Home-based day care operators in Michigan who were illegally shanghaied into a public-sector union and forced to pay “dues” could recoup their money if a federal lawsuit is successful, according to the Livingston Daily Press & Argus.
Thousands of day care owners and providers were forced into the union as part of deal between Gov. Jennifer Granholm, the UAW and AFSCME. The providers receive subsidy checks from the state if they care for children of low-income parents, and some $4 million in “dues” was taken from those checks. That practice, which the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation fought in court, ended in March.
Stephen Henderson of the Detroit Free Press in a column today cites Mackinac Center research on how little public school teachers contribute to their own health care premiums.
Further Center research shows Michigan could save $5.7 billion annually if public-sector benefits were brought into balance with those in the private sector.
Reporter Tim Skubick in a recent blog post asks Gov. Rick Snyder to show some data on how many jobs will be created by the state’s new tax deal, which eliminates the Michigan Business Tax and replaces it with a 6 percent corporate income tax. He highlights the Mackinac Center’s estimate eliminating the MBT will create up to 120,900 jobs over time.
In his first State of the State address, Gov. Rick Snyder touted the concept of “economic gardening.” Economic gardening is a concept that envisions government assisting small businesses by providing various economic tools and incentives to encourage them to remain and expand in the state as opposed to attempting to lure larger out of state companies to locate in Michigan. While the concept of economic gardening may appeal to some, its implementation has a tough row to hoe as evidenced by the city of Detroit’s “garden permit.”
The Michigan Economic Development Corp. will no longer include estimates of indirect job creation in announcing its corporate welfare and other subsidy handouts.
“It’s definitely a step in the right direction,” James Hohman, fiscal policy analyst, told The Kalamazoo Gazette. “The numbers they report are fictitious and unverifiable.”
An Op-Ed in the Port Huron Times-Herald today by Education Policy Director Michael Van Beek addresses the creative accounting measures public schools will go to in order to make it appear they have cut spending.
Van Beek and Mike Reno, a former Rochester Community Schools board of education member, will address common school funding myths at an Issues & Ideas forum scheduled for noon today in Lansing. You can watch a live simulcast of the discussion here.
Despite relentless poor-mouthing by individual school districts in news articles, letters to residents and testimony before legislative committees, per-pupil public school spending set a new record in 2010.
Assuming that Michigan Education Association intends to follow through with its threat of waging teacher strikes to protest changes to the state’s emergency financial manager law, the anti-strike bill that cleared the House Education Committee last week will create work for the union’s legal team, but probably won’t be enough to talk the union out of calling strikes.
The Michigan Legislature should consider privatization in order to correct the state’s overspending crisis, a Center expert told the Lansing State Journal.
“There are all sorts of areas that the state should consider privatization,” Fiscal Policy Analyst James Hohman said. “You have to monitor everything to make sure you’re getting the value for the money. It’s not just a blanket privatization arrangement that will work for the state.”
The Mackinac Center is weighing its options regarding a bill for more than $5,600 for a Freedom of Information Act request filed with Michigan State University, Ken Braun, managing editor of Michigan Capitol Confidential, told the Lansing State Journal. Braun also said the Center will pay the bills to the University of Michigan and Wayne State University for similar FOIA requests, which are $215 and $540, respectively.
Prison spending should be among Gov. Rick Snyder’s chief priorities in his attempt to correct Michigan’s overspending crisis, according to this Op-Ed by Fiscal Policy Director Mike LaFaive in the Shelby Township Source.
Eliminating the Michigan Business Tax will be a positive step for Michigan, a Mackinac Center researcher told the Detroit Free Press.
“It’s going to send a message to businesses that Michigan is conducive to growth,” James Hohman, fiscal policy analyst, said. “Lowering taxes promotes growth.”
An Op-Ed in the Belleville News Democrat co-written by Fiscal Policy Director Mike LaFaive shows that cigarette smuggling in Illinois will increase if a proposed hike in tobacco taxes there is approved.
The information is based on this research by LaFaive and other Mackinac Center analysts.
