(Editor's note: This blog entry was updated to include a link to the Court of Appeals Opinion brief, which specifies MSU ordinance 15.05 is the alleged misdemeanor.)
People may laugh when they read that a parking ticket violation went before the Michigan Supreme Court last week. But strangely enough, what seems like a petty conflict merits further scrutiny.
Thanks to a new law increasing the powers of emergency managers appointed to reform the finances of fiscally failed cities and school districts, the city of Pontiac is now in the midst of a fiscal policy revolution. With the exception of Detroit, there may be few Michigan cities in greater need of a financial makeover.
Unions may tout the value of defined-benefit pensions, but a new survey of multi-employer pension programs shows that union pension plans in particular are more and more dangerously underfunded.
The consequence of this underfunding is pension failures, and workers who were told their retirements would be provided for being forced to live on much less than they had expected. The defined-contribution retirement savings programs programs that are common outside of government and in non-union workplaces are not without their challenges, but they leave workers with much more control over their retirements, and that may prove to be a much better deal over the long haul.
The latest update of the American Legislative Exchange Council’s widely cited index of state competitiveness released at 2 p.m. today, the “Rich States, Poor States” report, shows that Michigan rose from 25th to 17th place in the report’s forward-looking “economic outlook” index. As recently as 2009 Michigan was in 34th place. This year, Utah tops the charts, and (not surprisingly) New York comes in dead last.
A scheme that has diverted nearly $30 million from the neediest Michigan residents to the SEIU over the last six years should come to an end now that Gov. Rick Snyder has signed legislation clarifying that home health care aides are not public employees, according to the Marquette Examiner.
In a recent Mlive.com article, Michael Rice, the superintendent of Kalamazoo Public Schools, places the blame for skyrocketing school employee pension costs on policies enacted by current and past state Legislatures. In particular, Rice disapproves of policies that encourage privatizing noninstructional services, expanding charter public schools and authorizing early retirement incentives for school employees. He’s right to target the Legislature, but does so for the wrong reasons.
Senate Bill 1040, which would increase teacher contributions to their retirement system, won’t help reduce an unfunded liability in the fund of more than $17 billion, a Mackinac Center analyst told The Detroit News.
James Hohman, assistant director of fiscal policy, recently authored a study explaining to legislators in very clear terms what actions they could take to close the fund and remove the liability burden from taxpayers.
In an earlier post I noted how union officials were unwilling to accept any limitations that the Legislature might want to put on them, and in particular how the Michigan Education Association was willing to resort to litigation to thwart a state law that said it would have to collect union dues and agency fees on their own. (Again, teachers can still be placed in a position where they must pay dues or fees to keep their jobs, but the school district will not collect dues for them.)
A Michigan Capitol Confidential story about Pfizer receiving corporate welfare from the city of Ann Arbor is the basis for a story today at AnnArbor.com.
Pfizer received an $84 million tax abatement in 2001 after implying the company would leave Ann Arbor, but six years later the company left anyway, taking with it 3,000 jobs.
The Lansing State Journal today cites Mackinac Center research about the lower costs of privatized prisons. In 2007, Fiscal Policy Director Michael LaFaive found that entry-level guards in state-run prisons and at a privatized facility in Baldwin both made about $14 an hour, but those working in government facilities had “far superior benefits,” the State Journal reported.
A recent commentary by James Hohman, assistant fiscal policy director about forcing charter public school teachers into the statewide public school employees’ retirement fund ran in the Dearborn Times-Herald today.
Michigan Capitol Confidential’s coverage of failed electric car battery maker A123 continues to garner media attention.
The Washington Examiner recently reported on a video CapCon discovered that included President Obama and then-Gov. Jennifer Granholm praising the company in 2010 at an announcement about the company opening a plant in Michigan. A123, which received hundreds of millions of dollars in corporate welfare, has laid off several employees and is being sued by stock holders.
