The election of Donald Trump has suspended the need to pass legislation that would effectively eliminate the limited electricity choice Michiganders enjoy.
Supporters of Senate Bill 437 cited the need to comply with the Clean Power Plan, but the election of Donald Trump could change existing mandates. As explained in the Grand Haven Tribune by Jason Hayes, director of environmental policy at the Mackinac Center, lawmakers in Lansing may now pause.
Florida is one of just a handful of states that require a state license to become an interior designer. The law requires six years of education and hundreds of dollars being paid to the state.
But the law provides no public benefit and lawmakers are trying to repeal it. However, the people who benefit from teaching those mandated classes and the practitioners who benefit from locking out their competition are not happy. In fact, 90 people showed up to argue the state should keep the regulations.
Michigan may be on its way to joining 16 states with a “uniformity” law that would stop a patchwork of local taxes on plastic and paper bag use. Michigan Senate Bill 853 was sent to Governor Snyder December 8 for his signature. If he signs it then Washtenaw County will be prohibited from enforcing a 10-cent fee it is poised to impose on each bag given at restaurants or store checkout lanes. Other counties, such as Muskegon County, are looking to follow suit.
By Ben DeGrow
A recent Lansing spat suggests that some school bureaucracies are inextricably bound together in a type of forced marriage. Unforeseen tensions bubbled to the surface at the Capitol last week while the Legislature considered a bill that would allow local school districts to stop receiving services from an intermediate school district.
When the state’s big business, media and government establishments all clamor for huge new taxpayer-funded giveaways to well-connected firms and developers, the path of least resistance for state legislators is go along to get along.
Examples are commonplace: A since-repealed state program that gave nearly half a billion dollars to film producers was opposed by exactly one legislator when it was approved in 2008. Scores of similar giveaways have been authorized by the Michigan Legislature in the past decade, many with lopsided and bipartisan support.
Throughout Michigan, local governments are trying to come to terms with a ticking time bomb: the underfunded plans for their employee retirement benefits. Over the years, government employers failed to set money aside to pay for these benefits and now the plans are hundreds of millions of dollars in arrears. The longer local governments fail to address the problem, the bigger the bill gets. And this problem can develop quickly.
By Jack McHugh
House Bill 4423, Increase speed limits: Passed 28 to 8 in the Senate
To increase speed limits on rural freeways to 75 mph where engineering studies and traffic patterns indicate this is safe. General speed limits elsewhere would be 70 mph on other freeways, 65 mph on state trunkline highways with light traffic, 55 mph on county roads, and 55 mph on unpaved roads except in Oakland and Wayne Counties, where they would be 45 mph. The speed limit on subdivision streets would remain at 25 mph.
By Ben DeGrow
In a recent New York Times op-ed, economics professor and Brookings Institution fellow Douglas Harris declared that Secretary of Education-Designate Betsy DeVos “devised Detroit’s [charter] system to run like the Wild West.” He interpreted the best available research on Detroit charters to say they “performed at about the same dismal level as [the city’s] traditional public schools.”
As Michigan continues to recover economically, a Michigan House committee rejected bills that would have taken us back to the “lost decade” way of doing business.
Legislation that would give private developers taxpayer cash died in Lansing today. Senate bills 1061 through 1065, which had passed the Senate, found opposition in the House Local Government Committee. While it is common practice to resurrect lame-duck legislation in a new year, these bills should remain buried.
President-elect Donald Trump took a victory lap earlier this month after convincing Carrier to keep more than 700 jobs in Indiana instead of moving them to Mexico. Trump’s unique style of braggadocio and tough-sounding talk lends itself to such exercises.
Update: The package of bills has passed the House and Senate.
On December 1, the Michigan Senate passed a package of bills that would dramatically improve the ability of Michiganders to get around.
The package was originally written to provide a statewide regulatory framework for ridesharing companies like Uber and Lyft, which have been operating in Michigan in a legal gray area. Some cities embraced the services, others banned them. The uncertainty has made it difficult for ridesharing companies to expand beyond a handful of areas in Michigan, and has caused major headaches for drivers, who have received tickets for not having commercial licenses.
A free ride for union officials would be ended if the Michigan House passes two bills that are up for consideration this week. Under the bills, union heads could no longer rely on taxpayers to pay for their private release time or pensions.
House Bill 279 would “prohibit public school districts from adopting arrangements in which a school employee goes to work full time for a teachers union but remains a school employee for purposes of collecting a government pension.”
