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For the past few years, Farmington and Farmington Hills have explored ways to expand broadband internet services in their cities. Unfortunately, much of this conversation has centered on starting a government-owned network. Cities do not have a good track record of running financially viable networks, especially those in areas with existing providers.

State legislators have a lot more money to play with this year as they negotiate the budget. If lawmakers cannot use this to improve the state’s long-term financial prospects or improve the quality of public services, they should use the excess to lessen the burdens government places on residents. Unfortunately, lawmakers are under constant pressure to spend more, and they often falsely assume that more money will result in better outcomes.

Michigan is spending more on roads. A lot more. The transportation budget has increased $1.8 billion since 2012, a 32% increase when adjusted for inflation. And yet road conditions have only gotten worse. A broad measure of road quality shows that 66% of roads used to be in good or fair condition in 2012 and 58% are at those levels today.

As of June 1, Consumers Energy has finalized the rollout of their new summer peak rate, which increases electricity rates by 50% during hours of expected peak electricity demand. With this new program, the utility takes another step away from providing reliable, affordable electricity toward an organizational ethic of offering an electricity service that leaves Michigan ratepayers exposed to the whims of weather.

With the state flush in new tax dollars, Michigan’s chief executive has called for a dramatic hike in preschool spending. But the budget request far exceeds the demand for these services.

On June 8, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer proposed spending an extra $405 million over the next three years on the state’s Great Start Readiness Program, “to ensure 22,000 more children can enroll in early education.” The program is geared toward children in households with income at or below 250% of the federal poverty level, which is $66,250 for a family of four. Two-thirds of the 65,000 eligible four-year-olds attend state-subsidized preschool. How many of the rest have parents who want them in?

Senate Bill 393: Give tax break to businesses afflicted by virus lockdowns: 19 to 16 in the Senate

To authorize tax relief for a business that was forced to close for at least six weeks due to an executive or emergency order that cost the business to lose 25% of its gross receipts for the year. The bill would authorize a business income tax credit equal to the business' property tax liability for the year. Businesses that rent would get a comparable credit based on lease costs. This applies to restaurants, taverns, hotels and motels, health clubs, entertainment facilities and other such “public facing” enterprises.

A recent report notes that Michigan is 40th out of the 50 states when it comes to taxpayer support for universities. This has been used to support the idea that the state should give more money to its 15 public universities. But a closer look at the study suggests the opposite.

Many questions remain after an investigation by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Charlie LeDuff and the Mackinac Center concerning the total number of deaths from COVID-19 at nursing homes. A hearing on June 3 before the Michigan House of Representatives Oversight Committee featured comments from the Mackinac Center and Elizabeth Hertel, the director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.

A new bill would impose additional licensing requirements on people who install solar panels in Michigan. Solar installers have been operating for decades without any apparent problems. Given that, these new licensing mandates are a solution in search of a problem.

Thirty years ago today, Minnesota broke ground by adopting the nation’s first charter school law. Today more than three million students across the nation — including nearly 150,000 in Michigan — attend one of these choice-driven, independently governed public schools.

Editor's Note: This article first appeared in The Hill on May 15, 2021. 

In recent weeks, federal officials have announced policies that are very likely to increase cigarette smuggling into the United States and bring other unintended consequences.

In 1891, Kansas became the first state to enact a prevailing wage mandate, which generally requires governments to pay a predetermined wage for work it contracts out, rather than use a negotiated or market-based pay rate. Dozens of other states followed suit, with the regulation especially popular during the 1930s. But not all states joined the crowd.

The Overton Window on K-12 education had been firmly set in place in the 1980s. Outside of some students in religious schools, elitist enclaves, and a handful of homeschool households, everyone went to assigned public district schools based on where they lived.

Senate Bill 458: Require governor notify legislature when traveling out of state: Passed 20 to 16 in the Senate

To require that when leaving the state and on return, the governor must notify the lieutenant governor, and require this person to notify legislative leaders in writing within 12 hours.

It is well known that COVID-19 is significantly more dangerous for older populations. Data from Michigan shows that about 83% of the deaths associated with the disease in 2020 were of people 65 or older. But how does the risk of dying from COVID-19 compare with other risks, especially for younger populations? Turns out that this risk is not different from others faced on a regular basis.

The state of Michigan and its local governments are awash in cash – buoyed by a strong economy and an influx of federal funds. Lawmakers are looking to appropriate this money and, unfortunately, many are exploring risky new government-run programs.

In the three decades of the modern school choice movement, 2021 has no rival. This Year of Educational Choice has broadened opportunities for students and families more than any other. But these opportunities have not penetrated everywhere. Without a bold strategy, Michigan is one place where students and families will be left in the dust.

House Bill 4448: Prohibit limiting government open records disclosures during emergency: Passed 21 to 15 in the Senate

To establish that an executive order, proclamation, or directive issued under the law that authorizes the governor to declare an emergency may not lengthen the required government agency response times or otherwise limit the scope of a public body's duties to provide records requested under the state Freedom of Information Act. Such an order was imposed in April 2020 and rescinded that June.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer ditched her short-lived and ill-conceived “Vacc to Normal” plan and announced expedited changes to the state orders regulating public interactions. Lost in this good news, though, is a policy the governor did not change and remains in effect until at least July 1: the mandatory, weekly testing of healthy teenagers who play youth sports.

Two Michigan House and Senate committees have endorsed legislation that would prevent local governments from banning short-term rentals, and it awaits approval by the full chambers of the Legislature. Though local governments could not ban the rentals under the proposed law, they could still regulate them under noise and other ordinances, similar to how they regulate long-term rentals and single-family homes.

March and April saw two news events involving Michigan’s now-defunct prevailing wage law. The first involved legislation introduced March 25 that would reinstate the costly wage mandate on government contracts in the Great Lake State. The second involved a court decision not to retry a former state representative who had been charged with attempted extortion and soliciting a bribe in exchange for voting against a bill to repeal the law. Interestingly, both stories cross paths with an Indiana-specific paper the Mackinac Center has repeatedly criticized.

For three years, the cities of Farmington and Farmington Hills have explored the idea of a joint government-owned broadband service. This is despite the fact that the residents of these cities are blanketed with high-speed internet options from private providers, and despite a recent study estimating the cost of doing so will exceed $100 million and be a “fairly risky” investment for these cities to operate.

Editor's Note: This article was originally published in The Hill on May 8, 2021. 

It may be hard to believe, but there is a policy reform that unites a wide range of people, including conservatives, liberals and libertarians. Business groups and think tanks on the left agree with it, as do President Biden and former President Trump.

Editor's Note: This article was first published in The Hill on April 24, 2021.

President Biden released his plan to fix American infrastructure by spending trillions. The federal government has an important role to play in infrastructure, but it shouldn’t be the piggy bank for every state and local project.

Both politicians and public administrators seem to think they can change the direction of the economy by handing out money to a handful of businesses: There is a competition for jobs and they’re going to win it. A look at the scope of what is necessary to accomplish what they want done, however, ought to get them to reconsider whether business handouts can drive economic growth.