Gov. Whitmer wants more college graduates in Michigan. It’s not clear how she wants to accomplish this, outside of a new scholarship. There’s one thing that clearly doesn’t work, however: blanketing state universities with more taxpayer spending.
There’s something broken in university finances, and more taxpayer dollars would only cover the problems instead of addressing them. State universities are already getting more money from taxpayers. They are budgeted to get $1.5 billion in the current fiscal year, 22 percent more than they did in 2012.
In 2018, two Detroit funeral homes made national news when they were found to be violating state laws and even improperly storing the remains of dozens of infants. Michigan’s licensing agency is suspending their licenses and attempting to permanently ban their operators from ever being licensed again. But these incidents demonstrate how limited licensing laws can be in protecting the public.
The Michigan Legislature is considering bills that would require law enforcement officials to secure a criminal conviction before taking ownership of private property through civil asset forfeiture. Some police and prosecutors are fighting hard against this important reform. Their critiques, however, paint a distorted picture of how forfeiture is actually used in Michigan.
By Jason Hayes
In her Feb. 12 State of the State speech, Gov. Whitmer claimed that climate change-induced extreme temperature swings were already endangering the health and well-being of Michigan residents. But a quick look at the science and at past temperature records indicates the governor’s warning may not be a cause for concern.
In a recent U.S. Supreme Court case, justices ruled unanimously that the U.S. Constitution’s prohibition on “excessive fines” applies to the states and the federal government. It can also be considered in cases of civil asset forfeiture.
The background of the case is that an Indiana man used an inherited life insurance policy to purchase a $42,000 Land Rover. He was later arrested and convicted of drug dealing. His criminal sentence carried a maximum fine of $10,000, but he ended up only paying $1,200 in fines. Despite the value of the vehicle exceeding this maximum amount, and the man showing how he was able to purchase it with funds that were not connected to his criminal activity, law enforcement officials took ownership of his vehicle anyway. The court ruled that this was grossly disproportionate to his offense and violated the Eighth Amendment.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is currently reviewing the state business subsidy program known as the Texas Enterprise Fund, and he wants money back from companies that don’t create as many jobs as promised. But an article on his review includes an interesting comment. “The enterprise fund is widely considered the largest deal-closing incentive fund in the country, [emphasis added] meaning it’s designed to provide the final carrot that swings a decision on a corporate relocation or expansion.”
By Jack McHugh
Senate Bill 2, Require conviction for seized property ownership forfeiture: Passed 36 to 2 in the Senate
In her recent State of the State address, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer rightly pointed out that Michigan needs to spend more money on roads.
Gov. Whitmer said, “By one estimate, the vehicle damage from Michigan roads costs the average motorist $562 a year in repairs. … That’s money that could go toward child care, rent, college tuition, or retirement savings.”
In her first State of the State address Tuesday, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer made no mention of the state’s criminal justice system. With millions of Michiganders potentially affected by the system, there’s much to be said about it, and why criminal justice reform should be high on the list of state priorities.
There have been bills introduced to repeal the state’s so-called pension tax ever since it was first enacted in 2011. Revisiting and possible repealing it is viewed as a potential area of bipartisan agreement. It’s unsurprising since a lot of people were affected by the tax.
Union membership continued its long-term downward trend — declining again in 2018. At the same time, the number of jobs across the nation increased as well as household income.
This information comes from the U.S. Department of Labor in its annual report. Union members declined by 0.2 percentage points — from 10.7 percent of the workforce to 10.5 percent. Other data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the U.S. has continued to gain jobs, adding 2.4 million in 2018 and with average weekly earnings up 3.0 percent — well above the rate of inflation.
By Holly Wetzel
The latest Global Think Tank Report has been released and it ranks the Mackinac Center for Public Policy as the 85th best policy institute in the United States, putting it among the top 5 percent in the nation.
The report, produced by the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program of the Lauder Institute at the University of Pennsylvania, ranks 8,162 think tanks worldwide — 1,872 of which are in the United States. The report classifies a think tank as “public-policy research analysis and engagement organizations that generate policy-oriented research, analysis, and advice on domestic and international issues, thereby enabling policy makers and the public to make informed decisions about public policy."
For decades, Michigan lawmakers have voted in a bipartisan manner to give taxpayer dollars to select corporations. The nature and scope of these programs have changed, but one consistent theme remains: they rarely create the jobs politicians promise they will.