Every week, MichiganVotes.org sends a report on interesting votes and bills in the Michigan Legislature, and includes how each legislator voted. To find out who your state senator is and how to contact him or her go here; for state representatives go here.
An editorial in today’s Detroit News focuses on a wetland dispute that Mackinac Center analysts have been examining for several years.
The Center recently filed an amicus brief in the case of a Grand Rapids-area business man who was charged with violating state law for filling in a soggy area of his property to expand a parking lot in order to accommodate hiring more employees. More information on the issue is available here.
One of Gov. Rick Snyder’s proposed budget cuts is to repeal a welfare benefit called the “Earned Income Tax Credit.” Currently, the program redistributes around $340 million annually from Michigan taxpayers to low-income workers.
Michigan did not offer this form of welfare until 2008, and today is one of just 20 states* that do. Only five states offer a benefit more generous than Michigan’s.
WLNS is reporting that UAW President Bob King sees an opportunity for his union to roll back concessions, based on gains that GM, Ford and Chrysler will make in the auto market. Japanese automobile production was severely cut back because of damage from the March earthquake, a massive tsunami and the strain on Japan's electric grid from the failure of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
Communications Specialist Kathy Hoekstra was the guest host on “The Frank Beckmann Show” on WJR 760AM Monday, where she interviewed Congressman Justin Amash, former Congressman Pete Hoekstra, media entrepreneur Andrew Breitbart, Detroit News cartoonist and columnist Henry Payne and Dr. Christine Beardsley, superintendent of Oscoda Area Schools, whose district has developed an innovative teacher evaluation and merit pay system.
New Hampshire is on the verge of becoming the 23rd right-to-work state, after House Bill 474 there cleared the House by a solid 225-140 margin. The bill, which would ensure that individual workers have the right to join or refuse to join a union and have the final say on union dues, had already passed the state Senate. Democratic Governor John Lynch is expected to veto the bill, but a veto override is possible. The main challenge will be to find 14 more yeas in the House, and the bill's sponsors hope to find those votes among 31 elected representatives who missed last week's vote.
When will Michigan leaders learn that federal money is expensive and always comes with strings attached? Gov. Rick Scott of Florida wisely told the Obama administration it could keep the rail funds, following suit with the governors of Ohio and Wisconsin who have turned down federal funds to build such projects. No such luck in Michigan. Gov. Rick Snyder, who seems eager to burnish his green credentials, held out his hand to accept federal stimulus dollars turned back by Florida.
Gov. Rick Snyder's proposed Michigan budget would make substantial changes to the levels of funding for K-12 education in addition to major changes to how businesses are taxed — careful changes that consider where Michigan stands compared to the rest of the country. But opponents deride the changes as hurting schools to help businesses. While that makes a nice talking point, a deeper look shows the budget proposal helping the afflicted at the expense of the protected.
Paying retiree health care bills as they come due, rather than focusing on the solvency of the fund, is risky, a Mackinac Center analyst told the Lansing State Journal.
“They are paying their (health care) bills a they come due, but it’s risky,” Fiscal Policy Analyst James Hohman said. “These bills are going to go up. Who knows what’s going to happen with health costs.”
The vast majority of elected officials in Michigan are “political careerists.” In its purest form, this is defined as someone with the ambition of using politics to escape the hard accountability of a “real job” in the private sector for the rest of his or her working life. Instead, they seek to live comfortably, feel important and enjoy social advantages by progressing from one elected or appointed government position to another, ideally retiring early with a nice taxpayer-funded pension.
Mackinac Center Communications Specialist Kathy Hoekstra will guest-host “The Frank Beckmann Show” on WJR 760AM on Monday, May 9. The show can be heard live from
“I’ve long been a fan of Frank Beckmann and his show, so it is a real honor to fill in for him,” Hoekstra said. “He secures top-notch guests, and his listeners know they have to tune in to stay up to date on the latest news in Michigan and across the country.”
Every week, MichiganVotes.org sends a report on interesting votes and bills in the Michigan Legislature, and includes how each legislator voted. To find out who your state senator is and how to contact him or her go here; for state representatives go here.
