Labor Policy Director F. Vincent Vernuccio was cited in both the Los Angeles Times and The New York Times this week about union political spending Proposal 2, a union-backed initiative that would impact some 170 state laws and cost taxpayers at least $1.6 billion annually.
Just before the 2010 election, an article published here predicted that 88 percent of newly elected state legislators could fairly be described as “political careerists.” In that article a “political careerist” was in-part defined as someone who had been immersed in government before running for the Legislature. Follow-up research put the final tally at 86 percent: 70 of the 81 new lawmakers elected fit the “political careerist” definition.
For most school districts, value is placed highest on teacher seniority. In fact, nearly all teacher union contracts require that layoff, recall and placement decisions be made strictly by seniority. But oddly, several districts appear to value union bosses the most.
Michigan public schools have 4.2 percent more students than in 1992, but the number of non-teaching school employees is up 19.1 percent, an increase that’s four times larger.
The number of teachers here grew 14.2 percent in that time, more than three times larger. The figures are from a just-released study by the Friedman Foundation, a national education reform group, and come from data provided by the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics.
Proposal 3, the renewable energy standard, would constitutionally require Michigan power companies to get 25 percent of the electricity they sell from wind, solar, biomass and hydro by the year 2025. In a direct challenge to the laws of economics, the supporters say it will create jobs and can truly cap rate increases at 1 percent.
The Michigan Press Association has joined the Mackinac Center in expressing concern over the impact Proposal 2 could have on Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act, according to the Detroit Free Press.
The MPA and the Center issued a joint press release on the matter Tuesday.
Derk Wilcox, senior attorney with the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation, participated in a live chat hosted by the Detroit Free Press about Proposal 4 on Tuesday. Wilcox authored the Center’s recent policy brief on Proposal 4, which would enshrine in the state constitution a scheme to force home-based caregivers into a government union. This ploy so far has allowed the SEIU to skim more than $32 million in “dues” from family members who provide care for their loved ones.
Fewer students are graduating on time under Michigan's tougher graduation requirements.
In 2006, the state Legislature passed a law that specified and dramatically increased the number of courses high school students needed to take to graduate. Under the Michigan Merit Curriculum, students are now required to take four credits of math, four credits of language arts, three credits of science and three credits of social studies, along with a few other credits in miscellaneous subjects.
If the constitutional ballot initiative Proposal 2 was merely about establishing the "right" to collectively bargain, it would stop after the first section.
That section reads, “The people shall have the right to organize … and to bargain collectively with a public or private employer through an exclusive representative of the employees’ choosing, to the fullest extent not preempted by the laws of the United States.”
According to a new analysis from the American Community Survey, published by Slate magazine in collaboration with the New America Foundation, in 2010 Michigan had the fourth largest pay disparity between women and men at 62 cents for every dollar, respectively. With neither a regard for employment type and qualification nor the unprecedented unemployment in Michigan, this study can be considered just another propaganda piece for the partisan “War on Women.”
The House did not meet this week. The Senate met for one day.
Y = Yes, N = No, X = Not Voting
Senate Bill 1293, Repeal BCBS tax exemption, regulate like other insurers: Passed 33 to 4 in the Senate
To convert Blue Cross Blue Shield into a “nonprofit mutual insurance company” (technically "owned" by the policy holders), make it subject to the same regulations as regular health insurers, and no longer exempt BCBS from state and local taxes. The bill requires BCBS to spend $1.5 billion in accumulated reserves over 18 years to augment government health programs.
Note: Under the federal “Affordable Care Act” (“Obamacare”) the “social mission” of being the “insurer of last resort” which was the rationale for this insurer's tax-exempt status no longer applies, since all insurance companies would be subject to similar "guaranteed issue" mandates.
In the Detroit Free Press recently, two opposing views about Proposal 4 — the home-based caregivers constitutional amendment — were published, but only one was factually correct.
The article opposing the union power grab was written by Robert and Patricia Haynes and laid out the position they have been forced into. The article in support of the proposal is from Dohn Hoyle, who is Prop 4 spokesman and executive director of The Arc Michigan (and last seen calling Robert Haynes an "idiot"). Hoyle's column is wrong on every single point raised.
