By Jack McHugh
Senate Bill 129, Regulate small copper mines different than big ones: Passed 24 to 11 in the Senate
To establish a separate and more streamlined regulatory regime over small ("native") copper mining operations.
Who Voted "Yes" and Who Voted "No"
Senate Bill 19, Cut off parole absconders from welfare: Passed 101 to 6 in the House
By Kahryn Riley
It seemed everyone was ready to tackle criminal justice reforms after the Council of State Governments released its study of Michigan in 2013.
The Legislature, Gov. Rick Snyder and the Supreme Court issued a joint invitation to the CSG to observe Michigan’s criminal justice system, and the House of Representatives introduced several proposals the following year based on the council’s findings.
We’ve written a lot about ridesharing over the last year, explaining why services that use smartphone apps to link people who have cars with people who need rides are good for Michigan.
Two companies stand out in the ridesharing business in Michigan: Uber and Lyft. When we started talking to drivers a year ago, Uber was operating in six cities (metro Detroit, Ann Arbor, Lansing, Flint, Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo). Lyft was operating in only two (metro Detroit and Ann Arbor), although it expanded in summer 2016 to include the Lansing and Grand Rapids areas.
Although the current political climate is fraught and divided, there are a handful of ideas that people and groups across the spectrum can and should be able to agree on.
Mackinac Center Executive Vice President Michael Reitz recently wrote an op-ed in the Detroit Free Press describing a few potential consensus-building ideas for Michigan: licensing reform, a better school ranking system, criminal justice reform, an income tax cut and FOIA reform.
Today the Michigan House Competitiveness Committee considers legislation (House Bills 4148-57) that would expand the requirement to disclose public records to both the Legislature and the Governor. We applaud this move; Mackinac Center experts have long recommended an expansion of public records law. We also offered several comments to improve the current legislation.
The U.S. Supreme Court decided not to hear a case on whether government should be able to receive forfeited property without a criminal conviction. But that hasn’t stopped Justice Clarence Thomas from taking a big swipe at civil forfeiture laws across the nation.
Next week is “Sunshine Week,” and some Michigan legislators are celebrating by introducing transparency bills.
Almost the entire Michigan House has signaled support for a package of bills that would subject legislators and the governor to open record laws. While there may need to be some loopholes — for some legislative discussions and people sharing personal information with elected officials — these bills would, if enacted, put Michigan on par with most of the states.
The union responsible for skimming tens of millions of dollars from home caregivers has been placed under an emergency trusteeship to investigate alleged financial malpractice. It‘s just another issue in the ongoing saga surrounding SEIU Healthcare Michigan.
Michigan’s 2007 income tax hike has cost the typical Michigan household about $1,000. This is the total cost over the decade, and while it might not sound like much to some people, it is a significant sum to others.
But the size of this tax hike is not the problem. The real issue is that lawmakers are taking more from Michigan residents without needing to. Thankfully, some legislators are working to try to let people keep more of their own money.
By Ben DeGrow
Isolated and poor, Baldwin, Michigan, doesn’t offer abundant opportunity to a native son with a freshly minted college degree. But Ferris State grad Duane Roberts returned home because he wanted to help those who were coming behind him.
Baldwin is the smallest of the state’s eight “promise zones” that offer a combination of public and private scholarship funds for every local high school graduate who attends a Michigan college or university. In Baldwin, graduates can receive $5,000 a year for four years, above and beyond other available financial aid.
By Kahryn Riley
A new proposal from the Michigan House of Representatives would allow the Michigan Department of Corrections to hire ex-offenders. Research suggests that the more difficult it is for ex-offenders to find legal employment, the more likely they are to reoffend. This proposal could provide a lifeline for an offender who is trying to turn his life around — something lawmakers should keep in mind when considering the bill.
By Jack McHugh
Senate Bill 119, Transfer prison property to NMU for forensic anthropology: Passed 37 to 0 in the Senate
To transfer a piece of unfenced Marquette state prison land to Northern Michigan University, which will use it for a new forensic anthropology program. This is a field whose techniques are useful in crime and disaster investigations.
I’ll be at the Detroit Regional Chamber’s Detroit Policy Conference today.
