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Source: U.S. Census Bureau

People move for a lot of reasons: for family, health and retirement among others. Finding economic opportunity is an important driver and one that is encouraged by state and local policy.

Over the past decade, Michigan has started to attract more people. It still is losing people to other states, but those numbers are down.

Christopher DeMuth is the former president of the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington-based think tank. In 2017, DeMuth received a Bradley Prize for his contributions to “preserving and defending the tradition of free representative government and private enterprise.”

April 18 is tax day in America, and in Michigan it’s also the 22nd anniversary of a failed corporate subsidy program known as MEGA, or the Michigan Economic Growth Authority. Although it was repealed in 2011, MEGA continues to raid the state Treasury every year, wasting shockingly high amounts of taxpayer money in the process.

The House and Senate are out for a two-week spring break. Therefore, this report contains no votes but several recently introduced bills of general interest.

Senate Bill 59 and House Bill 4409: Authorize student loan tax breaks

Introduced by Sen. Curtis Hertel, Jr. (D) and Rep. Andy Schor (D), respectively, to authorize an income tax credit equal to 50 percent of the amount of student loan payments made by a resident (subject to some caps) who got a degree from a college or university in Michigan and is employed in the state. The credit would not be “refundable,” but would reduce an individual’s tax liability on a dollar-for-dollar basis. Referred to committee, no further action at this time.

A state label served as a wake-up call for one rural Southwest Michigan district. Today, its high school stands out as one of the top academic performers in the state.

In August 2010, the Michigan Department of Education released its first list of underachieving schools under a new law that created a school reform office with the power to take over the worst schools.

For many years, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation has always selected a friendly vendor to calculate the return on investment of its state tourism promotion funding effort (Pure Michigan), rather than seek bids from several possible choices. Last year, it finally requested proposals from other vendors for the right to make these estimates. The winner of the new contract — and the costliest bidder, too — was … wait for it … the very same firm (Longwoods International) the agency had for many years simply selected on a no-bid basis.

Last year, the state’s Office of Retirement Services testified against a plan that would offer new employees in the school retirement system 401(k)-style benefits. The office claimed that shifting employees would require increased costs in order to follow industry best practices. But state officials are already ignoring a large number of best practices when it suits them.

President Donald Trump has nominated George Mason University law professor Neomi Rao to head the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs within the Office of Management and Budget. This is a radical departure for the office, because for years Rao’s scholarship has challenged the legitimacy of the regulatory state and how it takes decision making away from Congress.

A set of 18 bills recently signed into law will improve public safety and put Michigan on the track to administer criminal justice more efficiently, but there is still more work to do. The bills, championed by Sen. John Proos, R-St. Joseph and signed by Gov. Rick Snyder on March 30, are part of 21 proposals lawmakers have been discussing since last May.

Michigan legislators are considering creating new targeted tax credit programs, a key part of former Gov. Jennifer Granholm's economic strategy. For much of Michigan's “lost decade,” her plan for economic growth was centered on giving tax credits and other favors to politically preferred businesses and industries – combined with higher taxes for everyone else. There’s no evidence that any of this worked to grow the economy, and Michigan’s Legislature should learn from that lesson.

The state government spends a lot of money trying to create jobs in Michigan. There are dozens of programs in place with over $100 million in annual appropriations, and billions of tax dollars have been pledged to the purpose. Despite all of this spending, though, the programs don’t work and are rarely held accountable when they fail.

As the ink finishes drying on the nation’s widest-reaching educational choice law, Americans can tune in to see what’s behind such programs and why they work.

On April 6, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey signed into law an expansion of the state’s Empowerment Scholarship Account program. At the end of four years, parents of every public school student statewide will be able to use state funds to customize his or her education, subject to enrollment caps. This level of choice nearly had been achieved in neighboring Nevada, but a 2016 state Supreme Court ruling left the program in limbo, frustrating families seeking educational alternatives.

The House and Senate are on a two week spring break, so rather than votes this report contains some recently proposed constitutional amendments of interest. To become law these require a two-thirds vote in the House and Senate and approval by voters.

