By Ben DeGrow
U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos returned home recently to deliver the keynote address at the Acton Institute’s 27th anniversary dinner gala.
DeVos made clear to the large Grand Rapids audience what motivates her education policy views, a vision that is more popular among the nation’s moms and dads than it is among the officials and bureaucrats who run the system. “I came into office with this core belief: It is the inalienable right and responsibility of parents to choose the learning environment that best meets their child’s individual needs,” she said.
By Jack McHugh
House Bill 4805, Ban imposing “educational development plan” on home school students: Passed 101 to 5 in the House
To prohibit officials from requiring the parents of a homeschooled student who is enrolled in a public school part time and taking some public school classes (including "virtual" or online classes) to file an “educational development plan” with a public school district. These plans often but not necessarily apply to public school students who are falling behind.
Two competing proposals have been introduced in the Michigan House that would reform auto insurance in this state. The first is a hefty bill that would substantially change current laws, leading to more choices and lower premiums for drivers. The second is a package of 11 bills that also contains some cost-savings components but, on the whole, may actually make auto insurance even more expensive.
The U.S. Supreme Court recently announced that it will hear the case of Janus v. AFSCME. The decision will determine whether millions of government workers around the nation can be forced to pay money to unions or whether they will be able to stop, essentially guaranteeing right-to-work for all public sector workers in the country.
Some local government officials have gotten their governments into a mess and cannot get out without help. They’ve promised retiree medical insurance to unionized employees and did not set aside money to pay for it. This pushed the costs of yesterday to today, stretching finances thin. The state government can help deal with this fiscal issue.
By Ben DeGrow
A recent column by an intermediate school district official resurrects the specter of a Michigan teacher shortage crisis. While evidence for a widespread shortage is itself in short supply, local and state education officials have the tools to address local challenges.
By Jack McHugh
Senate Bill 609, Repeal 'driver responsibility fees' and give partial amnesty: Passed 37 to 0 in the Senate
To repeal the driver responsibility fees (“bad driver tax”) that are assessed for various traffic violations, effective Sept. 30, 2018. Individuals who lost their driver's license for nonpayment of these fees could get it back (on payment of a $125 fee). Fees that have been owed for more than six years would be forgiven, but not more recent ones. These very expensive fees were originally adopted in 2003 to increase state revenues.
Michigan cities and towns could do with more competition in the types of piping used for infrastructure development and upgrades. Currently, Detroit, East Lansing and Grand Rapids, among others, have limited upgrade options to a single material: ductile iron. This keeps competitors like polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, out of the market and could increase infrastructure costs for Michigan taxpayers.
A package of bills introduced in the Michigan House would limit fees, streamline permits and generally make it easier for internet providers to offer high-speed connections. It would also prevent local governments from using tax dollars to subsidize internet service providers, which inevitably creates winners and losers.
By Jason Hayes
In his Oct. 9 press conference, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said, “Tomorrow, in Washington, D.C., I’ll be signing a proposed rule to withdraw the so-called Clean Power Plan of the past administration, and thus begin the effort to withdraw that rule.”
It’s often been said that you get the government you pay for. This breaks down, however, when our government managers push the costs of yesterday’s government onto today’s taxpayers. One way they’ve done this is by offering medical insurance to government employees and deferring its costs.
Government management of Michigan’s chronic sewage system problems can often best be described as slow to improve. Municipalities across the state are engaged in long-term control plans that work to gradually – often over a period of decades – fix infrastructure problems. And while we wait for funding and constructions efforts to be completed, raw sewage and human waste continue to foul Michigan’s waters.
The Michigan Senate recently passed Senate Bill 541, which would create a new license for the dental profession, called a dental therapist. Sen. Mike Shirkey, R-Clarklake, is the lead sponsor of the bill, and it moves to the House for consideration.
The Mackinac Center published a report last year laying out the case for dental therapists, and Michael Van Beek, the Center’s director of research and author of that study, recently published an op-ed in the Oakland Press. He summed up SB 541 this way:
By Jack McHugh
House Bill 4583, Use "orphaned" fuel tank cleanup revenue for other purposes: Passed 26 to 10 in the Senate
To divert money from a 7/8 cent per gallon gas tax originally levied to pay for cleanups of leaking underground fuel tanks that were abandoned decades earlier and where no known party is liable ("orphan sites"). The bill would authorize subsidies to current fuel tank owners who are liable for contamination that occurred before 2015; to developers of "brownfield" property with leaking tanks; and to local governments for cleanups related to past road work.