By Jack McHugh
The Michigan Municipal League regularly makes the case that the state government should transfer more money to municipal governments. But MML Communications Director Matt Bach overstated one point when he said, “Across the country, Michigan ranks 50th — DEAD LAST — in investing in its communities since 2002.”
Editor's note: This article originally appeared in The Detroit News on January 29, 2019.
Last June the Supreme Court overturned years of legal precedent and effectively granted states greater taxing powers over transactions that involve out-of-state retailers. The Supreme Court’s decision in this case, known as South Dakota v. Wayfair, makes it easier for Michigan’s Treasury to raise revenue — an estimated $200 million-plus per year, according to published estimates. Yet taking advantage of this “opportunity” means pulling more taxes from the wallets of Michigan taxpayers while imposing job-killing compliance burdens on small and medium-sized businesses that sell products online.
By Kahryn Riley
Editor's note: This article originally appeared in The Hill on January 18, 2019.
It’s said that the punishment ought to fit the crime, but that adage is coming undone now that having a criminal record has become a lifelong sentence for millions of Americans. One reason: Technology has made it easier than ever to access public records. As a result, individuals whose crimes were minor, are decades old, or both, nevertheless face a stigma that could harm their employment and education prospects until they die. This is bad for public safety and for the workforce, but a simple policy change could correct the problem.
By Jack McHugh
Get used to it.
Last night, Gov. Whitmer and Consumers Energy used the state’s emergency warning system to request that Michigan residents curtail their use of natural gas. The warning paired with DTE’s request that its customers voluntarily reduce their electric use during this period of extreme cold. Winter cold has hit the nation with a vengeance, reminding us of the value of reliable, affordable fossil fuels, as well as the dangers of the green special interest demands that we jettison these fuels from our energy options.
The new year has ushered in fresh opportunities to solve the pressing issues of our times. Criminal justice reform is no exception, especially given the increased attention it has received lately from organizations across the political spectrum.
It’s also a time to reflect on what has brought us here. Free-market advocates may approach this new ground uneasily, feeling that even the phrase “criminal justice reform” carries leftist social-justice connotations that aren’t wholly palatable. Though liberals have primarily carried the torch on this issue historically, the reform effort has now evolved and includes trustworthy partners and time-worthy issues that conservatives and libertarians can and should care deeply about.
The Office of the Auditor General today released its audit on the state’s Michigan Business Development Program, a corporate subsidy initiative of the Snyder administration. The audit found that the program gave out money for what might be phantom jobs and overstated its economic impacts. The MBDP should be closed completely, and its resources redirected to some higher priority, such as road infrastructure.
By Jason Hayes
Editor's note: This article originally appeared in The Hill on January 11, 2019.
On Dec. 6, the EPA proposed revising a 2015 Obama administration regulation that effectively outlawed construction of coal-fired power plants in the United States. In its new form, the rule would help extract the federal government from its role of selecting winners and losers in electricity generation. But it will not, as some groups fear, guarantee that new coal plants will be built.
Last week, The Guardian, a United Kingdom-based news organization, published an article that cherry-picked language from a 2015 U.S. government report that referenced our cigarette smuggling research.
Nearly four years ago, the government report’s description of our study and its findings seemed too trivial to mount any public explanation of it. Indeed, it read to us like a standard operating statement by scholars who felt compelled to explain why their results were different from others. It’s common for the authors of a scholarly article to compare various models, explain how their modeling choices affect how they discuss the issue at hand, and note how their findings differ from other recent studies. The authors of the government study did all this, and we enjoyed their contribution to the scholarship on cigarette taxes and smuggling, and we have cited their study many times in our subsequent work.
By Ben DeGrow
A new education funding report from Michigan State University made a splash in media outlets last week. Multiple headlines and stories declared the state in a freefall of dollars dedicated to Michigan's public schools. The real story is far less dramatic and devastating. In fact, Michigan ranks near the middle nationally in per-pupil funding.
By Jason Hayes
Electric Vehicles are hip and happening. Media reports gush over auto manufacturer plans to transition their fleets to EV production in an alleged response to growing grassroots and public demand. When asked, hybrid and battery electric vehicle advocates and owners proudly state their love for their vehicles. But when you dig into the details, you find more to the story than just growing consumer demand.
