By Jack McHugh
The House and Senate held pro-forma sessions this week with no votes. Therefore, this report continues its series of describing some of this year’s interesting or noteworthy bill introductions.
Senate Bill 718 and House Bill 5284: Mandate school music classes
Introduced by Sen. Curtis Hertel, Jr. (D) and Rep. Erika Geiss (D), to require that public schools provide children in grades K-5 with 90 minutes of music instruction a week, taught by an instructor who has particular academic credentials specified in the bill. SB 718 would impose a quota of one of these instructors for every 400 children in a school, and in HB 5284 the quota would be one for every 650. Referred to committee, no further action at this time.
An initiative that may appear on Colorado’s November’s ballot would, if adopted, nearly triple the state’s current cigarette excise tax. This, we believe the evidence shows, will usher in a wave of cigarette smuggling and other undesirable consequences.
By Ben DeGrow
Though the evidence for Michigan spending its way to educational success continues to disappoint, its champions have turned to misdirection and misinformation to keep pressing their cause forward.
The release of the $400,000 Michigan Education Finance Study (better known as the adequacy study) was far more of an early summer flop than a box office hit. As Detroit Free Press editorial page editor Stephen Henderson laments, the study “landed with the force of a feather on desks in Lansing.” His call for the adequacy study to start “a bigger conversation” about school funding was echoed a few days later in a Free Press column written by education professors Michael Addonizio and David Arsen.
Michigan may be the birthplace of the automotive industry, but it has yet to open its borders to what could be the future in vehicle innovation.
Thanks to a law signed into law by Gov. Rick Snyder in 2014, cars may only be sold through a dealership, preventing companies like Tesla from selling their products in the state because they choose to sell cars directly to consumers. The Detroit Free Press wrote about the debate and a growing effort to lift the ban and allow Michiganders to buy vehicles without an intermediary.
By Kahryn Riley
In 2004, a Hawaiian circuit court judge named Steven Alm launched a new program to ensure that his court dealt fairly and promptly with people on probation. Judge Alm found a simple solution to the shortcomings of the probation program.
The problem was that the consequences for probation violations were ineffective. A probation violation drew only warnings, no actual discipline. And probation violations began piling up. Eventually frustrated probation agents, with left with no alternatives, sent probationers to court, where they would receive a disproportionately severe punishment. “What a crazy way to try to change anybody’s behavior,” said Judge Alm.
It may come as little surprise that private schools serve their students well, but thanks to the competition they create, private schools also consistently help raise the bar for area public schools as well.
That is one of the points made by Ben DeGrow, director of education policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, in a recent online debate forum hosted by WalletHub. In his essay, DeGrow makes the case for expanding educational choice to better serve all students.
How does economic liberty affect human well-being? Some of the most interesting recent research in economics and social science has looked at this question. The Fraser Institute, based in Canada, has been a leader in this field with its annual Economic Freedom of North America indexes. Policymakers whose primary goals are increased freedom and prosperity should take note.
The latest dump of Democratic National Committee emails by WikiLeaks confirms the cozy relationship between the party and labor union leadership, but also reveals how some staffers truly feel about working with unions.
Mackinac Center adjunct scholar Jeremy Lott wrote about the email leak in an op-ed published by The Detroit News, explaining that the documents show party officials see value in unions when it comes to fighting Republicans. But, when it comes to actually working with unions, the DNC views them as more trouble than they’re worth.
By Jack McHugh
The House and Senate are on a summer and primary election season break. Therefore, this report again explores methods lawmakers use to associate their names with certain interests or causes: bills to grant select nonprofits privileges including state income tax fundraising privileges and property tax breaks.
Housing prices in Michigan have recovered from the Great Recession. The price of the average home sale in Michigan in the first six months of 2016 was $147,323. This is the highest since 2006, and approaching record levels.
Other state housing value indicators are up as well. The federal Housing Finance Authority’s house price index says that Michigan’s values increased 33.6 percent from the first quarter of 2010 to the first quarter of 2016. That’s the seventh-highest increase among the states.
Is there taxpayer blood in the water? It’s hard not to ask because a number of groups in Michigan are circling for a bite. Venture capitalists have chewed up the money they received under the 21st Century Jobs Fund and are asking for more. Downtown Detroit investor Dan Gilbert is reportedly testing the waters for new forms of taxpayer support. And new legislation has been introduced to restart tax credits for research and development expenses.
By Jack McHugh
The Wall Street Journal recently criticized government subsidies that South Korean politicians have granted to the country’s large industrial conglomerates, called “chaebols.” The newspaper’s editorial board wrote:
But the country’s chaebol conglomerates continue to receive massive state support across a range of industries. After a legislator extracted detailed figures from the government, the Hankyoreh newspaper calculated that in 2012 Seoul gave $673.9 million in direct subsidies to the chaebol. That doesn’t count low-interest loans, tax breaks and protection from competition, the main tools of Korea’s industrial policy.
