D. Joseph Olson, co-founder and chairman of the board of the Mackinac Center, is profiled in this recent story from the Livingston Daily Press & Argus that details the beginnings of the Center and its work to promote free-market theories and individual liberty for more than two decades.
The Lansing State Journal reports that federal taxpayers will provide Michigan State University with a $950,000 grant to help produce a new economic development ‘toolbox’ for the 21st century. The spending is questionable, because as the Mackinac Center and others have documented, there is in fact nothing new under the economic development sun. Reviews by economists generally show that development programs typically fail to work as advertised.
Senior Legislative Analyst Jack McHugh, in a Sunday Op-Ed in the Detroit Free Press, said state legislators should not be in a rush to create an Obamacare-type health exchange for Michigan.
McHugh said creating such an exchange now would undermine the lawsuit filed by Michigan and 25 other states against the federal law, among other reasons.
Paul Kersey, director of labor policy, writes in a blog post today at the website of WJBK-TV2 in Detroit that left-of-center groups planning an “Occupy Detroit” rally today should instead take responsibility of the city’s problems. The piece was picked up today by Drudge Report.
The Macomb Daily reports that a local Tea Party group has used a free voting record “scorecard” tool on the MichiganVotes.org website to rate all state legislators on the basis of their votes on “core Tea Party issues.” The MichiganVotes scorecard feature can be used by any individual or group to create their own ratings. It automatically fills in the “yes” and “no” votes of all 110 state House and 38 state Senate members on bills selected by a user, and calculates a score based on the user’s definition of which vote is “correct.”
Al Gore was in Detroit recently to proclaim that he has acquired profound knowledge that all things related to the Great Lakes are the result of man caused global warming. Speaking to 500 of the faithful at Wayne State University, the former vice president did not limit his remarks to the Great Lakes, but also blamed recent weather-related disasters around the world on global warming. According to a report in the Detroit Free Press, Gore is convinced that weather-related events from downpours in Pakistan and Columbia to wildfires in Australia and drought in Texas are evidence of the looming climate crisis.
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.
Senate Bill 703, Add restrictions to importing lions, tigers and bears: Passed 38 to 0 in the Senate
To prohibit importing or attempting to import a large carnivore into the state, including lions, tigers and bears, without a permit authorized by the bill, which among other things requires a microchip identification to be implanted under the animal’s skin.
As Michigan legislators debate whether to pass an Obamacare “exchange” that risks entrenching the Patient Protection and Affordability Act, there’s new evidence of how the law will do the very opposite of “bending down the health care cost curve,” as proponents claim. Writing in Forbes, Pacific Research Institute President Sally Pipes reports:
There is an idea being discussed in Lansing that might actually make state government more accountable. The idea of allowing the governor to appoint 1 percent of the top administrators in state government was raised in the Reforms, Restructuring, and Reinvention Committee by Rep. Dave Robertson, R-Grand Blanc Township, according to the MIRS news service. Delegates to the Constitutional Convention in 1961 limited the number of unclassified employees in each department.
An Op-Ed in today’s Detroit News cites Russ Harding, senior environmental policy analyst, regarding Gov. Rick Snyder’s approach to regulatory reform.
“As I talk to businesses around the state, which I do frequently, this, to many businesses, is the No. 1 issue,” Harding told The News. “And it’s not getting much attention.”
An organization with close ties to government employee unions is trumpeting pronouncements by a university “labor studies” department (that’s also closely aligned with unions), claiming the unionization of government employees has “no link” with state “deficits.”
Mike LaFaive, director of the Center’s Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative, told The Saginaw News today that proposed legislation placing an asset limit on people receiving welfare makes sense.
“It’s difficult to object to asset limits on assistance since the whole idea is to help low-income people,” LaFaive said. “It’s perfectly reasonable to ask people to reach into their own wealth first.”
The Wall Street Journal today details a new report by the U.S. Labor Department's Office of Inspector General, which found that $162.8 million spent to "train and prepare individuals for careers in green jobs” enabled just 8,035 Americans to find jobs, of whom "only 1,033 were still in the job after six months."