About 80 percent of teacher contracts ratified in the last two years do not base compensation on performance, despite a 2010 bill signed into law by Gov. Jennifer Granholm requiring it, Education Policy Director Michael Van Beek told Frank Beckmann on WJR AM760 today.
LG Chem, a battery company based in Holland, Mich., received a $151 million grant through the federal “stimulus” program and another $100 million in promised credits from Michigan taxpayers. Today, the company faces “rolling furloughs” and reports that workers are sitting around playing cards and reading magazines because “there’s nothing to do.”
Does Michigan really need more unelected government entities with the power to hand out corporate welfare? The backers of Senate Bill 1301 seem to think so. The bill would expand the power of government “port authorities” to borrow and engage in “economic development” activities. It is sponsored or cosponsored by Republican Sens. Mike Kowall, Tom Casperson (who chairs the Transportation committee), Mike Nofs, Patrick Colbeck and Mike Green, and Democrat Virgil Smith. (If there is any area where bipartisanship truly shines in the Michigan Legislature, it’s corporate welfare, expansions of which are routinely passed with barely a handful of “no” votes.)
"Positive rights" and "negative rights" are the confusing terms applied to the types of individual rights recognized under different forms of government.
The U.S. Constitution recognizes the "negative" right of individuals to be free from government restrictions on what we can say, what church we attend, who we associate with, and more. These rights can't be taken away from a person even if a majority of citizens vote to do so.
Importantly, the government doesn't have to do anything for you to exercise these rights — it just has to not do anything that infringes your free exercise of them. That's why they're called "negative" rights. (They are also called "non-rivalous" rights, because every person can exercise them at the same time without diminishing anyone else’s ability to do so).
Apparently there is a limit to Grosse Pointe's crackdown on nonresident students. This week, the Grosse Pointe school board voted down a proposal to require all students to submit a notarized affidavit of residency every year.
According to MLive, board member Brendan Walsh said that the proposed requirement would discourage people from moving into the district. He said:
As someone closely attuned to state politics and policy, I am often asked by friends and family for advice on votes for judges, who are chosen in nonpartisan elections (meaning there is no “R” or “D” after the person’s name on the ballot). Here is what I say:
A lawsuit has been filed against the Kent County Land Bank, claiming that it violated state law. At issue is the recent move by Kent County officials to block vacant properties from sale, and instead transfer them directly to the land bank.
The Kent County Land Bank requested that more than 40 vacant properties be blocked from sale for reasons such as "...[keeping] undesirable business out of neighborhoods," and "[funding] the Land Bank."
State and local media are turning to the Mackinac Center for analysis of the announcement that A123 Systems declared bankruptcy today.
Fox News, MLive and Instapundit all cite Jarrett Skorup on the failed electric car battery maker that received hundreds of millions of dollars in corporate welfare.
Last July, the Mackinac Center published the "The Michigan Public High School Context and Performance Report Card." It offers a fresh look at how well high schools are actually performing academically by taking into account the impact that student poverty has on standardized test scores. It was reported on about 40 different times by a variety of media outlets.
Electric car battery-maker A123 Systems has filed for bankruptcy, according to Bloomberg News.
The company was promoted heavily by President Barack Obama and Michigan politicians and received hundreds of millions of dollars through federal “stimulus” and Michigan Economic Development Corp. programs. Earlier this year, Michigan Capitol Confidential uncovered a video of these politicians promising “hundreds” and “thousands” of jobs – the video was eventually taken down by the MEDC but saved by CapCon.
If Proposal 1 passes, it would keep Public Act 4 of 2011 in place and continue to give the state options for helping municipalities and school districts that face insolvency, Assistant Director of Fiscal Policy James Hohman told the Oakland Press and Southgate News-Herald. His Op-Ed explaining the measure can be found in the Detroit Legal News.
When members of the Michigan Employee Relations Commission (MERC) allowed the forced unionization of home-based caregivers in 2005, they seemed to know their role. But when the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation asked for a declaratory ruling to reverse that decision, the commissioners began searching for their job descriptions.
About 80 percent of school districts that have ratified new teachers contracts since January 2010 are ignoring a law signed by Gov. Jennifer Granholm at that time requiring merit pay to be a “significant” factor in determining compensation, according to MLive. That information comes from an analysis by Education Policy Director Michael Van Beek released Monday.
