Michigan is faced with a financial crisis due to a projected budget overspending crisis approaching $2 billion for this fiscal year. It is understandable that a newly elected governor and Legislature are preoccupied with stopping the fiscal bleeding. Republican leaders are arguing that the state budget can be balanced with spending cuts. Democratic leaders are arguing that spending cuts alone are too drastic and will result in an unacceptable reduction in state services and that cuts must be accompanied by revenue increases – political speak for tax increases.
Michigan’s local governments face fiscal challenges in 2011. The state already has a pretty good policy in dealing with its local units as their finances are stressed, but this policy should be improved in a few ways so that local governments continue to be solvent as taxable property values fall and spending pressures increase.
Saginaw County officials have quietly buried a previously scheduled vote to repeal its “prevailing wage” ordinance for construction projects costing more than $50,000. Prevailing wage laws prohibit granting a government contract to the lowest bidder unless the company pays above-market, “union-scale” wages. In addition to state and federal prevailing wage laws, around 30 local governments across Michigan have their own version.
An editorial in today’s Detroit News that calls on Gov. Rick Snyder to reform Michigan’s regulatory regime cites a recent study by Russ Harding, senior environmental analyst, titled “Environmental Regulation in Michigan: A Blueprint for Reform.”
Among Harding’s proposals that The News cited were creating an agency independent from the DNR and DEQ to handle permit applications and an assurance to businesses that those applications will be treated in a timely manner.
In his first executive order, Gov. Rick Snyder has split the Department of Natural Resources and Environment back into two separate agencies. His action restores the organization of state government dealing with natural resources and the environment into two separate agencies; recreating the Departments of Environmental Quality and Natural Resources.
Today is the deadline for the Michigan Department of Human Services to file a brief in Loar v. DHS, according to WHMI in Livingston County.
The Mackinac Center Legal Foundation filed an appeal to the Michigan Supreme Court after a second, terse rejection from the Michigan Court of Appeals, in an attempt to stop the illegal, forced unionization of 40,000 home-based day care providers.
Senior Economist David Littmann will be the keynote speaker for the Howell Area Chamber of Commerce’s annual Economic Forecast breakfast on Jan. 11, according to the Livingston Daily Press & Argus.
Littmann will present his outlook for 2011, including state and national trends, the Press & Argus reported. One area Littmann will discuss is rising gasoline prices, which he told The Detroit News could send the country into a recession in a repeat of the 1974 oil crisis.
The Michigan Supreme Court gave all private property owners in the state a belated Christmas gift with a ruling handed down on Dec. 29, 2010, that reaffirms that landowners in Michigan still have private property rights. Voting 4-3, the Michigan Supreme Court reversed the 2000 Baum Family Trust v. Babel appellate court decision regarding riparian property rights along Lake Charlevoix. Justices Markman, Kelly, Corrigan and Young voted with the majority, while justices Davis, Cavanagh and Hathaway dissented.
Adjunct Scholar John Graham writes in a Free Press Op-Ed today about what steps Michigan can take to help defeat ObamaCare.
Other Mackinac Center analysts have written about this issue here, here and here.
Education Policy Director Mike Van Beek is quoted in today’s Detroit News editorial on how to accelerate school reform in Michigan.
Van Beek points to states that have put an end to “social promotion” as something Michigan should emulate, as well at a law that allows parents to take over failing schools. Van Beek also noted that the way teachers are “evaluated and compensated” is important.
Of all the funds spent on “instruction” in
The data comes from the
(Editor’s note: This item originally appeared as an e-mail alert from the John Locke Foundation on Jan. 3, 2011.)
Incoming Florida Gov. Rick Scott and Yale Professor Jacob Hacker offer two visions of the future of American health care. Scott is focused on the immediate problem that Medicaid is killing state budgets, and says block grants with more individual control of their dollars is the best way to go. The alternative is a program that is unsustainable even before ObamaCare (witness Texas), and ripe for Constitutional review.
Stephen Moore's interview with Gov. Scott is worth reading:
In an article in The Detroit News, Michigan Sen. Vincent Gregory, D-Southfield, states that government workers get generous health and pension benefits in lieu of bonuses, apparently implying that the two offset. Thankfully, there are data on the issue to check his theory.
A new year causes most folks to decide on their resolutions for the coming year. Rather than setting in stone resolutions, which will no doubt be broken by mid-January, I try to use this time to count the blessings I have received during the past year. Reflecting on all the good in my life is a humbling experience each and every time.
The Detroit News reports today that Gov. Rick Snyder will address the disparity in public-sector benefits as a way to help solve Michigan’s overspending crisis.
Mackinac Center analysts have pegged public-sector benefits at about $5.7 billion a year higher than those in the private-sector. More information can be found here and here.
WJSM in Benton Harbor, WCXT in St. Joseph, MIRS and the Lansing State Journal are reporting that the Michigan Supreme Court let stand a lower court’s ruling in a key case involving the Freedom of Information Act.
Voters in the U.S. generally recognize that political gridlock is better than one-party rule — a judgment that seems lost on the ruling class. Since the founding of our country, Americans have been mistrustful of government — especially a distant centralized government that dictates how they should live their lives. Liberty seems to be implanted into the genes of most Americans. We recognize that a too-powerful government is a threat to liberty, and government is most powerful when it is ruled by one party. The damage that can be done to liberty by one-party rule was on national display when democrats in Congress rammed Obmacare through against the will of the American people.
In a series of opinion editorials, outgoing Gov. Jennifer Granholm has painted an extremely rosy picture of the state that led the nation in unemployment for a sizable chunk of her term. Her newest article is no exception to this rule, so a reality check is in order.
Decisions made in Washington that affect every aspect of the lives of Americans, from the kind of cars we can drive to what type of light bulb we can put in our homes, are increasingly being made by individuals that never stand for election. This regulation without representation has concentrated power in the executive branch of the federal government where countless bureaucrats write reams of regulations that not only interpret existing federal law but also add new requirements that were never contemplated by lawmakers in Congress.
The Detroit Free Press, Lansing State Journal, The Port Huron Times-Herald, The Flint Journal. the Battle Creek Enquirer, Mlive.com and The Saginaw News all reported on the “Missed Votes Report” assembled by MichiganVotes.org. There were 23 legislators who did not miss a vote during the 2009-2010 session, and 18 who missed more than 100 votes each.
Putting more information online and requiring fewer written reports would help increase Michigan government’s transparency and accountability, according to one Mackinac Center analyst.
Ken Braun, director of the Center’s “Show Michigan The Money” project, told The Detroit News that the state “should put more raw data online,” and “produce fewer but much more useful and high quality reports.”
While it is always risky making predictions, this one is a slam dunk: The Chevrolet Volt will win the North American Car of the Year award at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit next month. Unfortunately we seem to live in a world where objective analysis has given way to political correctness, which is why I am confident regarding my prediction.
If a person sits through Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s video portrait, they might think that she is interested and aware of her economic development programs. She spends nearly the entire production on her efforts to foster job creation. Unfortunately, a recent MIRS interview (subscription required) shows that she is blind to the failures of the programs she supports.
Outgoing
Saugatuck Township officials are willing to bankrupt the township to stop a development along Lake Michigan, according to an article appearing in The Wall Street Journal. Aubrey McClendon, co-owner of pro basketball’s Oklahoma City Thunder, fell in love with the area near Saugatuck while vacationing there with his wife about 10 years ago and purchased about 400 acres of mostly undeveloped dunes for $39.5 million in 2006. He would like to develop a planned community with a hotel, marina, condos and homes.