The head of the public school district in Detroit doesn’t expect academic progress for up to 10 years. It’s a good thing students in the city have other options.
The district had to be bailed out by state taxpayers and recently its chief executive testified before legislators. The Detroit News noted the remarks from Alycia Meriweather, interim superintendent for the Detroit Public Schools Community District:
As I write this, Gov. Snyder’s 21st Century Infrastructure Commission is releasing its recommendation at a news conference in Dearborn. I was honored to be invited but am unable to attend. Over the next days and weeks, we will have more to say as we compare the commission’s recommendations with the Mackinac Center’s free-market principles.
By Jason Hayes
Electric utility legislation recently passed by the Michigan Senate and now before the House continues to capture the attention of elected officials, media and energy producers.
Supporters claim the bill will save the state from energy shortfalls, protect a small amount of customer choice in the current system and expand the use of renewable sources. Opponents argue that the bill will actually kill customer choice, raise Michigan’s electric rates and expand Granholm-era mandates on electricity generation.
Michigan’s Office of Retirement Services did a disservice to state lawmakers and the public in a Senate appropriations committee meeting on Nov. 30. Testifying on Senate Bill 102, which would close the state’s massively unfunded school pension system to new enrollees, ORS repeatedly told lawmakers that the proposed bills would generate hundreds of millions of dollars in new costs to the state. The bills would do no such thing, however, meaning that ORS experts either did not read the bills before testifying or just don’t understand them and shouldn’t have weighed in.
By Jack McHugh
Senate Bill 1153, Give cash subsidies to Dan Gilbert and other developers: Passed 30 to 7 in the Senate
To authorize a new way of giving up to $250 million worth of state subsidies each year to certain developers and business owners selected by state or local political appointees. This would use the device of “abating” employee income tax withholding requirements to give virtual cash subsidies to select business owners. Reportedly the bills are intended to deliver subsidies to Detroit developer Dan Gilbert and up to 14 others around the state.
Editor's note: When this story was first posted, David Lorenz of the MEDC had not responded. He has responded since publication and turned down the offer for a debate. Click HERE to see his entire response.
Author’s note: The following letter was sent to Travel Michigan vice president David Lorenz and Michigan Lodging and Tourism president Deanna Richeson on Nov. 1 via email. A physical copy was also mailed to the pair and author Michael LaFaive tried contacting each recipient by telephone. Neither have responded to any communications.
President-elect Donald Trump will nominate Michigan philanthropist and school choice advocate Betsy DeVos as his Secretary of Education. DeVos has worked on education policy for decades and her record shows that she believes in parental freedom over centralized control when it comes to deciding where kids go to school.
By Ben DeGrow
Last week’s announcement of Betsy DeVos as President-elect Trump’s pick to head the U.S. Department of Education cheered school choice supporters. That’s because DeVos, a long-time advocate of school choice, will have a bully pulpit to highlight successful choice programs around the nation.
Detroit’s four professional sports teams will soon be housed within walking distance of one another, but that close proximity will come at a hefty cost to taxpayers.
The Detroit Pistons announced this week they will move to Little Caesars Arena next season, joining the Detroit Red Wings who already play there. The Tigers and Lions play at Comerica Park and Ford Field, respectively.
Unions are supposed to look out for the interests of their members. But the well-being of their workers is forgotten when it comes to pensions.
In the Lansing State Journal, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 25 legislative director Nick Ciaramitaro argues that the state needs to keep its hands off worker retirement systems.
By Ben DeGrow
The Michigan Department of Education will soon launch a listening tour for school employees and citizens to chime in about how to implement the new federal education law. The recently adopted Every Student Succeeds Act gives states some greater flexibility in setting several policies, including how they measure and report school performance.
The Detroit Pistons today are scheduled to announce that they will be returning to Detroit from their home in Auburn Hills. They will share space in the new Red Wings stadium but are looking to build a practice facility. The local Downtown Development Authority is involved in the transaction somehow, but details about its specific contribution are unclear. Like any DDA, the Detroit authority can provide taxpayer incentives and other assistance to private business operations.
The economic well-being of the people in a state is encouraged or hindered by the laws and policies that their legislature and governor enact. Each election brings a new set of officials who have a chance to reset the ways that government affects the economy. Given that, it’s prudent to remind the officials who will take office in January what policies have been shown by history to promote economic liberty and in turn, prosperity.