Mackinac Center President Joseph G. Lehman writes in a recent Grand Rapids Press Op-Ed that the Legislature should resist the temptation to make recall elections more difficult for voters to undertake.
“Recall elections aren’t intended to allow removal of officials for certain reasons only,” Lehman said. “Recall elections are intended to allow the people themselves, not just the Legislature, to directly remove officials between elections.”
A story in Bloomberg today cites a Mackinac Center study that showed a 1997 change in Michigan’s state employee pension plans saved taxpayers as much as $4.3 billion in unfunded liability.
By Jack McHugh
Well, they did it. After years of posturing and gamesmanship, both houses of Michigan’s Legislature have finally voted on the same bill to repeal a wart that's irritated this state’s body politic at least since the 1992 term limits amendment: Extremely generous health insurance benefits for former lawmakers starting at age 55.
The political class in Washington has decided that electric vehicles are the future of automobiles in this country. Manufacturers are more than happy to comply, provided that the federal government lavishes taxpayer-funded subsidies on them in the form of grants to build the new vehicles and generous tax credits for purchase of the electronic wonders. Two of the latest offerings from automakers are the Chevrolet Volt, a $40,000 electric version of the Chevrolet Cruz, and the Nissan Leaf, a vehicle that will leave you stranded if your trip is much more than 100 miles.
Senate Bill 618, which passed 20-18 in the Michigan Senate Thursday, would among other things remove the arbitrary cap of 150 charter public schools that can be authorized by universities. During debate, Sen. Hoon-Yung Hopgood, D-Taylor, offered an amendment that would essentially require charter schools to demonstrate student achievement 20 percent higher than the conventional public schools in the districts where charters are located.
Last week Rep. Jim Stamas, R-Midland, introduced legislation to eliminate the requirements that force teachers to complete additional college courses to retain the teacher certification mandated by the state. Removing such requirements would be a good idea for a number of reasons.
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.
Senate Bill 618, Eliminate charter school cap, allow "privatized" teachers: Passed 20-18 in the Senate
To eliminate the cap of 150 on the number of charter schools that can be chartered by universities, and allow all community colleges to authorize charters outside their regular district. Also, to allow school districts to contract out the employment of teachers meeting the same qualifications. The bill would also allow charters to operate the same grade levels at multiple sites, exempt charter schools from property tax, and more.
By Jack McHugh
At a hearing Thursday of the Michigan House Health Policy Committee, Blue Cross Blue Shield and other insurance industry lobbyists pleaded for fast action on creating a state Obamacare “exchange.” Given their point of view, their desire for an accelerated timetable is understandable: As businesspeople, they hope to gain some certainty over Obamacare's endless details. The haste of employees at the Michigan Department of Community Health is similarly understandable, and at this time, they have the ear of Gov. Rick Snyder.
A proposed "right-to-teach" bill has been introduced in the Michigan Senate by Sens. Arlan Meekhof, Phil Pavlov and Randy Richardville. Unfortunately, the bill may backfire because it focuses too much on the MEA.
A broad right-to-work law, in which all employees throughout the state would have the freedom to choose for themselves whether to support a union, would clearly be best for Michigan. Still, there is an entirely reasonable case to be made for starting with teachers in the public schools: Teachers are professionals, and their craft is especially ill-suited to industrial unionism. The need for reform in public education is especially pressing.
The Mackinac Center hosted a panel discussion in Lansing Wednesday titled “The Future of Unionized Government,” which you can watch here.
Paul Kersey, director of labor policy, appeared on both WILS and WJR ahead of the forum to discuss the issue.
It looks like there will be more financial bleeding of federal tax money for green energy projects. As if the bankruptcy of the ill-fated Solyndra solar plant weren’t enough, now a government-backed geothermal plant in Nevada seems headed for insolvency.
While Gov. Rick Snyder and some GOP legislators are using the reassuring language of a modest “Heritage Foundation-type” or “Utah-type” health insurance “exchange” to advance legislation, the Snyder administration is requesting strings-attached Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act grants that increasingly commit the state to something very different: a full-blown “Obamacare exchange.” The latter is not really an exchange at all, but rather the agency through which PPACA’s mandates, subsidies, regulations and rationing will be imposed.
