It seems like Michigan lawmakers have been fighting about road spending for forever. This is because the state is responsible for keeping roads in good working order, and that requires political solutions. There has been a never-ending debate over what those solutions should be. The latest disagreement is between House Republicans, whose Speaker Matt Hall of Richland Township wants to spend more on roads without raising taxes, and Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who wants to spend more on roads by raising taxes.
Michigan is now operating under the 2025 state budget that was enacted by the Democratic legislature and signed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer last June. The budget is the largest in the state’s history, and it includes nearly $994 million in pork spending as calculated by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.
By Molly Macek
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s executive budget proposal would cut funding for schools serving some of the state’s neediest students. It would also fund preschool for all the state’s four-year-olds even though many parents have no interest in enrolling their children. Worse still, the budget fails to fix the dire state of Michigan’s K-12 education system.
We can understand why people think tariffs are a good idea. People who favor higher taxes on imports believe that raising the costs of goods from other countries will help the local economy. The idea goes that in the short term, people and companies will be more likely to buy from American companies that make the same products as foreign ones.
This article originally appeared in The Detroit News January 21, 2025.
The state’s new paid sick leave mandate, scheduled to go into effect Feb. 21, will do more than drive up costs for small businesses. The impending changes will devastate the state’s soup kitchens, food banks, domestic violence shelters and other charities. Michigan lawmakers should consider these effects as they reform the ill-conceived Earned Sick Time Act.
The ongoing debate in Wisconsin over the role of citizen-led initiatives and referendums in lawmaking has sparked tension. Patrick McIlheran, Director of Policy at the Badger Institute, opposes instituting referendums, while other organizations support this move as a means of empowering the electorate. McIlheran breaks down his reasoning on The Overton Window Podcast.
Some people think that the way for their city or state to get ahead is for the state and local governments to make economic bets on technocrats. If officials give these fountainheads of growth the bike lanes and light rail they want, the cities or states will thrive. Or they could win by luring the next big thing to open within their borders, offering big checks from the treasury if necessary.
Restraint gives Michigan lawmakers more power than spending every dollar they have. They can prepare for an uncertain future. They can pay down existing debts. They can afford to let people pay less in taxes. Unfortunately, restraint has not been a priority for elected officials.
By Molly Macek
Michigan’s reading and math scores failed to return to pre-lockdown levels, according to the latest results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress. With only six states trailing Michigan in fourth-grade reading, it’s time for lawmakers to consider bold solutions to this growing education crisis.
Michigan’s Republican House majority and Democratic Senate majority face an early test of whether they can agree with each other. That’s because there will be a paid sick leave mandate coming in late February, along with increases in the minimum wage. Some lawmakers want to change the laws before they go into effect. They want to reduce the likelihood that these laws result in unintended consequences, such as job losses for low wage workers and complications for overregulated small business.
It’s taken nearly a decade to turn a vacant school building into a plan for apartments in mid-Michigan. It has taken years to get initial approval, constant modifications to garner extra government assistance and consistent permitting and review delays. This all says something about why the cost of housing keeps going up.
By Jason Hayes
President Trump’s first day in office sent reverberations throughout the policy world. Protecting and promoting American energy production was chief among the President’s early actions.
Revisiting a common theme from his first term, the president renewed the focus on American energy dominance. With a string of executive orders, Trump turned the nation’s focus away from the alleged climate crisis (with its associated spending on wind, solar, and batteries) toward rebuilding supplies of affordable, reliable and secure energy. Trump promised to “end the Green New Deal” and ensure increased production of the “liquid gold” — the nation’s vast oil and gas resources — needed to power the new focus.
The federal government funds internet access through 133 different programs, and states have their own internet subsidy programs as well. Michigan has at least three, administered by the Michigan High-Speed Internet Office, or MIHI. Some local governments in the state also operate their own internet networks with taxpayer funds.
This article originally appeared in The Detroit News January 14, 2025.
Driving through Montana on a family vacation, we took a wrong turn.
The correct road, which normal people use, would have taken us around several mountain ranges. Instead, our GPS pointed up a mountain road. Once we went that direction, the GPS waved goodbye. Our cell phones lost all signals.
Most of America and Canada are at elevated risk of blackouts and power outages in the next five to 10 years, according to the North American Electricity Reliability Corporation's 10-year outlook report. The report, which was released last month, highlights the inadequacy of wind and solar to replace traditional energy generation like coal.
Over 30 years old, the federal 340B drug pricing program requires drug manufacturers to sell their products at a huge discount to hospitals with a certain percentage of low-income patients. The idea was that this would allow hospitals to earn money reselling those discounted drugs in order to improve service for patients.
This article originally appeared in The Detroit News January 7 2025.
The 2024 lame-duck legislative session provided fuel for the argument that Michigan should end its practice of holding sessions during the period between the election and the inauguration of a new Legislature. The Democrats’ slim majority in the House blew apart in acrimonious finger-pointing. Several House Democrats skipped session days, depriving Speaker Joe Tate, D-Detroit, of a quorum. House Republicans walked off the floor. Attorney General Dana Nessel threatened to prosecute absentee lawmakers, earning rebukes from legislators in both parties.
This article originally appeared in The Detroit News December 17 2024.
Have you seen those law firm advertisements where the resolute lawyer stares straight into the camera and asks if you’ve been injured in an automobile accident? Then, he invites you to call the toll-free number on your TV screen and says you may be entitled to compensation.
Scott Tillman, Chief Operating Officer of US Term Limits, is at the forefront of a growing movement aimed at imposing term limits on members of U.S. Congress. Despite widespread support for the idea Congress has shown little interest in acting. On The Overton Window podcast, Tillman explains why this is the case and what his organization is doing to make term limits a reality.
Could the United States be standing on the brink of a “hydrogen economy”? While the dream of meeting our energy needs through so-called green hydrogen does not seem likely to come true anytime soon, many progressives see a possibility that the First Element may succeed where wind and solar power have so far failed.
Michigan lawmakers hand out more business subsidies than their counterparts in every other state, according to an analysis by the Site Selection Group. For all this favoritism, however, Michigan does not get better economic performance. Indeed, the companies that get deals from the state rarely live up to their own expectations.
The federal government passed a bill with $42 billion in spending to bring high-speed internet service to almost everyone in the country who needs it but doesn’t have it. The money was allocated to states, and Michigan was approved for $1.5 billion in funding under the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment program, or BEAD, in 2021.
Lawmakers authorized new business subsidies in December by creating an Innovation Fund to give money to select early-stage businesses. The law finances the program by redirecting $60 million away from the state’s General Fund and toward select recipients.
This article originally appeared in The Detroit News December 31 2024.
Is there a state agency with a worse track record than the Michigan Economic Development Corp.?
The MEDC tries to promote economic growth in Michigan by giving billions of dollars of taxpayer money to hand-picked corporations. Sometimes the MEDC brings a new company to the state; sometimes it bargains to keep a company from leaving. New research shows that decision makers at the MEDC are failing, creating only one job for every 11 promised.
This article originally appeared in The Detroit News December 10, 2024.
The loneliness problem in America is a perplexing one. The U.S. Surgeon General warned last year that the country faces an “epidemic” of loneliness, with serious health issues that accompany isolation. The surgeon general’s recommendations for fixing loneliness are massive, costly and uncertain, as you may have read in my column last week. However, I have found that one strategy could be used by most people: good old-fashioned work.
