By Ben DeGrow
As Detroit’s public school system spirals toward insolvency and Michigan political leaders talk of bailouts and whether the district should remain under state receivership, one key group remains largely voiceless: parents of the Detroit children whose futures depend on having access to quality schools, regardless of what political entity operates them.
The Michigan Legislature recently passed Senate Bill 571, which, among other things, would, “prohibit schools and local governments from sending any communication to residents that mentions an upcoming property tax millage election within 60 days of the vote.”
New numbers from the Census Bureau on how many people move from state to state underscore another aspect of the right-to-work debate that does not often take center stage: Americans continue to move to right-to-work states.
The Mackinac Center has long viewed changes in the number of people in a state as perhaps the single best tool for measuring the quality of life there. After all, there are reasons people pack up and move, and those reasons reflect an individual’s self-interest. Economic opportunities are a clear reason to move, as are amenities such as access to coastal waters or more temperate climates.
In Michigan, government entities, such as school districts, must pay all contractors union wages for construction projects — the so-called prevailing wage. This wage rate is established by the state and is based on wages collectively bargained for by unions in the region where the construction work is being done. Market wages set by open competition are explicitly forbidden. The law was first enacted in 1965 when a much larger portion of Michigan’s construction force was unionized, but today, in the construction industry, only one-fifth of workers belong to labor unions.
The Mackinac Center for Public Policy’s Director of Labor Policy F. Vincent Vernuccio was quoted recently in The Detroit News’ latest coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court case Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association that could make all public sector employees right-to-work.
By Jack McHugh
Now with one click you can approve or disapprove of key votes by your legislators using the VoteSpotter smart phone app. Visit votespotter.com and download VoteSpotter today!
House Bill 4095, Authorize $51 million in new debt for college & university building projects: Passed 38 to 0 in the Senate
Editor's note: Gov. Rick Snyder has signed House Bill 4713 since this blog was first posted. It is now Public Act 250 of 2015.
The Michigan Legislature unanimously passed House Bill 4713 this week. The bill provides legal protections for individuals by clarifying how certain crimes may be prosecuted.
A recent report from Lansing-based MIRS News indicated that state tourism officials are closely monitoring the travel accommodations website Airbnb. The site brings together travelers looking for a place to stay and property owners willing to rent a room, apartment or house for a few days. These peer-to-peer exchanges are often compared to Uber’s ride-sharing service.
USA Today reports on the growing consensus across the political spectrum — from the Obama administration to the Koch brothers — that many occupational licensing laws are unnecessary obstacles to employment and do not provide any real benefit to public safety.
It is unfortunate that government employees are often blamed for underfunded government pension systems. When concerns are raised that retirement systems owe members billions more than has been saved, high-earners and early retirees are viewed as the culprits. Policymakers in return cut the generosity of the plans. Yet these policy reforms will not fix the basic problems faced by pension systems.
The 11th edition of the highly respected report Economic Freedom of North America has been released and it has good news for Michigan. In the index Michigan ranks 27th among the 50 states.
The 2015 freedom index — this year’s data runs through 2013 — attempts to measure the degree to which governments across Canada, the United States and Mexico restrict (or permit) economic liberty. It is produced by the Fraser Institute, a Canadian research organization, based in Vancouver, British Columbia.
The “fix Detroit schools” discussion ought to begin and end with what best serves students and their families, rather than what serves school administrators, unions or any other interest group. A new report from a respected education reform group describes one feature that should be at the forefront of this conversation.
The Obamacare Medicaid expansion approved by the Michigan Legislature in 2013 may be on the verge of extinction, which could create a big problem for legislators. Unless the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services grants Michigan a waiver by the end of the year allowing the state to require some minimal copays from beneficiaries, coverage will cease next April 30 for the 600,000 people the expansion added to the state’s medical welfare rolls.
Michael LaFaive, director of the Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative at the Mackinac Center, authored an op-ed published by The Detroit News today. In it, LaFaive discusses the ongoing debate surrounding a proposed incentive package intended to lure Switch, a data storage company, to set up shop in the old Steelcase Pyramid Building in west Michigan.
