In a letter to the editor titled "Think tank's efforts to discredit union fails" published earlier this week by The Detroit News, MEA President Steve Cook attacked the Mackinac Center's position as an advocate for worker freedom and educational choice in Michigan.
By Jack McHugh
The House and Senate are out for several weeks. Therefore, this report contains several recently introduced bills of interest.
Senate Bill 291: Authorize wrongful imprisonment compensation
Introduced by Sen. Steve Bieda (D), to authorize payment by the state of civil damages to a person wrongfully imprisoned for a crime he or she did not commit. The damages would be $60,000 for each year of wrongful imprisonment, plus “economic damages” including lost wages, plus reasonable attorney fees. Versions of this bill have been introduced in every legislature since at least 2005. Referred to committee, no further action at this time.
On July 29, the Michigan Supreme Court upheld right-to-work for state employees, ruling that the Michigan Constitution prohibits agency fees for state workers. The Mackinac Center filed an amicus brief in the case, which the court eventually used to come to its decision.
Policy Analyst Jarrett Skorup took part in a Google Hangout with Congressman Tim Walberg on the issue of civil asset forfeiture. The event was sponsored by Generation Opportunity, a national network that connects young people “promoting economic opportunity and prosperity.”
The White House Council of Economic Advisers has released a new report about occupational licensing. It outlines the growth in licensing over the past few decades and argues that this reduces employment, raises prices and lowers wages overall.
The report recommends that states lower or eliminate this barrier to entry by establishing some “best practices.”
Until last week New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and city regulators were poised to severely limit New Yorkers’ access to ride-sharing services like Uber. Spurred on by lucrative taxi-cartel oligarchs, the regulations would have restricted the number of new Uber drivers to just one percent of the current fleet.
Bills recently introduced in the U.S. Congress would greatly increase the rights of unionized workers nationally. Known as the Employee Rights Act, the proposed legislation would amend the National Labor Relations Act, ensuring that workers have more opportunities to voice support for or opposition to the union, as well as providing more protections for workers who do not want to contribute to their union's political activity.
The Detroit News analyzes the current debate over renewable energy mandates in Michigan. A 2008 energy law eliminated most electricity choice and required 10 percent of the state’s energy to come from renewable sources – which in practical terms means windmills. Since the law went into effect, Michigan energy prices have steadily increased and are the highest in the Midwest.
Nobody wants to feel like a criminal. In fact, most people want to respect the law, but the bigger government gets, the more laws it writes, and the harder it becomes to not break the law. The Wall Street Journal reports that 1 in 3 Americans is in the FBI’s criminal database, which makes it likely that someone you know could be defined as a criminal. You may not feel they are a threat, but the government does. Perhaps your government even considers you to be a criminal.
The state will no longer offer new film productions taxpayer money to shoot movies in Michigan. This is an incredible development considering that film incentives passed with only one dissenting vote just seven years ago. Now that policymakers have acknowledged some limits on profligacy in the name of economic development, there are other programs that ought to be reviewed as well.
By Jack McHugh
The House and Senate are out for several weeks. Therefore, this report contains several recently introduced bills of interest.
Senate Bill 197: Pro-rate Michigan's electoral college presidential votes
Introduced by Sen. Dave Hildenbrand (R), to end the current winner-take-all system of allocating Michigan’s presidential electors, and instead pro-rate the state’s electoral college votes on the basis of the state’s popular vote totals. Referred to committee, no further action at this time.
"There will be blood. There will be repercussions." Such is the common threat made against those who dare take on the union juggernaut.
Michigan’s State Rep. Shenelle Jackson (D-Detroit) made the threat clear in 2012 during the passage of that state’s law on worker freedom. "What you're doing today will only serve to empower [Democrats]. We will win back this chamber, possibly take the Senate back and certainly win the governorship.”
Michigan’s recently-deceased film subsidy program showcased the lure of the California dream — movie productions dotting the state, creating economic miracles everywhere they appeared.
That particular vision did not come to pass, but there are better ways Michigan can meet, emulate or exceed California’s achievements and industry. After all, Michigan has more coastline, more fresh water and more craft breweries per capita than the Golden State.
Both the Michigan House and Senate have passed their own road funding plans after the colossal failure of Proposal 1. Both plans show that lawmakers have learned from that debacle.
The House proposal contains only a small tax hike on diesel, plus modest new assessments on electric, hybrid or “alternative” fuel vehicles (whose owners pay little or no gas tax). The rest of its new revenue for roads comes from earmarking a portion of future income tax revenue to road funding.
Michael D. LaFaive, director of the Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative at the Mackinac Center, has spent years studying the unintended effects of cigarette taxes. This week, he was quoted in an article for Reason looking at the overall impact of sin taxes.
A story in the July 20 edition of the Detroit Free Press exposed various city officials using personal email addresses to conduct city business. Although city policy prohibits the use of private accounts for confidential business, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said the cases in question did not involve confidential information.
By Jack McHugh
The Senate did not meet this week, while the House convened but took no votes. This week’s Roll Call Report again examines some more recent constitutional amendment proposals of general interest.
House Joint Resolution E: Establish part time legislature
By Jack McHugh
In the pre-dawn hours of Oct. 3, 2013, heavily armed deputies raided the homes of independent political activists across the state of Wisconsin who agreed with the government union reforms enacted by Gov. Scott Walker. The raids were to seize records related to political activities and were orchestrated by a partisan district attorney under color of two poorly drafted and misguided state statutes.
Click here to find the full results from our 2015 school privatization survey.
Thank you, Ronna, for that kind introduction. It is great to be back this year, and I’m excited to present insights and data from the Mackinac Center’s expanded survey research on competitive contracting by public schools.
Earlier this year, the Mackinac Center published the study Worker's Choice — a new concept that would allow workers to represent themselves if they wish to leave their union.
Director of Labor Policy F. Vincent Vernuccio recently published an article on the concept and how it relates to current Supreme Court and NLRB cases in Forbes:
It's easy to understand how Liz Roe, a mother sending her daughter to Utica Community Schools, became so frustrated. Liz had seen her daughter, Mia, struggle with reading since kindergarten. "My brother had dyslexia," Liz said, "So, I kind of recognized the flipping of words and numbers."
Earlier this year, the Mackinac Center published a study on Overcriminalization in Michigan with the Manhattan Institute. The report discussed ways to reduce spending on prisons and shrink the prison population without jeopardizing the health and safety of Michiganders. In June, the CAPPS Report reiterated the need for reform in Michigan, and an article discussing the issue was recently published in the Lansing State Journal.
After seven years of subsidizing the film industry, Michigan's movie incentive program is over. Taxpayers contributed a total of $450 million to the industry between 2008 and 2015.
Gov. Rick Snyder signed the bill eliminating the subsidies on July 10. As a long-time critic of the program, the Mackinac Center's James Hohman commented on the outcome in the Detroit Free Press:
By Jack McHugh
While the legislature is in a two week recess with no votes to report, the Roll Call Report examines some recent constitutional amendment proposals of general interest.
House Joint Resolutions A and K, and Senate Joint Resolution F: Repeal constitutional ban on graduated income tax
The Mackinac Center has joined with groups from across the political spectrum, including the ACLU of Michigan and FreedomWorks, to push back against Michigan's civil asset forfeiture laws.
Civil asset forfeiture is a practice that allows law enforcement to take possession of private property without charging the owner with a crime. Some states, as well as the federal government, have taken steps to curb this injustice in recent years, but Michigan's laws were recently rated a 'D' by FreedomWorks in a national survey of forfeiture laws.
