State Rep. Timothy Bledsoe, a Democrat from Grosse Pointe, said he's worried that a statewide, mandatory schools of choice program would be the "death blow" to local control of schools.
Every time you hear “public schools have to accept all kids,” remember these words from Rep. Bledsoe: "If your school board cannot control its boundaries and who is allowed to attend your schools, there just isn't much left that Lansing can't determine," Bledsoe told The Associated Press.
Today’s Detroit News editorial cites a new analysis by Mackinac Center experts and calls for an end to the state’s role as “middleman” in the sale and distribution of liquor.
Gov. Rick Snyder recently appointed a 21-member panel to review the process that sees the state purchase all liquor sold in the state, then place a 65 percent markup and four different taxes on the spirits that then go to retail stores, restaurants and bars.
Earlier today the Gerald Ford School of Public Policy released a survey of local government officials revealing that local politicians are much more likely to see government employee unions as a negative than as a positive.
The survey, part of the Ford School’s Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP), asked local officials for their opinion on government employee unions. In particular the survey asked for opinions on how unions affected overall performance and fiscal health, and then asked for an assessment of labor relations between local governments and the unions that represent their employees.
Imagine if the Legislature imposed a windmill and solar energy mandate on electric utilities that required many more workers to produce the same amount of power and also increased your annual electric bills by around $100. (Actually, it already did — see 2007 Senate Bill 213; House vote here, and Senate vote here.)
More than half of Michigan’s public school districts contract out for custodial, busing or food services because they have to in order to direct more dollars to the classroom, according to an Op-Ed Sunday in the Detroit Free Press by Mackinac Center researchers.
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.
Senate Bill 7, Mandate 20 percent government employee health benefit contribution: Passed 25 to 13 in the Senate
To prohibit local governments and public schools from providing employee health insurance benefits whose premiums cost more (in the aggregate) than $5,500 for a single person, $11,000 for a couple and $15,000 for a family plan, or alternatively, require employees to contribute at least 20 percent toward the cost. Most local governments but not schools could waive the requirements with a two-thirds vote of their governing body. Republican Tom Casperson joined all Democrats in voting "no."
Climate change alarmists have been busy blaming every conceivable threat to mankind and the planet on global warming. The mainstream media eagerly report every new study that predicts the Armageddon-like consequences we can expect from defiling the planet by breathing and burning fossil fuels. If we did not have enough to fear from melting glaciers flooding our major cities to extensive droughts and the invasion of exotic diseases, we now have to worry about aliens invading the planet to punish us for our eco-sins.
The Washington Post reported this week that in the face of hesitation and outright resistance from governors and legislatures, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is "working on a new partnership model to let state agencies help run the exchange — perhaps without the need for legislative authorization."
State law requires that schools, not parents provide school supplies, according to a recent commentary by Patrick Wright, director of the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation, which was reported on WEYI-TV25 in Saginaw.
Wright also discussed the issue on “The Frank Beckmann Show” on WJR-760AM.
Paul Kersey, director of labor policy, pointed out in a Detroit News editorial regarding the labor strife between the Central Michigan University Faculty Association and the administration that the Michigan Public Employment Relations Act does not require that “management agree to union demands.”
Imagine a law that gave a government board the power to decide whether or not new grocery stores could be built, and whether existing ones could expand or install new equipment. For example, a law that forced the Meijer’s near your house to go through a complex and lengthy bureaucratic process before it could add some new freezer cases, and prove the new capacity wouldn’t drive up overall grocery prices.
In the Detroit News account of the faculty strike at Central Michigan University, one comment stood out. It comes from CMU Faculty Association President Laura Frey:
This take-it-or-leave-it attitude is what we’ve faced all along…We’ve filed unfair labor practice charges against the university, citing their refusal to bargain in good faith. This is why the faculty is not where they really want to be – with their students.
Faculty members at Central Michigan University who are demanding higher salary and benefits than the university is prepared to pay have voted to defy state law and go on strike. Here's how President Ronald Reagan famously dealt with another group of government employees who thought they were indispensable and above the law:
An Op-Ed by Michael LaFaive about how a newly appointed panel can help reform the state’s beer and wine laws appeared recently in the Shelby Township Advisor & Source.
LaFaive, director of the Center’s Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative, has written about the issue numerous times, including here, here and here.
No fewer than three Mackinac Center’s “Viewpoints” are featured on The Oakland Press editorial page today.
James Hohman, assistant director of fiscal policy, discusses the state’s underfunded pension liability for government employees, Labor Policy Director Paul Kersey explains how to fix public-sector union problems, and Education Policy Director Mike Van Beek lays out a case for more school choice in Michigan. Van Beek's piece also appeared in the Port Huron Times-Herald.
An oppressive regulatory regime that is hostile to creating jobs is holding back economic recovery in the state. Environmental rules and policies enforced by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality are especially effective in creating barriers to companies that would like to locate or expand in the state and create much needed jobs.
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. Because the legislature did not meet this week, rather than roll call vote results this report presents a sampling of recently proposed state laws.
A new paper from the Mercatus Center in Virginia provides more evidence for the relationship between high tax burdens and people showing their preference by voting with their feet. In this case, the people involved are those most likely to make job-producing investments in a community and state — rich people. The paper serves as a warning to state legislators that would like to tax just the wealthy.
The appointment by Gov. Rick Snyder of a new liquor advisory committee has raised hopes for some long overdue reforms in this state’s regulation of beer, wine and liquor distribution. Most people have little idea of how, among other things, this complex and archaic regulatory regime enriches a small handful of monopoly distributors at the expense of both consumers and taxpayers.
In the current edition of the Cato Journal, economist Dean Stansel looks back on three decades of population changes in American cities. Not surprisingly given its 25 percent population implosion between 2000 and 2010, Detroit is a poster child for cities in decline, and is featured in the article’s opening sentence.
Kudos to state Rep. Doug Geiss (D-Taylor), who wants to ease some of the regulatory burdens on Michigan’s hospitality industry. Among other things, he has introduced legislation to provide modest exceptions to a statewide smoking ban that restaurant owners and employees say is harming their livelihoods.
For nearly two decades the
A Kent County school district that was part of a lawsuit filed by the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation over illegal contract language has embraced privatization, according to The Grand Rapids Press.
The MCLF filed the suit in December 2010 against nine districts, the Kent County Intermediate School District and the Kent County Education Association teachers union over a “no privatization” clause in their collective bargaining agreements. Public Act 112 of 1994 made privatization of school support services exempt from contract negotiations.
Taxpayers will pay for two meals and a snack daily for every student in Detroit Public Schools, including those who do not qualify for federal subsidies, according to The Detroit News.
“I think there is a question if this is a good use of taxpayer money,” Mike Van Beek, director of education policy, told The News. “Under this program, it appears we would be subsidizing school lunches and meals to students who currently don’t qualify under the federal program.”
It seems control of every aspect of our lives is not limited to the prerogative of federal bureaucrats but is being taken to new heights by local government officials. According to Ann Arbor.com, Ann Arbor City Council members are considering fining motorists $100 for idling their vehicles — a normal condition of operating a car. Under the proposed ordinance, the fine could be levied for any vehicle left running while unoccupied or left running for five minutes while occupied. If you live in Ann Arbor, you might want to think twice about ordering a vehicle with remote start, as it would be against the law to use it.