Anyone who is particularly surprised by the MEA's decision to file a lawsuit to block implementation of HB 4929 really doesn't understand the character of the union establishment that has developed in this state. The legal details are a little novel; the basic thrust of what the union is doing is anything but. As we've explained before, the MEA in particular has benefitted from a labor law that empowers government unions at the expense of taxpayers. Meaningful reform means limiting or reducing their power. One can expect government unions to fight back aggressively against any attempt to rein them in, and as I said months ago, no limit on union power is modest or reasonable enough to gain the unions' acceptance.
MichiganVotes.org sends a weekly report to newspapers and TV stations around the state showing how state legislators in their service area voted on the most important or interesting bills of the past week. Y = Yes, N = No, X = Not Voting
The House and Senate are in the midst of a two-week break, so rather than votes, this report instead contains several newly introduced bills of interest.
Paul Kersey, director of labor policy, took part in a panel discussion about right-to-work laws, explaining that the 23 states currently providing such protections for workers are “more attractive” to businesses, according to The Saginaw News.
You can learn more about the right-to-work issue here.
Columnist Tim Skubick doesn’t like term limits, and a recent column suggests he also may not appreciate lawmaker attempts to openly rein in the bloated spending habits of Michigan’s government universities:
Here’s where terms [sic] limits fits in. Years ago university honchos and house budget writers had what’s called a relationship. Sure, they had their disagreements, but an unseemly public back and forth, such as this, would have been worked out in the back room, not center stage.
The Wall Street Journal reports that tightening state budgets and declining state funds are forcing public universities to make choices in funding priorities.
Ohio State University is considering leasing their university-run parking lots and privatizing other assets “including two 18-hole golf courses, a small airport and a power grid.” The University of Kentucky and Portland State University are also instituting plans that would partially transfer dormitory operations to a private company.
On their article on Detroit unions facing challenges in the proposed consent deal, cnbc.com cites the Mackinac Center's Director of Labor Policy, Paul Kersey, in regards to collective bargaining for government employees. The financial stability agreement, being debated by Major Dave Bing and Gov. Rick Snyder, would "nullify recently ratified pay, benefits and pension concessions."
MichiganVotes.org sends a weekly report to newspapers and TV stations around the state showing how state legislators in their service area voted on the most important or interesting bills of the past week. Y = Yes, N = No, X = Not Voting
Senate Bill 291, Final vote on repeal motorcycle operation: Passed 24 to 14 in the Senate
To repeal the mandatory helmet requirement for a motorcycle operator who is age 21 or older, has been riding for at least two years or passes a safety test, and has a personal injury insurance policy providing at least $20,000 in benefits. This vote sends the measure to Gov. Snyder for approval or veto.
Following final votes this week, a bill to repeal Michigan’s motorcycle helmet mandate is on its way to Gov. Rick Snyder’s desk. Legislators who favor the repeal invoked arguments rooted in freedom of choice and individual liberty to support it.
Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville, R-Monroe, lamented that people who just “want the freedom to choose” were being denied it by the motorcycle helmet law. Sen. Dave Hildenbrand, R-Lowell, says the purpose of the repeal is to “give people choices.”
Michelle Malkin writing at National Review Online today cites the Mackinac Center on how electric car battery maker A123 laid off workers and gave executives large raises after receiving hundreds of millions of dollars in corporate welfare.
Michigan Capital Confidential broke the story in February.
Senior Economist David L. Littmann was a guest on Fox Business News today, discussing the financial future of Detroit. He wrote about the city’s potential bankruptcy earlier this week.
More commentary and analysis about Detroit can be found here.
James Hohman, assistant director of fiscal policy, was a guest on "The Vic McCarty Show" on WMKT AM1290 in Traverse City today, discussing his recent study on how to reform the public school employees' retirement system.
You can read more about public-employee pension reform here and here.
Mackinac Center President Joseph G. Lehman in a Detroit News Op-Ed today outlines why America cannot afford Obamacare.
Mackinac Center Legal Foundation Director Patrick J. Wright predicted the Supreme Court will decide the issue on a 5-4 vote.
Technology enables schools to rethink the way that they deliver instruction to students, and a recent phenomenon that’s catching on is called “flipping the classroom.”
It works by having students receive direct instruction — often via online videos — outside of the classroom, enabling teachers to devote more time to collaboration, project-based learning, developing critical thinking skills and mentoring students individually.
