On Wednesday, Feb. 1, a bipartisan group of some 70 state House members announced that they would support a package of bills to reform Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act. That could mean more transparency for taxpayers and voters. That is good news. But there is more to be done, and lawmakers should start by opening up the Michigan Economic Development Corporation to more sunshine.
By Jack McHugh
This week the Senate adopted a multi-bill criminal justice, parole and probation reform package, highlights of which are reported here. House members received their committee assignments last week and will hold their first meetings next week.
Senate Bill 19, Cut off parole absconders from welfare: Passed 34 to 1 in the Senate
By Ben DeGrow
In some circles, the myth persists that more money automatically translates into better education results. At a recent legislative hearing to explore changes to the state’s failing-schools law, one education official made a claim that collapses under a brief examination.
The authors believe in free markets and free people, and therefore, peaceful choice in association through legal immigration. The millions of immigrants to the United States every year are powerful evidence that “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” is still an unattainable dream for the average person around the world.
Michigan’s 21st Century Infrastructure Commission recently came out with a report that made 107 recommendations to improve the state’s telecommunications networks, energy, transportation, drinking water and sewers. Media and state pundits jumped on it, claiming it says that Michigan needs $4 billion each year in additional infrastructure spending. But that’s not exactly what the report actually says.
As the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee moves closer to a vote on sending President Trump’s nominee to lead the EPA to the full Senate, the battle over Scott Pruitt’s record is being reinvigorated. His Jan. 18 hearing and the responses to his written testimony were predictably combative and just as predictably hyperpartisan. Earlier today, Senate Democrats took a strong stance against Pruitt when all ten members of the Environment and Public Works committee boycotted the vote in an attempt to stall his nomination process.
Wayne County Executive Warren Evans has issued an ultimatum to the people who propose to build a professional soccer complex in exchange for the “Fail Jail” site in downtown Detroit. Evans said that the project must not cost taxpayers any more than simply finishing the jail as originally planned would. That’s simply not good enough.
By Kahryn Riley
States that make it harder for someone to work legally, typically through licensing requirements, tend to have higher levels of unemployment. Two studies released this past November show how these barriers are a particular problem for ex-offenders, thereby increasing their likeliness to reoffend.
Every week in Lansing, big businesses lobby Michigan legislators for more and larger tax breaks and subsidies. As they do, regular taxpayers shouldn’t forget that Michigan already pays out hundreds of millions of dollars to favored firms.
Politicians justify those wealth transfers by pointing to promises of big employment gains in the future. But citizens should take note that the state’s job picture is already strong — and for reasons that have nothing to do with corporate welfare handouts for a few lucky developers and business owners.
By Kahryn Riley
The first 50 bills introduced in the Michigan Senate this year contain many proposals dealing with criminal justice.
These are the latest iterations of ideas that have been hotly debated in Lansing for several years. All of the following bills also appeared within a bundle of 2016 Senate proposals that occupied lawmakers and lobbyists well into December.
The Michigan School Reform Office has once again released a school rankings list that only tells part of the school-performance story.
The 2016 Top-to-Bottom rankings assessed schools only on students’ test scores, which can be problematic for schools with a high percentage of financially disadvantaged students. The state’s system is better at measuring the student poverty rate of a school than its performance and should be improved to provide context to raw test scores.
As families across the country celebrate National School Choice Week, lawmakers in Washington, D.C., are considering the nomination of Betsy DeVos, a leading advocate for educational freedom who is positioned to be the next U.S. secretary of education.
By Jack McHugh
No bills have been voted on so far in the opening weeks of the 2017-18 Michigan Legislature. This report contains some newly introduced bills of general interest.
House Joint Resolution A: Establish part time legislature
Introduced by Rep. Michael Webber (R), to place before voters in the next general election a constitutional amendment that would limit annual legislative sessions to 90 consecutive days. More than 20 part time legislature proposals have been introduced in recent Legislatures. Proposals to change the state constitution need a 2/3 supermajority in the House and Senate to be placed on the ballot.
In April 2019, the administrator for the state’s economic development programs, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, will officially close. The closing ought to force lawmakers to reassess the state’s economic development policies.
The MEDC is an “interlocal agency,” created by an agreement between the state’s Strategic Fund Authority and a number of local government economic development agencies. This agreement has a 10-year term and, by agreement, can be renewed for two five-year terms.
