Imagine a law that gave a government board the power to decide whether or not new grocery stores could be built, and whether existing ones could expand or install new equipment. For example, a law that forced the Meijer’s near your house to go through a complex and lengthy bureaucratic process before it could add some new freezer cases, and prove the new capacity wouldn’t drive up overall grocery prices.
In the Detroit News account of the faculty strike at Central Michigan University, one comment stood out. It comes from CMU Faculty Association President Laura Frey:
This take-it-or-leave-it attitude is what we’ve faced all along…We’ve filed unfair labor practice charges against the university, citing their refusal to bargain in good faith. This is why the faculty is not where they really want to be – with their students.
Faculty members at Central Michigan University who are demanding higher salary and benefits than the university is prepared to pay have voted to defy state law and go on strike. Here's how President Ronald Reagan famously dealt with another group of government employees who thought they were indispensable and above the law:
An Op-Ed by Michael LaFaive about how a newly appointed panel can help reform the state’s beer and wine laws appeared recently in the Shelby Township Advisor & Source.
LaFaive, director of the Center’s Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative, has written about the issue numerous times, including here, here and here.
No fewer than three Mackinac Center’s “Viewpoints” are featured on The Oakland Press editorial page today.
James Hohman, assistant director of fiscal policy, discusses the state’s underfunded pension liability for government employees, Labor Policy Director Paul Kersey explains how to fix public-sector union problems, and Education Policy Director Mike Van Beek lays out a case for more school choice in Michigan. Van Beek's piece also appeared in the Port Huron Times-Herald.
An oppressive regulatory regime that is hostile to creating jobs is holding back economic recovery in the state. Environmental rules and policies enforced by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality are especially effective in creating barriers to companies that would like to locate or expand in the state and create much needed jobs.
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. Because the legislature did not meet this week, rather than roll call vote results this report presents a sampling of recently proposed state laws.
A new paper from the Mercatus Center in Virginia provides more evidence for the relationship between high tax burdens and people showing their preference by voting with their feet. In this case, the people involved are those most likely to make job-producing investments in a community and state — rich people. The paper serves as a warning to state legislators that would like to tax just the wealthy.
The appointment by Gov. Rick Snyder of a new liquor advisory committee has raised hopes for some long overdue reforms in this state’s regulation of beer, wine and liquor distribution. Most people have little idea of how, among other things, this complex and archaic regulatory regime enriches a small handful of monopoly distributors at the expense of both consumers and taxpayers.
In the current edition of the Cato Journal, economist Dean Stansel looks back on three decades of population changes in American cities. Not surprisingly given its 25 percent population implosion between 2000 and 2010, Detroit is a poster child for cities in decline, and is featured in the article’s opening sentence.
Kudos to state Rep. Doug Geiss (D-Taylor), who wants to ease some of the regulatory burdens on Michigan’s hospitality industry. Among other things, he has introduced legislation to provide modest exceptions to a statewide smoking ban that restaurant owners and employees say is harming their livelihoods.
For nearly two decades the
A Kent County school district that was part of a lawsuit filed by the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation over illegal contract language has embraced privatization, according to The Grand Rapids Press.
The MCLF filed the suit in December 2010 against nine districts, the Kent County Intermediate School District and the Kent County Education Association teachers union over a “no privatization” clause in their collective bargaining agreements. Public Act 112 of 1994 made privatization of school support services exempt from contract negotiations.
Taxpayers will pay for two meals and a snack daily for every student in Detroit Public Schools, including those who do not qualify for federal subsidies, according to The Detroit News.
“I think there is a question if this is a good use of taxpayer money,” Mike Van Beek, director of education policy, told The News. “Under this program, it appears we would be subsidizing school lunches and meals to students who currently don’t qualify under the federal program.”
It seems control of every aspect of our lives is not limited to the prerogative of federal bureaucrats but is being taken to new heights by local government officials. According to Ann Arbor.com, Ann Arbor City Council members are considering fining motorists $100 for idling their vehicles — a normal condition of operating a car. Under the proposed ordinance, the fine could be levied for any vehicle left running while unoccupied or left running for five minutes while occupied. If you live in Ann Arbor, you might want to think twice about ordering a vehicle with remote start, as it would be against the law to use it.
Bloomberg News reports that the firm Evergreen Solar will file for bankruptcy and close its operation in Midland, Mich. The maker of solar cells cites over-capacity in the industry, competition from China and fewer government subsidies as contributing factors. According to Bloomberg, the firm has 133 employees worldwide.
A majority of public school districts in Michigan are privatizing noninstructional services, according to the Detroit Free Press.
Nearly 54 percent of districts statewide now outsource food, custodial or transportation services, up from 31 percent in 2001. Almost 65 percent of districts in southeast Michigan do so, the Free Press reported. Only 48 percent of districts in mid-Michigan do so, according to The Flint Journal. The Journal also reported that 13 of 21 school districts in Genesee County, or 62 percent, contract out for at least one support service.
(Editor's note: This post was originally published Aug. 3, 2010.)
The Michigan Education Association has such a monopolistic stranglehold on unionizing public school teachers that most teachers don't even know that they can resign their union membership and become an "agency fee payer." The MEA has worked hard to limit teachers' rights to do just this, and currently the month of August is the only timeframe the union allows for members to resign.
A new column by Walter Williams in FrontPage Magazine comparing President Barack Obama to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt cites the work of two Mackinac Center scholars.
“Great Myths of the Great Depression,” written by President Emeritus Lawrence W. Reed, and “New Deal or Raw Deal,” written by Burton Folsom Jr., senior follow in economic education, are both used to show the similarities between the Obama administration and FDR’s propensity for creating overspending crises, raising taxes and increasing regulation.
School districts around Michigan are complaining about reductions in state aid, and many are responding by cutting extracurricular programs and rolling back their course offerings.
But at Oxford Community Schools, things look very different. This district is adding new programs, expanding the breadth of its curriculum, and eliminating "pay-to-play" fees for athletics. A large part of their success is their ability to successfully leverage technology and online learning to grow the district and offer students a more individualized, flexible and exciting learning option.
The Independent Women’s Voice organization has published a useful document called Your ObamaCare August Recess Guide - The Knowledge You Need, The Questions to Ask. It asks and provides some answers to these five questions:
The third question, “How will ObamaCare change my health care?” briefly describes how the law will affect your health insurance, your relationship with your doctor and coverage that may or may not be available from your employer. Here are a couple excepts:
An Op-Ed in Sunday’s Detroit Free Press by Patrick Wright, director of the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation, praises the Michigan Employment Relations Commission for making the correct decision in blocking an attempt to illegally unionize graduate student research assistants at the University of Michigan, but calls on the Legislature to clarify that “private contractors cannot be unionized as public employees even if they receive indirect state subsidies.”
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. Because the legislature did not meet this week, rather than roll call vote results this report presents a sampling of recently proposed state laws.
From MichiganVotes.org:
2011 Senate Bill 570: Allow certain log wall construction
Introduced by Sen. Michael Green, R-Mayville, to explicitly allow residential construction containing log walls if they meet requirements specified in the bill, including minimum average thickness of five inches, comply with “International Code Council standard ICC 400-2007,” and the “area weighted average u-factor for fenestration products in the log walls is a maximum of 0.31.”
New mandates flying out of the offices of the EPA in Washington will have profound impacts on the future vehicles we drive and how much we pay for personal transportation and the cost of transporting goods. First to arrive from the Obama administration was the doubling of the CAFE standard for light trucks and automobiles, followed by the recently announced mandated 15 percent increase in efficiency for large trucks and 18-wheelers.