By Jack McHugh
Now with one click you can approve or disapprove of key votes by your legislators using the VoteSpotter smart phone app. Visit votespotter.com and download VoteSpotter today!
Senate Bill 481, Authorize school recreation millages: Passed 36 to 1 in the Senate
A recent article from National Public Radio reporting on a new Pew study says America has reached a tipping point because less than half the country belongs to the middle class. The first few paragraphs of the article makes things sound pretty bad. The story quotes Pew researchers: "The hollowing of the middle has proceeded steadily for the past four decades.”
Proponents of traffic law enforcement cameras on Michigan roads are nothing if not persistent. Hardly a year goes by without a group of legislators trying to empower local governments to contract with vendors of “automated, unmanned traffic monitoring devices" to increase traffic fine revenue.
This op-ed was originally published in The Detroit News on December 10, 2015.
There is a rush on by lawmakers to push through special legislation that would grant tax (or perhaps other) advantages to Switch, a data storage company, for a project in west Michigan. If the incentive bill is passed, it could see the company moving into the old Steelcase Pyramid Building. As I write, lawmakers are squabbling about the size of the fiscal Christmas gift they intend to present and whether it should be extended to other companies in the same industry.
By Jack McHugh
Michigan’s public school establishment is nothing if not persistent when it comes to devising new ways to extract more tax dollars. Two hearty perennials in this area are school “sinking fund” taxes and using local “recreational authority” taxes for school amenities. Both have been advanced in previous legislatures, only to be halted by happenstance or when Republican leaders on either side of the Capitol realized they were on the verge of authorizing property tax hikes for more things.
Detroit’s City Council is creating more regulations for the city’s growing medical marijuana industry. On top of recently requiring a city license (in addition to a state license one must procure), banning drive-thru windows and restricting operating hours, potential new regulation would limit where medical marijuana dispensaries can locate.
The costs of defined benefit pension systems are meant to be paid as pension credits are earned by employees. For government workers, paying these costs as they are earned is a state constitutional requirement. But this has not happened, a failure that has generated billions in unfunded taxpayer liabilities. Moreover, a lack of understanding of how pension funding actually works leads to incorrect reform prescriptions from lawmakers and others.
As Michigan lawmakers consider the state’s lack of criminal culpability standards, it may be useful to look at the experience of neighboring Ohio. One year ago this month, Ohio legislators passed what may be the most sweeping reform in the country. It requires a criminal culpability standard for every new criminal offense created. If lawmakers pass an act that creates a new offense but does not spell out a standard, the act is void. For every existing criminal offense, the reform presumes a “reckless” standard, meaning offenders are not considered to have acted with criminal intent unless they acted recklessly. Lawmakers can adjust the criminal intent standard for laws, new or old, as they see fit.
Today the Michigan Senate Judiciary Committee advanced House Bill 4713 out of committee. The bill would adopt a default “mens rea” standard for many of the criminal laws in Michigan, a reform the Mackinac Center recommended in two different studies.
Michigan has more than 3,100 criminal laws on the books. Traditionally, the standard for convicting someone of a crime required the state to show that the accused committed a criminal act and possessed criminal intent. But many of the crimes on the books in Michigan fail to specify the standard of criminal intent the prosecution must show in order to obtain a conviction. (Terms like “recklessly,” “knowingly” and “willfully” are common standards.) With no intent standard, individuals can be charged and convicted of a crime without the state having to demonstrate that they intending to commit an unlawful act.
Dan Crane spoke last week to a full house at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy’s most recent Issues and Ideas Forum. On Sunday, the Lansing State Journal published an op-ed he authored laying out some of his main ideas.
The op-ed explains how a year-old statute signed into law by Gov. Rick Snyder prohibits auto manufacturers like Tesla Motors from selling their vehicles directly to consumers. Crane told the 50-plus attendees at the forum that restricting product distribution in this way increases the cost of vehicles and stifles innovation.
By Jack McHugh
Now with one click you can approve or disapprove of key votes by your legislators using the VoteSpotter smart phone app. Visit votespotter.com and download VoteSpotter today!
Senate Bill 618, Exempt "internet data center" companies from personal property tax: Passed 21 to 15 in the Senate
