note: The following is excerpted and abridged from the text of a speech delivered by Michael LaFaive, director of the Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative for the Mackinac Center, to various groups around the state about the ballot proposals on the Nov. 6 ballot. We'll post one part each day this week explaining proposals 1 through 5.)
Proposal 4 supporters are trying to use the Michigan Constitution to “whitewash a sordid history,” Mackinac Center Legal Foundation Director Patrick Wright told The Mt. Pleasant Morning Sun and The Oakland Press. “We think this is a money grab.”
The proposal would give constitutional protection to the forced unionization of home-based caregivers, from whom the SEIU has skimmed $32 million in forced dues.
F. Vincent Vernuccio, director of labor policy, was a guest Saturday morning with host Dan Adamini on WRUP FM98.3 in Marquette, discussing Proposal 2 on the Nov. 6 ballot.
For information on this and other ballot proposals, please see www.miballot2012.org.
Politicians do not like Proposal 5 on Michigan’s Nov. 6 ballot, Fiscal Policy Director Michael LaFaive tells the Detroit Free Press today, because it places more scrutiny on their work.
“It’s raising the cost to the political class, of reaching deeper into people’s pockets,” LaFaive said.
More votes from Sept. 25-27. The Legislature will meet just one day this month, on Oct. 17.
Y = Yes, N = No, X = Not Voting
Senate Bill 1129, Authorize local “pension obligation bond” borrowing: Passed 80 to 28 in the House
To allow local governments to borrow money to cover unfunded employee pension liabilities if the local has closed its traditional “defined benefit” pension system to new employees (who usually are given 401k contributions instead). Unlike other long-term local government borrowing (often called “bonding” or “selling bonds”), no vote of the people would be required.
Proposal 2, a ballot measure that Michigan voters will consider on Nov. 6, would allow collective bargaining agreements reached by teachers and school officials to override existing and future state laws.
If teachers unions hold sway at the bargaining table, the passage of Proposal 2 would likely result in a rollback of state reforms designed to address sprawling pension and health care costs.
Calumet is more than 500 miles away from Lansing. Trust me — I recently drove up to Michigan's nearly most northern point. Had I started in Detroit instead of Midland, the drive to Calumet would have taken more than 10 hours.
During this trip, the notion of drafting statewide policies to govern places as different as Midland, Calumet and Detroit seemed increasingly absurd.
The Detroit News and The Saginaw News both cited Mackinac Center experts in stories about today’s “count day” for tracking enrollment in Michigan’s public schools.
A change in the way school funding is allocated means schools can receive credit for students who enroll or transfer in after county day, which Education Policy Director Michael Van Beek explained in this blog post.
The National Education Association — the largest union in the country and parent to the Michigan Education Association — announced a plan recently to offer $500,000 in grants for new teachers in science, technology, engineering and math.
Calling for more STEM teachers, students and workers is en vogue right now with political leaders from President Barack Obama to Gov. Rick Snyder on down. But if the union and political leaders really want more and better teachers in those areas, they could do something very simple: Stop pushing for single-salary schedules that force public schools to pay high-need teachers the same as everyone else.
A "study" by Michigan Citizen Action, which says that it works to "advance a progressive agenda," claims the repeal of Michigan's item pricing law is a bad deal for workers and consumers.
Though the report is receiving attention from the media with little analysis, it proves nothing that it purports to show and relies on a poor understanding of economic productivity.
A recent commentary in the Detroit Free Press complains about a “Parent Trigger” bill that has passed the state Senate and is pending in the House. This would essentially empower parents to convert a conventional public school into a charter public school managed by an operator of their choice. Surprisingly, the author of the piece, Ben Austin, was among the originators of the Parent Trigger concept in California (where conventional schools and unions have used thuggish tactics to prevent parents from actually implementing it in failing local schools).
National and statewide media are citing a recent Mackinac Center study that shows Proposal 3 would cost Michigan more than 10,000 jobs if it passes. The San Francisco Chronicle, Macomb Daily, Oakland Press, Battle Creek Enquirer, MLive, Mt. Pleasant Morning Sun and Royal Oak Daily Tribune all contained information on the Center’s research.
Mackinac Center research on Proposal 2 received national and state media attention over the weekend.
The Detroit News, calling it the “worst of the bunch,” urged a “no” vote in its Sunday editorial, citing our analysis that it would cost taxpayers $1.6 billion in annual savings.
Proposal 4, which would amend the Michigan Constitution to force home-based caregivers into a union permanently, is receiving more media scrutiny thanks to the Center’s efforts.
The Detroit News today writes about the struggles of family members who care for disabled loved ones and were forced into a union scheme that has skimmed more than $32 million from them.
Union employees from the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department went on strike to protest a new plan that looks to right-size the entity through contracting and privatization. The workers are all a part of the local AFSCME union.
The department is one of the most inefficient government-run entities in the state. The DWSD currently takes in $715 million per year, but is nearly $6 billion in debt. At the same time, it has nearly twice as many employees per gallons of water as other major cities. A recent independent audit found that the department has 257 different job descriptions.
Y = Yes, N = No, X = Not Voting
House Bill 5400, Appropriate money for fruit grower loan subsidies: Passed 38 to 0 in the Senate
To appropriate $15 million for low-interest loan subsidies for fruit growers who suffered crop damage in 2012 due to an extended March warm spell followed by a hard freeze. Also, to add some spending for lead abatement programs and prison security measures.
A leading advocate of government transparency is promoting a Detroit News Op-Ed written by Michael LaFaive, director of the Center’s Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative, about how Proposal 2 could negatively impact Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act.
Sunshine Review, an independent organization that evaluates government websites for transparency and promotes state sunshine laws (freedom of information and open meetings acts), said that “Keeping the public out of the loop by skirting FOIA laws, though, has been too common of a tactic amongst the powerful looking to advance their own interests through the mechanisms of state and local government.”
Perhaps coincidentally, Proposal 3, a ballot measure to impose a mandate on Michigan utilities to obtain 25 percent of the electricity they sell from “renewable” sources — read wind turbines — will come before voters just seven weeks before another taxpayer wind subsidy is set to expire.
In MLive today, Sen. Bert Johnson, D-Detroit, attempts to make the case that voters should repeal the state’s emergency manager law, which is Proposal 1 on the ballot. He argues that the law is undemocratic. However, he fails to note that referendum leaves local control unaddressed.
Proposal 2 on Michigan’s Nov. 6 general election ballot, once called by its union-funders the “Protect Our Jobs Amendment,” would enshrine collective bargaining privileges for government employees into the state constitution, effectively giving provisions of government labor contracts primacy over laws passed by the people’s duly elected representatives in Lansing and signed by the governor.
Michael D. LaFaive, fiscal policy director, writes in today’s paper about how Proposal 2 could jeopardize Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act. Assistant Editor Lindsey Dodge’s Wednesday Op-Ed dealt with the “equal pay for equal work” argument.
