By Jack McHugh
Senate Bill 223, Create process for disclosing police firing to other agencies: Passed 37 to 0 in the Senate
To establish a process and liability exemption for a police agency disclosing information to another agency about a former officer who may have been fired. A separating officer could review the official record and make his written explanation a permanent part of it. Police job applicants would have to give prospective employers a waiver allowing them to get the separation records, and the former employer would be immune from liability for revealing this.
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in Crain's New York on March 24, 2017.
New York has ostensibly made the health of its people and its treasuries a priority by maintaining high cigarette taxes, but these taxes come with a cost.
The state’s high cigarette taxes have led to rampant tax evasion and avoidance and other ugly, unintended consequences.
By Derk Wilcox
(Editor's note: The following is testimony given by Derk Wilcox, senior attorney for the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation, to the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs.)
Chairman Arrington, Ranking Member O’Rourke, and Members of the Committee:
Both in its culture and in its ability to prepare students for college, Wellspring Prep is anything but typical.
Located only a couple miles from the heart of downtown Grand Rapids, Wellspring Preparatory High School is tucked just off the beaten path on the city’s northeast side. The school opened in fall 2010 with only a freshman class, taking time to make itself known.
A person who has a criminal record or has served time in prison has a very hard time getting a job in Michigan. Private employers may often reject such an individual, and the state may withhold the occupational license required for a job. This frequently results in people returning to criminal activity and eventually heading back to prison.
By Jack McHugh
Senate Bill 46, Revise emergency vehicle flashing lights requirement: Passed 37 to 0 in the Senate
To eliminate a requirement that flashing lights be mounted on the roof of an authorized emergency vehicle. These vehicles would still have to have flashing emergency lights; they just wouldn’t have to be on the roof.
Business Leaders for Michigan president and CEO Doug Rothwell points to economic competition between the states to justify a proposal for new Michigan taxpayer subsidies to certain businesses.
"But the reality is if they've got a machine gun and we've got a pistol, my gosh we're going to get killed here,” Rothwell told the Associated Press.
By Jason Hayes
Editor’s note: This is an edited version of remarks prepared for the Michigan Pipeline Safety Advisory Board.
I would like to thank the Michigan Pipeline Safety Advisory Board, and co-chairs Valerie Brader and Heidi Grether for the opportunity to comment.
In support of a new business subsidy program, Business Leaders for Michigan writes, “Michigan can no longer afford to be the only state besides Alaska with a corporate income tax – without a program to attract large projects.” But this misleading, because Michigan has dozens of programs that deliver select favors to certain businesses.
The Michigan Legislature is considering a package of bills that would give a few lucky developers special subsidies. Senate Bills 111-115 are unfair, ineffective and irrational and lawmakers should reject them.
These bills allow a handful of well-connected builders to get subsidies paid for from money that would otherwise fund government programs. Someone who starts a development — say, a sports stadium — would be selected by Lansing and, after putting up the initial capital, be able to take money from taxes paid by nearby individuals and taxpayers and keep it.
Editor's Note: The following was authored by Madelyn Harwood, a policy writer for the Illinois Policy Institute, and originally posted on the blog of the Illinois Policy Institute. It is reposted here with permission.
Illinois once enjoyed an annual population boost from Michigan. But in Illinois’ downward economic spiral, migration between Illinois and Michigan has tipped to favor the faster-growing Wolverine State.
On March 6, members of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee introduced the Honest and Open New EPA Science Treatment Act of 2017 (HONEST Act). At the same time, Reps. Frank Lucas, R-OK, and Lamar Smith, R-TX, proposed legislation to reform the Environmental Protection Agency’s Science Advisory Board.
In simple terms, government is a group of people using resources that belong to the public. Since these funds were earned by taxpayers, they have a right to know exactly how their government is using their money.
Sometimes government entities do things that conflict with what’s in the best collective interest of the public, many times in secret. In the wake of the Watergate scandal, there was an increased interest in making governments more transparent. In response, politicians created the Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, as it’s commonly called. FOIA is perhaps the most important tool that journalists and the public have to keep governments accountable. These laws differ by state, but they all give citizens the right to request and receive information from public entities.