House Joint Resolution A: Establish part time legislature

Here’s a sign of economic growth that most people overlook: The landfill business in Michigan is booming. The amount of waste sent to landfills continues to grow from a low point in 2012. Though recycling policies may have an effect, industry insiders say the increase in waste disposal signals an improving economy.

At approximately 2 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on March 28, 2017, the earth lost its ability to sustain life.

Or so one might believe after reading the overwrought reactions to President Donald Trump’s “Energy Independence” executive order. Of course, anyone who had taken the time to read its text would likely have a more measured response.

The value of government transparency and the need for more of it has been on full display since the Mackinac Center and two other watchdog groups released the Michigan Government Salaries Database in late March.

The new database — which is easily searchable and made available as a public service by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, Michigan Coalition for Open Government and Michigan Press Association — contains salary information of nearly 300,000 public employees.

Michigan Supreme Court Justice Robert Young Jr. just announced his retirement. Young served on Michigan’s highest court for 18 years, and you’re sure to hear lots of positive commentary about his service — and rightfully so. But there’s an interesting fact you probably didn’t know about him or his long-serving colleague Chief Justice Stephen Markman: They’ve likely received fewer pay increases during their careers on the court than any other public servants over the same period.

In 2011, DTE Energy sent a fleet of flatbed trucks into the residential areas of Highland Park to pull out the street lights.

It was a dark time for Highland Park – literally. The city, a small, poor community just north of Detroit, had run up a street lighting tab that it couldn’t afford to pay. It struck a deal with DTE allowing the utility to take back the lights in exchange for debt forgiveness.

When Michigan Republicans won control of the governor’s office and state Legislature in 2010, the state was ready for economic reform. After eight years under Gov. Jennifer Granholm — with a Democratic majority in the House through her second term — the state lost 805,000 jobs over a decade, per-capita personal income plummeted (one of the worst drops since the 1930s) and the auto manufacturing industry was hollowed out. Faced with this crisis, the Michigan Legislature and Gov. Rick Snyder set a blistering pace enacting free-market ideas. Current legislative leaders should take note.

Senate Bill 242, Transfer state revenue to certain business owners: Passed 32 to 5 in the Senate

To authorize giving up to $250 million of state revenue to certain developers and business owners selected by political appointees on the board of a state Strategic Fund agency. Owners of selected firms would get cash subsidies for up to 10 years equal to half or all of the income tax paid by their employees. The Senate has also passed bills authorizing another $1.8 billion in subsidies for big developers (SB 111 to 115).

When lawmakers last considered offering new school employees in Michigan only a defined-contribution retiree plan, the system’s administrators said that the newer “hybrid” plan being offered to new employees has fixed the pension system. They are wrong.

Editor's Note: This article was originally published in The Detroit News on March 22, 2017.

Hoping to reverse a trend that has put our state in the bottom 10 in academic achievement, Gov. Rick Snyder’s 21st Century Education Commission issued a broad series of recommendations.

Government transparency tools like the Freedom of Information Act are one of the best ways to hold public officials and employees accountable for their actions. But they only work when government agencies respond quickly and efficiently.

In November, Mark Schlissel, president of the University of Michigan, generated press with some disparaging comments about then President-elect Donald Trump and those who had voted for him. Curious about the thought process behind those remarks, Michigan Capitol Confidential reporter Derek Draplin submitted a FOIA request to the university for any emails Schlissel had sent between July 1 and Nov. 16, 2016, that included the word “Trump.”

Legislators have been increasingly interested in Michigan’s intermediate school districts. The increasing financial footprint of these agencies calls for greater public oversight.

A bill that got a committee hearing last legislative session would have given local school districts greater freedom to choose which services they want to receive from ISDs. These services typically include special education and career education, as well as back office and transportation support.

This week, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, Michigan Press Association and Michigan Coalition for Open Government published an online, searchable database of government workers and their salaries.

It was immensely popular. The Michigan Government Salaries Database almost immediately garnered thousands of views. But many of the people employed by schools, various arms of the state and judges have questioned why we made public information more readily available.