By Ben DeGrow
For nearly 15 years, the number of students in Michigan’s public schools has been shrinking. In recent weeks, federal data crunchers said they expect the trend to continue up through 2025. Representatives of the education establishment have already begun to exaggerate the fiscal challenges that a continued downward trend would bring.
By Kahryn Riley
What’s the right age for someone to be considered as an adult, rather than a juvenile, in the court system? That’s what legislators are trying to find out as they examine proposals to change the definition of legal adulthood from 17 to 18.
The Criminal Justice Policy Commission, an official group that advises the Legislature on criminal justice matters, recently heard testimony from Midland County Probate and Juvenile Court Judge Dorene Allen and several others. The topic was a set of legislative proposals collectively referred to as “Raise the Age.” The proposals would change the definition of “adult” in Michigan’s criminal justice system to exclude 17-year-olds. (Prosecutors would still have the option to try them as adults for a variety of serious crimes.) Michigan is currently one of five states where 17-year-olds are automatically tried as adults and incarcerated with them, rather than having their cases handled in the juvenile justice system. But there isn’t enough information about how the juvenile justice system currently operates in Michigan to know what impact this reform would have.
“The University of Michigan is a public entity, and its president a government employee. Taxpayers, who provide more than $1 billion to UM through state and federal spending, have a right to expect the school to treat all students fairly and not discriminate based on political beliefs,” note vice president of legal affairs Patrick Wright and marketing and strategic outreach manager Jarrett Skorup in the Detroit News.
The Michigan Legislature is considering reforms to this state’s auto insurance laws. The problem is clear: Michiganders pay more, on average, than drivers in just about any other state. House Bill 5013, introduced by Lana Theis, R-Brighton, offers several significant reforms that should drive down the price of premiums for all Michigan drivers.
Editor’s note: The following is a slightly edited version of remarks that Jack McHugh gave to the Michigan Competitiveness Committee of the Michigan House on Oct. 11, 2017, regarding a package of bills that would repeal "driver responsibility fees" and forgive debt drivers owe as a result of these fees. Driver responsibility fees were created in 2003 and require drivers who have a certain number of points on their license or who have committed certain types of moving violations to pay an annual fee to the state that ranges from $100 to $2,000, depending on the violation.
Editor's Note: After this story originally ran, the Mackinac Center heard from the Michigan Liquor Control Commission which says they did not give bad advice or issue a fine (only a warning). The story has been updated and their response added.
Imagine working day and night, toiling with your spouse to build a new, small business from scratch at the tail end of a brutal recession. The economy improves and your shop becomes a popular local destination. You look to expand by adding a regulated product to your inventory. You get explicit permission to do so from the government agency that oversees the distribution and sales of the new product. Then, two days after you start selling, that same agency swings by and orders you to stop for selling the product illegally.
There’s a debate in the Legislature over what to do about short-term rentals. Identical bills in the House and Senate would allow for local regulations, but prevent cities from banning the rentals altogether. That’s a good move.
There are several sides to this issue. Those in favor of short term rentals include consumers who want to rent a vacation property for a few days cheaply and efficiently. They’re joined by homeowners who want to rent their property out to earn some extra money and some local governments that depend on tourism as a revenue source.
State and local governments across the country owe their employees and retirees billions more in pension benefits than they’ve saved to pay for them. To fix this problem, governments should stop offering benefits that can become an albatross around their necks.
By Jack McHugh
Senate Bill 583, Ban local food and beverage taxes: Passed 31 to 5 in the Senate
To prohibit local governments and authorities from imposing a tax or fee on the manufacture, distribution, wholesaling or retail sale of food for immediate consumption or non-immediate consumption. Among other things this would prohibit local officials from imposing soda taxes.
By Ben DeGrow
As Michigan charter schools seek to serve more families, they face some unusual challenges. A couple of recent developments highlight some of them and offer opportunities to help level the playing field for all public schools, charters included.
Michigan charters, which predominately serve low-income and minority children, abide by nearly all the same regulations as district public schools. Yet charters on average aren’t able to spend as much for each student they serve. Statewide, districts spent over $2,200 more per student than charters, according to the National Public Education Financial Survey.
Businesses that inked special deals with the state are going to collect $681 million from taxpayers this year. But residents cannot be told which businesses are cashing in and how much each gets. This is a failure of basic government transparency.
As a citizen, you are entitled to know how your government is spending your money. The state and local governments put a lot of effort into this — for instance, posting every annual financial report of every government and every contract the state agrees to.
