Every week, MichiganVotes.org sends a report to newspapers and TV stations showing how just the state legislators in each publication's service area voted on the most important and interesting bills and amendments of the past seven days. The version shown here instead contains a link to the complete roll call tally in either the House or Senate. To find out who your state senator is and how to contact him or her go here; for state representatives go here.
Mackinac Center President Joseph G. Lehman addressed the disparity in benefits between the private and public sectors in Michigan as a main reason for the state's economic turmoil at the West Michigan Policy Forum Thursday, according to the West Michigan Business Review.
A federal district judge in Grand Rapids has ruled that a class action lawsuit brought by the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation aimed at ending the forced unionization of small-business owners can proceed, according to The Grand Rapids Press.
WKZO AM590 in Kalamazoo and WSJM AM1400 in Lansing both report that privatization of support services in Michigan public schools is up 8 percent over last year.
The reports cite the Mackinac Center's 2010 School Privatization Survey, which Fiscal Policy Analyst James Hohman said shows nearly half of all districts in Michigan outsource food, custodial or transportation services.
This past Saturday, Sept. 11, there were somber ceremonies, moments of silence and prayers in remembrance of the nearly 3,000 people killed in the terrorist attacks on that date in 2001. American Flags fluttered in abundance — many at half staff — outside homes and businesses throughout the nation.
A Lansing company that received $2 million in state subsidies three years ago is hoping to expand from 12 employees to 14, according to the Lansing State Journal.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm said KTM Industries is a "success" of the 21st Century Jobs Fund, the State Journal reported.
Not to put too much on Mayor Dave Bing, who undeniably inherited a mess when he took over city hall, but with all due respect to his honor 50-mile an hour winds by themselves do not a natural disaster make. They are, to be sure, a challenge, as power lines and trees go down, but cities throughout the country have coped with far worse without the kind of damage that Detroit suffered earlier this week. No, Detroit's latest disaster is a decidedly man-made kind, the product of a city government that has yet to find the formula for recovery, and in particular government employee unions that have yet to suffer consequences that are proportional to their recklessness.
The director of Flint's Mass Transit Authority disagrees with a recent Michigan Capitol Confidential analysis that shows that cities that buy zero-emission or hybrid buses pay too much money for any resulting environmental benefit, but still calls the story "accurate," according to The Flint Journal.
Skepticism surrounds a recent report from the Michigan Economic Development Corp. that claims its "21st Century Jobs Fund" helped "save or retain" 20,000 jobs in the last five years, according to WOOD-TV8 in Grand Rapids.
Michael LaFaive, director of the Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative, has analyzed MEDC claims of job creation, while one state senator has said the agency's press releases "are an absolute disconnect with reality."
A frightening report from the first day of school in Detroit describes how two students were shot on their way home from Mumford High School. Thankfully, both appear to be OK.
Also disturbing is the contrast between this event and the broader assessment made by a school district spokesperson contained in the same news story, published in The Detroit News: "Overall, this has been one of the most successful opening days in recent history." There's no doubt the official meant well, but one nevertheless hopes that this isn't the definition of success in the Detroit Public Schools.
The Detroit Free Press reports that a pending state budget deal for the fiscal year that begins on Oct. 1 will match expected revenue to desired spending by means of across-the-board cuts in department administration, a tax amnesty program, and an early retirement pension-sweetener for state employees. It contains no systemic reforms or program reductions. Meanwhile, with the end of federal stimulus subsidies, revenue projections for the following fiscal year fall off a cliff.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm's "Cool Cities" initiative has not done much to help the working middle class. Joel Kotin, a professor at Chapman University, sheds light on what is happening in American cities in an article appearing in "The American" titled "Urban Plight: Vanishing Upward Mobility." Mr. Kotin points to a Brookings Institution study that found that New York City and Los Angeles have the smallest share of middle-income neighborhoods of all American cities. The Brookings Institution found that in 2007, Manhattan ranked first in social inequality, with the top 20 percent earning over 50 times more than the bottom 20 percent, a gap similar to Namibia's.
