In March 2015, Corey LaValley Jr., 10, and Emma McComber, 13, and their mother were shot dead, and then their bodies burned in a house fire. William McComber, the father of Emma, says he suspects Corey Lee LaValley, the father of Corey Jr., killed the family.
In September 2013, Susan Bank wanted to leave the MEA, but was told she had missed her opportunity for the year. The Mackinac Center Legal Foundation filed suit on her behalf, to challenge not only the legality of an opt-out period, but to determine whether the union had the responsibility to inform her of that period.
One might live a lifetime without witnessing a political trouncing like the one voters delivered to Proposal 1 on May 5. The complex measure to annually devote $1.2 billion more for roads by raising taxes $2 billion didn’t just fail, it was vaporized in an historic 20-80 rout.
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 4467, Allow more dangerous prisoners at Baldwin private prison: Passed 23 to 14 in the Senate
Government spending on tourism — including the popular “Pure Michigan” commercials — do not create net new jobs for the Great Lake State. The taxpayer resources spent on tourism marketing should be redirected elsewhere, such as to repairing Michigan’s roads or cutting the personal income tax.
The Mackinac Center for Public Policy and the Michigan Chamber of Commerce last week released top-line results of a jointly commissioned poll by Mitchell Research of 600 likely voters on the subject of Michigan’s film incentive program. This program gives subsidies to people who produce movies in our state, like the upcoming Batman v Superman.
As Michigan lawmakers consider putting greater restrictions on the practice of civil asset forfeiture, Mackinac Center Policy Analyst Jarrett Skorup joined Bill Gilmer to discuss the matter on WPHM in Port Huron.
You can listen by clicking below.
The Michigan House Judiciary committee has passed a package of bills that would reform Michigan’s civil asset forfeiture laws. Currently, law enforcement officials are able to seize private property from residents and give it to government agencies even if no one is convicted of a crime.
Mackinac Center President Joseph Lehman will serve as a panelist at the Mackinac Policy Conference Friday, May 29, at 9:00am.
The topic is "Michigan's Road Fix—the $1.5 Billion Question."
Lehman will join Westland Mayor William Wild, Edw. C. Levy Co. COO S. Evan Weiner, Citizens Research Council of Michigan President Eric Lupher and ITC Holdings Corp. Vice President of Business Unit FInance and Rates Gregory Ioanidis.
By Jack McHugh
As part of the negotiations to get Proposal 1 on the May 5 ballot, Gov. Rick Snyder reportedly promised to veto a potential repeal of the state's “prevailing wage” law. This law prohibits awarding government construction contracts to the lowest bidder, unless the contractor pays the equivalent of union wages that often exceed market rates. Studies have shown that this adds hundreds of millions of dollars annually to the cost of government infrastructure projects, including school construction and road repairs.
Michigan’s closed state employee pension system got some good news this year: unfunded liabilities did not increase. But taxpayers are still on the hook for the $6.2 billion promised to retirees that the state has failed to save enough for.
A new valuation shows the system’s liabilities grew roughly $500 million since the last report — but so did the value of assets set aside to cover those liabilities. The state carries $16.2 billion in pension liabilities, and $10.0 billion of investments. Some of the system’s previous assumptions have been updated to reflect actual experience, which added $400 million to the projected liabilities.
The United Way has released a report that says the vast majority of Michigan residents need a lot more money in order to be financially “stable.” The study has received wide media attention (sample headline: “More than 1.5 million Michigan households struggling”), but the claims paint a distorted picture.
Since 2009, the unemployment rate in Michigan has dropped faster than any other state in the country.
It has gone from 14.9 percent to 5.4 percent from June 2009 to April 2015.
Assistant Director for Fiscal Policy James Hohman put the numbers in perspective on the Frank Beckmann Show.
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 103, Reduce “student growth” portion of teacher rating criteria: Passed 22 to 15 in the Senate
A Mackinac Center/Michigan Chamber of Commerce poll, showing overwhelming support to redirect film subsidies to roads, was highlighted by WJR's Frank Beckmann May 21.
The poll, conducted by Mitchell Research and Communications, shows 66 percent of respondents supported the idea of using the $50 million in annual film subsidies to fix the roads.
This week Gov. Rick Snyder released a broad, ambitious plan for criminal justice reform, seeking to enhance public safety while improving effective policing and the management of the state’s corrections efforts, including the Michigan Department of Corrections. Several of his recommendations draw from Mackinac Center research, including this section of his address, which discussed overcriminalization:
The Mackinac Center's May 20 event "Civil Asset Forfeiture: How Government Private Property from Innocent Citizens" attracted a panel and a crowd of various idiologies.
The panel included Lee McGrath, an attorney with the public interest law firm Institute for Justice, Democrat State Representative Jeff Irwin and ACLU of Michigan Attorney Dan Korobkin.
As Michigan continues its economic recovery that has led to more jobs, higher real estate values and more government tax revenue, one might wonder what’s driving the state’s recent economic growth. Some point to the booming auto industry, praising the bailouts and speedy bankruptcies. Yet, while some pieces of the state economy are improving more than others, it’s all of them together that makes the difference.
In a recent Mlive column, Tim Skubick says critics of the House Republican road funding plan think it violates accounting principles. “If you are a respectable bean-counter you are loathed to predicate any budget on revenue that may or may not materialize,” he writes.
Schools of Choice research conducted by Mackinac Center Director of Education Policy Audrey Spalding is cited in a WILX report.
More than 80 percent of Michigan's school districts are accepting students into their boundaries. More than 100,000 Michigan students use Schools of Choice, which is comparable to those students attending charter schools.
Targeted tax breaks are justified as a means to spur investment and growth, but they are often just a way for well-connected firms to gain a tax break while other businesses are forced to carry the remaining burden.
The Mackinac Center's targeted tax break opinion was recently noted on Vox.com in an article about the difficulties small businesses often have in the wake of tax breaks targeted toward bigger businesses.
Right now in Michigan the government can take the personal property of private citizens even if the citizen has not been charged with a crime. It's called civil asset forfeiture, and it's the topic of a Mackinac Center Issues and Ideas forum.
Lee McGrath, Institute for Justice legislative counsel and managing attorney of the Minnesota office, served as a guest on the Frank Beckmann Show on WJR 760AM Tuesday morning.
On May 5, Michigan voters rejected proposal one by a historic 80-20 margin. The proposal would have raised taxes on sales, gas, and vehicle registration, mostly to fund road repair.
Heartland quoted James Hohman, a fiscal policy analyst at the Mackinac Center, to explain the proposal and give some insight into why it failed.
For two decades the Mackinac Center for Public Policy has recommended repealing the state’s prevailing wage law. It is an expensive mandate that artificially raises the cost of state-funded construction projects. Bills to make prevailing wage an artifact of history have been adopted by the state Senate.
Michigan once had the most generous film incentive program in the nation, but economic realities caused legislators to trim back these subsidies. Recently, the state House voted to end the $50 million program altogether.
Policy Analyst Jarrett Skorup was on NPR’s “All Things Considered” to discuss state film incentives. He said work from independent economists show that this is one of the worst things state governments can spend taxpayer money on.
