An Op-Ed in today’s Idaho Press-Tribune by Fiscal Policy Director Michael LaFaive and Adjunct Scholar Todd Nesbit explains why that state should not increase tobacco taxes. LaFaive and Nesbit have done extensive research, which you can read here and here, showing that increases in tobacco taxes increase cigarette smuggling and crime in states that do so.
General Motors is suspending production of the Chevy Volt and laying off about 1,300 workers while “seeking to align our production with demand,” according to the New York Post. The Post, the Tucson Citizen and The American Spectator all cite research by James Hohman, the Center’s assistant director of fiscal policy, showing that each Volt sold costs taxpayers up to $250,000 in tax subsidies.
Caps on the amount school districts can spend on employee health care premiums will save taxpayers millions of dollars and redirect money to the classroom — where it should be spent — to the benefit of students, according to an Op-Ed by Education Policy Director Michael Van Beek in Sunday’s Detroit Free Press.
Background from the first article in this series:
Thousands of home-based health care providers have been forced into a union because they receive assistance from the state while they take care of loved ones who are disabled. The Service Employees International Union receives close to $6 million annually in forced dues from this abusive arrangement.
MichiganVotes.org sends a weekly report to newspapers and TV stations around the state showing how state legislators in their service area voted on the most important or interesting bills of the past week.
Y = Yes, N = No, X = Not Voting
Senate Bill 971, Limit unionization of grad student research assistants: Passed 62 to 45 in the House
To establish that state university graduate students who work as research assistants are not considered government employees for purposes of enrolling them into a union, if their work terms do not meet an IRS "20 factor test" for employee status.
The Mackinac Center Legal Foundation has joined the Cato Institute and the National Federation of Independent Business in filing a joint amicus brief urging the United States Supreme Court to take the case of an Illinois woman who is forced to pay a portion of a Medicaid stipend she receives for caring for her quadriplegic brother in the form of “dues” to the SEIU.
Jack Spencer, capitol affairs specialist for Michigan Capitol Confidential, was a guest on "The Vic McCarty Show" Thursday on WMKT AM1270 in Traverse City, discussing the illegal, forced unionization of home health care aides and the millions of dollars in "dues" money the scheme has funneled to the SEIU.
For decades, individual teacher compensation levels in Michigan public schools have been set with no consideration of “outputs” — concrete measures of whether students actually learned anything. Instead, pay is based on various “inputs” with no proven relationship to student learning — government certifications, number of pedagogy degrees, years on the job, etc.
Background from the first article in this series:
Thousands of home-based health care providers have been forced into a union because they receive assistance from the state while they take care of loved ones who are disabled. The Service Employees International Union receives close to $6 million annually in forced dues from this abusive arrangement.
Labor Policy Director Paul Kersey in a Detroit News Op-Ed today questions the legitimacy of public-sector unions' concerns over Public Act 4, given their own history of undemocratic behavior.
Kersey points out that very few government union employees ever get a chance to actually vote for or against their union. He also addresses concerns about the emergency manager law in this recent blog post.
Senior Economist David Littmann appeared this morning on "The Tony Conley Show" on WILS AM1320 in Lansing to discuss his recent commentary on former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain's "9-9-9" tax reform plan.
Numerous papers and wire services are reporting that groups opposed to Public Act 4 have filed petitions containing about 225,000 signatures to have the law repealed, more than enough to see PA 4 placed on the fall election ballot. Like Wisconsin and Ohio, Michigan will now have its own high-stakes election over the power of government unions.
Facing a severe overspending problem, East Detroit Public Schools will try to increase revenue by attracting new students through a schools-of-choice program. The board recently agreed to open its doors to any student who lives nearby — unless, that is, the student lives in Detroit.
Michael LaFaive, director of the Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative, was a guest on "The Vic McCarty Show" today on WMKT 1270AM in Traverse City discussing a proposed ballot initiative that seeks to overturn the state's emergency manager law.
Paul Kersey, director of labor policy, also discussed the issue today on "The Tony Conley Show" on WILS 1320AM in Lansing.
Background from the first article in this series:
Thousands of home-based health care providers have been forced into a union because they receive assistance from the state while they take care of loved ones who are disabled. The Service Employees International Union receives close to $6 million annually in forced dues from this abusive arrangement.
At a campaign stop on Saturday, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said that if he is elected he will stop federal funding for passenger rail, including Amtrak.
“I like those things, I just think they have to be paid for by private funds, not by funds from China,” he said.
Background from the first article in this series:
Thousands of home-based health care providers have been forced into a union because they receive assistance from the state while they take care of loved ones who are disabled. The Service Employees International Union receives close to $6 million annually in forced dues from this abusive arrangement.
Michael LaFaive, director of the Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative, is cited in a Utica (N.Y.) Observer-Dispatch column today on why municipalities shouldn’t own golf courses.
“Golf courses are not assets municipalities need to own,” LaFaive said. “It’s the least necessary of the least necessary government services. If you have to choose, I’d say give up the golf course and not the cops.”
Labor Policy Director Paul Kersey was cited a Flint Journal story Sunday about the impact of the UAW on GM’s bankruptcy.
“How is it that a car company’s fate is being decided … by retiree health care programs?” Kersey asked. “Union-negotiated contracts and benefits really played a role” in the bankruptcy.
Background from the first article in this series:
Thousands of home-based health care providers have been forced into a union because they receive assistance from the state while they take care of loved ones who are disabled. The Service Employees International Union receives close to $6 million annually in forced dues from this abusive arrangement.
MichiganVotes.org sends a weekly report to newspapers and TV stations around the state showing how state legislators in their service area voted on the most important or interesting bills of the past week.
Y = Yes, N = No, X = Not Voting
Senate Bill 971, Limit unionization of grad student research assistants: Passed 26 to 12 in the Senate
To establish that state university graduate students who work as research assistants are not considered government employees for purposes of enrolling them into a union, if their work terms do not meet an IRS "20 factor test" for employee status.
Background from the first article in this series:
Thousands of home-based health care providers have been forced into a union because they receive assistance from the state while they take care of loved ones who are disabled. The Service Employees International Union receives close to $6 million annually in forced dues from this abusive arrangement.
Thousands of home-based health care providers have been forced into a union because they receive assistance from the state while they take care of loved ones who are disabled. The Service Employees International Union receives close to $6 million annually in forced dues from this abusive arrangement.
MLive recently discussed the controversial lawsuit between two Genesee county school districts, whose details remain confidential despite taxpayer money funding the legal fees. Director of Education Policy Michael Van Beek is quoted throughout the piece. "It's clearly tax dollars that are being used for these law suits," says Van Beek,"so any type of agreement or settlement should be open to public scrutiny."
The Feb. 21, 2012 Detroit News features an editorial in support of U-M graduate research assistants, represented by the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation, who wish to remain independent from a union. The Michigan Senate has introduced a bill, spearheaded by Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville, R-Monroe, that would protect the students from being labelled employees of the University and thus subject to unionization.