Last Sunday, The Grand Rapids Press released a new study on the likely effects of a right-to-work law on Michigan’s economy as part of its ongoing “Michigan 10.0” series. Dr. Hari Singh, an economics professor at Grand Valley State University, wrote the paper, which focused on the automotive industry. Singh’s paper looks over some of the academic literature surrounding the issue, including two Mackinac Center studies.
An annual survey of nationwide employee health insurance costs contains good news for employers: The average premium increased by only 3 percent in 2010 — much less than in previous years.
Unfortunately, the good news doesn't extend to this state's public schools. Nearly $2 billion is extracted from Michigan taxpayers to provide health insurance to school employees, or $1,300 per pupil, and the rise in these costs shows no sign of slowing.
A recent Michigan State University study about school consolidation should be ignored both because of plagiarism issues and because its methodology is flawed, according to an Op-Ed by Education Policy Director Michael Van Beek in Sunday's Lansing State Journal.
The Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce is hosting the West Michigan Policy Forum in Grand Rapids on Sept. 16 and 17. Among the speakers will be Mackinac Center President Joe Lehman and David Littmann, senior economist at the Mackinac Center.
Lehman will join a panel on "Michigan's Budget & Spending Priorities," and Littmann will address "Michigan's Infrastructure and International Trade Corridor."
In an article by Julia Bauer, The Grand Rapids Press announced that it would be releasing a study on the implications that right to work would have in Michigan, as part of its "Michigan 10.0" series. Bauer also announced the result of a poll produced by the Lansing-based Rossman Group and Team TelCom showing that right to work had the support of 51 percent of Michigan voters. As proponents of right to work going back for 20 years, we at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy are looking forward to the results, but until the full report comes out, a few observations are in order.
The Grand Rapids Press reports that some state legislators are seeking a three-day period in which to review bills before voting on them. The Press cites Mackinac Center Senior Legislative Analyst Jack McHugh, who said: "It is the rare bill where there is not a substitute. The minority members, most members, haven't seen that substitute, and Joe Citizen doesn't have access to it. Legislators very often don't know what they are voting on."
The state licenses many professions from barbers to engineers. House Bill 6374 would greatly increase the government control of hundreds of professions. Introduced by Rep. Pam Byrnes, D-Lyndon Township, the bill would prohibit license renewals unless an individual has taken a "continuing education course." Currently professionals that are licensed by the state must demonstrate "professional competence."
Every week, MichiganVotes.org sends a report to newspapers and TV stations showing how just the state legislators in each publication's service area voted on the most important and interesting bills and amendments of the past seven days. The version shown here instead contains a link to the complete roll call tally in either the House or Senate. To find out who your state senator is and how to contact him or her go here; for state representatives go here.
A recent blog post by James Hohman, fiscal policy analyst, appears to be the impetus for a column in today's Detroit Free Press about job creation in Michigan.
The second paragraph of the column reads:
The item was also mentioned in the MIRS Capitol Capsule (subscription required) and at AnnArbor.com.
A plagiarism investigation of a Michigan State University professor is ongoing, according to The State News. The issue was raised by Mike Van Beek, education policy director, after he reviewed a school consolidation study by Sharif Shakrani, a senior scholar at MSU's Education Policy Center.
I have argued here before that government "economic development" programs that pick winners and losers for selectively distributed "incentives" are in reality political development programs. A fine proof of this assertion was a PR stunt a few years back from Michigan House Republican leadership on a factory floor in Lansing.
Radio host Ron Jolly of WTCM recently wrote about right-to-work protections for employees in the Traverse City Business News, explaining that making Michigan a right-to-work state would lure more job creators to the state while allowing unions to continue operating and organizing.
(Genuine) Tea Party supporters are already fuming about the dirty trick of a (fake) "The Tea Party" political party created with the assistance of Democratic Party operatives; another abuse of democracy this week may add to their ire: A government entity that received $14.6 million of taxpayer money in the current state budget organized a publicity stunt to lobby for more government spending, called the "First Ever Sandbox Party Convention" in East Lansing.