Editor's Note: This piece was originally published in The Detroit News on March 9, 2017.
Michigan Republicans own a unique moment in this state’s political history. If you are a member of the GOP, your party controls the White House, Congress, the governor’s office and the state legislature. The last time this occurred? The Hoover administration. Given this opportunity, policymakers should pursue their agenda with gusto.
By Ben DeGrow
In his 2017-18 budget, Gov. Rick Snyder has proposed reducing funding for certain types of public schools: cyber schools, which are charter schools that provide students with full-time online instruction.
Currently, all public charter schools receive the same minimum foundation allowance as most traditional districts: $7,511 per student. While all other districts and charters funded at that minimum level would receive a $100 increase in their foundation allowance, cyber school financing would drop to $6,089 per student, a 19 percent hit.
By Jack McHugh
Senate Bill 129, Regulate small copper mines different than big ones: Passed 24 to 11 in the Senate
To establish a separate and more streamlined regulatory regime over small ("native") copper mining operations.
Who Voted "Yes" and Who Voted "No"
Senate Bill 19, Cut off parole absconders from welfare: Passed 101 to 6 in the House
By Kahryn Riley
It seemed everyone was ready to tackle criminal justice reforms after the Council of State Governments released its study of Michigan in 2013.
The Legislature, Gov. Rick Snyder and the Supreme Court issued a joint invitation to the CSG to observe Michigan’s criminal justice system, and the House of Representatives introduced several proposals the following year based on the council’s findings.
We’ve written a lot about ridesharing over the last year, explaining why services that use smartphone apps to link people who have cars with people who need rides are good for Michigan.
Two companies stand out in the ridesharing business in Michigan: Uber and Lyft. When we started talking to drivers a year ago, Uber was operating in six cities (metro Detroit, Ann Arbor, Lansing, Flint, Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo). Lyft was operating in only two (metro Detroit and Ann Arbor), although it expanded in summer 2016 to include the Lansing and Grand Rapids areas.
Although the current political climate is fraught and divided, there are a handful of ideas that people and groups across the spectrum can and should be able to agree on.
Mackinac Center Executive Vice President Michael Reitz recently wrote an op-ed in the Detroit Free Press describing a few potential consensus-building ideas for Michigan: licensing reform, a better school ranking system, criminal justice reform, an income tax cut and FOIA reform.
Today the Michigan House Competitiveness Committee considers legislation (House Bills 4148-57) that would expand the requirement to disclose public records to both the Legislature and the Governor. We applaud this move; Mackinac Center experts have long recommended an expansion of public records law. We also offered several comments to improve the current legislation.
The U.S. Supreme Court decided not to hear a case on whether government should be able to receive forfeited property without a criminal conviction. But that hasn’t stopped Justice Clarence Thomas from taking a big swipe at civil forfeiture laws across the nation.
Next week is “Sunshine Week,” and some Michigan legislators are celebrating by introducing transparency bills.
Almost the entire Michigan House has signaled support for a package of bills that would subject legislators and the governor to open record laws. While there may need to be some loopholes — for some legislative discussions and people sharing personal information with elected officials — these bills would, if enacted, put Michigan on par with most of the states.
The union responsible for skimming tens of millions of dollars from home caregivers has been placed under an emergency trusteeship to investigate alleged financial malpractice. It‘s just another issue in the ongoing saga surrounding SEIU Healthcare Michigan.
Michigan’s 2007 income tax hike has cost the typical Michigan household about $1,000. This is the total cost over the decade, and while it might not sound like much to some people, it is a significant sum to others.
But the size of this tax hike is not the problem. The real issue is that lawmakers are taking more from Michigan residents without needing to. Thankfully, some legislators are working to try to let people keep more of their own money.
By Ben DeGrow
Isolated and poor, Baldwin, Michigan, doesn’t offer abundant opportunity to a native son with a freshly minted college degree. But Ferris State grad Duane Roberts returned home because he wanted to help those who were coming behind him.
Baldwin is the smallest of the state’s eight “promise zones” that offer a combination of public and private scholarship funds for every local high school graduate who attends a Michigan college or university. In Baldwin, graduates can receive $5,000 a year for four years, above and beyond other available financial aid.