Editor's Note: This piece was originally published in the Kokomo Tribune.
The state of Indiana is facing a push by advocates to raise cigarette excise tax rates by $1.50 per pack, a move that would affect both smokers and nonsmokers.
If the increase is adopted, Hoosier taxes would leap to $2.495 per pack. Instead of being a cigarette export state — commonly selling cigarettes to residents of other states — Indiana would become an import state. Its smokers would travel to other states for their cigarettes, and profits from large-scale smuggling would become more enticing.
By Ben DeGrow
The seventh edition of National School Choice Week has arrived. This year brings the largest organized effort yet to shine “a positive spotlight on effective education options for every child.” Nationally, there are more than 21,000 events planned — 730 of them in Michigan alone, including a major Detroit celebration on Friday featuring the passionate, charismatic educator, Dr. Steve Perry.
The Mackinac Center typically sends hundreds of Freedom of Information Act requests to public offices every year. A FOIA request requires public entities to turn over documents and is an extremely important tool for holding government accountable.
These requests have helped us uncover unions skimming money from home health care aides and child care providers, break news of a scandal involving a film studio, expose teachers who couldn’t be fired despite committing criminal acts, find out about millions of public dollars being used for private union employees, discover a pension spiking scandal and more.
By Jack McHugh
The 99th Michigan Legislature met for the first time on Jan. 11. New officers were selected for the House, which has 42 new members. Senators are half-way through their four year terms, and the Senate retained the same leadership.
This report includes a procedural vote or attendance roll call from each body so that readers can see the names of their own new or continuing state Representative and Senator.
At Betsy DeVos’s confirmation hearing to become U.S. secretary of education, Democratic senators repeatedly lectured her on the need to “protect public education.” Notably, ranking member Sen. Patty Murray asked DeVos, “Can you commit that you will not work to privatize public schools or cut a single penny for public education?”
Two personal income tax elimination bills are apparently in the offing on the Senate and House sides of the Legislature. Both call (ultimately) for the wholesale elimination of the state’s personal income tax, born in Michigan 50 years ago, this Oct. 1.
By Ben DeGrow
With the confirmation hearing for Betsy DeVos delayed until Jan. 17, the heated conversation has continued surrounding the state of Detroit charter schools and her work as an educational choice advocate.
The Manhattan Institute’s Max Eden and I debunked the “Wild West” myth of the Motor City’s educational landscape and clarified DeVos’ mainstream position on school accountability. Further, National Review’s Ramesh Ponnuru repeatedly has corrected The New York Times’ twisting of the best available research that highlights the benefits of Detroit charters. Ponnuru compared the journalistic malpractice to “a game of telephone being conducted by propagandists.”
At Michigan Radio, columnist Jack Lessenberry thinks that new school employees should continue participating in the state’s grossly underfunded retirement system. It’s better for teachers to have an employer-sponsored pension income, he says, than employer-sponsored retirement savings accounts.
Lansing began 2017 on the right foot by enacting a law to make it easier for people to try to recover property seized through civil asset forfeiture, but the state should end the practice altogether.
Last week, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy and the ACLU of Michigan issued a joint press release applauding the Michigan Legislature and Gov. Rick Snyder for passing and signing into law House Bill 4629. The new law removes the requirement that people pay a bond equivalent to 10 percent of the value of the property seized through civil asset forfeiture if they want to try to get it back.
The French have a term for the tendency of professionals to try to address every societal issue from the point of view of their own expertise while ignoring other options. They call it “déformation professionnelle.” As new legislators take their seats in Lansing as the Michigan Legislature begins its session, they must take care not to become victims of that professional deformation, lest they risk further damage to the balance between government and society.
By Jason Hayes
(This is the third article in a three part series that discusses major changes made by the Michigan Legislature to energy utility regulation in the state. Those changes are now enrolled in statute as Public Acts 341 and 342 of 201.)
In the closing days of the 2016 lame duck session, the Michigan Legislature passed two major bills altering the management of electric utilities and electricity generation in the state. The primary focus of the bills was to determine the best way to pay for the construction of new generation capacity, made necessary by the premature closure of coal-fueled generation across the state. The bills also dealt with the future of the state’s electricity choice program, which provides 10 percent of electricity generated in Michigan. Lastly, the bills dealt with renewable energy, including addressing concerns over the state’s “net metering” program and the expansion of the state’s Renewable Portfolio Standard.