One of the largest union pension plans is on the brink of insolvency, employers are already on the hook and soon taxpayers could be stuck with the massive bill.
The Teamsters’ Central States Pension Fund is underfunded by at least $18 billion and could face complete insolvency in 10 years. The union’s president says taxpayers should bail the fund out. Mackinac Center’s F. Vincent Vernuccio, director of labor policy, and adjunct scholar Jeremy Lott wrote about the pending crisis this week in the Washington Examiner.
By Jack McHugh
The House and Senate are on a summer and primary election season break. Therefore, this report explores one of the methods lawmakers use to associate their names with certain interests or causes: granting specialty license plate privileges.
House Bill 5586: Authorize autism specialty license plate; give profits to advocacy group
Governing Magazine recently used data from the Census Bureau to show that Michigan has the lowest per-capita public employment. MIRS News spoke with some public unions that said this is a travesty.
But it is not an indicator of much — neither cost, or quality, or even the government's importance to residents.
A bill that could serve as a model for states looking to grant their residents economic freedom has been introduced in the U.S. Senate. The “Alternatives to Licensing that Lowers Obstacles to Work,” or ALLOW Act was submitted by Sen. Mike Lee R-Utah and Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb.
People and the press have a right to transparency, even when it’s inconvenient for government.
That’s why the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation filed a lawsuit last week against the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, which continues to skirt state transparency laws by not responding a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Foundation Director Patrick Wright spoke with The Detroit News about the lawsuit, which seeks emails related to the Flint water crisis.
By Kahryn Riley
The Mackinac Center for Public Policy is often labeled a “free market think tank,” which is correct but incomplete. The Center describes its purpose in part as, “broadening the debate on issues that has for many years been dominated by the belief that government intervention should be the standard solution.” In light of this, we’ve decided to extend that debate to include the issue of criminal justice reform.
In 2010, First Lady Michelle Obama used a White House press release to announce a massive public-private-nonprofit campaign with “an ambitious national goal of solving the challenge of childhood obesity within a generation so that children born today will reach adulthood at a healthy weight.” It took on childhood nutrition, exercise and much more. The resulting initiative is often known by its “Let’s Move” website name.
By Jack McHugh
The House and Senate held pro-forma sessions this week with no votes. Therefore, this report continues its series of describing some of the interesting bills that have been introduced in the current Legislature.
Senate Bill 642: Allow more municipal debt for home efficiency loans
Michigan drivers pay the highest auto insurance rates in the country on average and will soon be paying more to drive in the state, but lawmakers can bring down the cost by reforming the system.
Mackinac Center for Public Policy’s Director of Research Michael Van Beek spoke with TV 6 and Fox UP about changes that should be made to Michigan’s insurance mandates to lower costs to drivers as drivers brace for higher fuel taxes and registration fees in 2017.
A vet safely saves a dog’s life and the owners are happy, but he is punished with a fine and probation and could have lost his state license. Why? Because a state board — filled with his competitors — and a state department have that authority.
This case involved Dr. Jan Pol, a veterinarian near Mt. Pleasant. As Michigan Capitol Confidential reports, five years ago, Pol performed an operation that was shown on his program on the Nat Geo Channel. The dog, Mr. Pigglesworth, was saved from being euthanized for under $300. But an out-of-state vet complained to the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, which punished him, “cit[ing] his failure to wear surgical gear (mask, gown, gloves) and to provide the patient with IV therapy. The bureau also faulted Pol for not placing a warming pad or blanket in the dog’s kennel during his recovery.”
Educational challenges linger in Highland Park, nearly four years after the distressed school district was taken over by the Leona Group, a charter management company. A year after being forced to close the district’s only high school, the newly named Highland Park Public School Academy System struggles to retain students.
The Michigan Economic Development Corporation released a study on its 21st Century Jobs Fund, alleging that it helped create jobs in Michigan. Yet the study did not offer substantial proof. The MEDC needs to be more transparent about the shortcomings of Gov. Granholm’s “Blown Away” program.
No one should tell individuals how to run their businesses or their advertising, but that is what is happening to resort and hotel owners in Northern Michigan.
The Indian River Area Tourist Bureau levies a 5 percent tax on each rented room in its region, violating the free speech rights of property owners like George Galbraith, who disagree with the forced speech. Last week, the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation filed a lawsuit on Galbraith’s behalf, arguing such regional taxes and the Michigan law authorizing the Indian River bureau are unconstitutional.