I’m especially interested in the panel “Strengthening Detroit: Partners in Economic Development.” With Detroit City Council President Brenda Jones, city Planning Director Maurice Cox and vice presidents from the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation and Detroit Regional Chamber on the panel, it’ll be up to moderator Stephen Henderson from the Detroit Free Press to bring any skepticism to the discussion about the value of command-and-control “economic development” programs for the people of Detroit. As we’ve pointed out time and again, broad-based economic liberty drives economic growth more than targeted subsidies to politically connected developers.
In the push to offer new school employees a 401(k)-type retirement package, the most common response by those opposing the idea has been some variation of the question, “Why should teachers not receive pensions when politicians do?” But state policymakers and their staff do not receive pensions or health care once out of office.
The Environmental Policy Initiative (EPI) at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy will attempt to answer three key questions with its work. They are:
Six basic principles will guide EPI’s research, writing and policy suggestions as we attempt to answer these questions.
In a statement explaining why he voted against a bill to slightly lower income tax rates over time, Rep. Chris Afendoulis, R-Grand Rapids Township, remarked, “This plan will jeopardize our state’s bond rating and will create a structural deficit in the general fund of over $2 billion by 2022.” However, Michigan’s budget picture is rosier than he suggests: Revenues have grown and are growing. Michigan can afford a modest tax cut.
The Michigan Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union and second-largest union in the state, is listed by one union watcher as one of the most financially precarious across the nation.
Mike Antonucci, who writes about unions at the one-man Education Intelligence Agency, notes that the MEA is shedding members and facing huge financial liabilities. Antonucci writes this about Michigan’s NEA affiliate:
House Republicans have faced some unfair opposition to their plan to lower the state income tax, with assertions that the state budget can’t afford it. Yet the amount of state spending from state-levied taxes has grown $5.8 billion over the past six years.
The first legislative hearing on a labor reform idea first championed by the Mackinac Center will take place tomorrow, and Mackinac’s Director of Labor Policy F. Vincent Vernuccio will be there to testify.
Missouri’s House Committee on Economic Development, chaired by Holly Rehder, R-Sikeston, will consider a bill to bring the nation’s first Worker’s Choice law into being. The bill, introduced by Rep. Steve Helms, R-Springfield, would allow unionized employees to opt out of union contracts and represent themselves before their employers.
Editor’s note: A version of this appeared in the Detroit Free Press on Feb. 23, 2017 as a “letter to the editor.”
In his recent State of the City address, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan worried about a lack of workers in Detroit and said he wants to launch jobs programs to connect people to work. But there is an easier way for the city to help people find employment: Get out of the way.
Editor's Note: A version of this article ran in The Detroit News on February 22, 2017.
Throughout 2015 and 2016, Michigan’s electric utility executives warned us that upcoming closures of coal-fired generation plants meant the state faced impending electricity shortfalls. This is mostly because coal plants are closing as a result of increasingly strict federal environmental regulations, like the Clean Power Plan.
By Jack McHugh
House Bill 4001, Cut state income tax rate by 0.2 percent: Failed 52 to 55 in the House
To cut the state income tax rate from the current 4.25 percent to 4.05 percent over two years. The tax could go down another .15 percent later but only if the state rainy day fund is allowed to exceed $1 billion. Twelve Republicans voted 'no' and one Democrat voted 'yes.'
By Ben DeGrow
Over seven years ago, Michigan passed a law calling for teachers to be paid based on performance. The law has been largely ignored, despite evidence that the old compensation system doesn’t work.
The traditional way of paying teachers according to seniority and academic credentials does not benefit student learning. Research has shown that having a teacher with a master’s degree offers a student no advantages. A Brookings Institution report calls it “one of the most consistent findings in education research.” Yet in Michigan, hundreds of millions of dollars go to funding these “master’s bumps” rather than recognizing teachers for merit.
One state may be getting wise to the fact that government-funded tourism promotion is a bad bet for taxpayers and do away with two state agencies tasked with economic development and tourism promotion.
Recently, Florida House’s Careers and Competition subcommittee voted in favor of a bill that would end Visit Florida and Enterprise Florida. Those government entities are similar to the Pure Michigan advertising campaign and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, respectively.
Editor's Note: This piece was originally published by The Hill on February 22, 2017.
Taxes matter.
People change their behavior based on incentives and higher taxes create a strong motivation to find ways to avoid paying them. Just look at cigarettes.
While the goal of many who wish to raise taxes on cigarettes is noble — improving public health — new research confirms what decades of previous studies have shown: much of the decline in legal paid sales of cigarettes is due not to people kicking the habit, but to an increase in smuggling.
