Michigan’s 21st Century Jobs Fund program is fatally flawed and lawmakers ought to put it out of its misery, one Mackinac Center analyst argued in a recent op-ed published in The Detroit News.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm promised the program would blow the state away, but 10 years later, taxpayers have little to show for the hundreds of millions of dollars reallocated through the jobs fund. Aside from the fund’s lack of transparency, questionable reporting practices and possible constitutional issues, Mackinac Center’s Assistant Director of Fiscal Policy argues the entire premise of the corporate welfare program is flawed.
Nearly half the states, including Michigan, are suing the U.S. Department of Labor in an effort to block the Obama Administration’s new overtime rule that would significantly increase the number of people eligible for overtime pay.
State Attorney General Bill Schuette, who signed onto the suit, said the new rule that’s set to take effect Dec. 1 will hamper job creation and increase unemployment. Patrick Wright, Mackinac Center vice president for legal affairs and director of the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation, told WNEM TV5 that the rule may be designed to increase wages, but will do the opposite.
If Michigan lawmakers want to stifle the state’s craft brewers, they’ve found just the way.
Rep. Tom Hooker, R-Byron Center, introduced House Bill 5873 this month to increase Michigan’s beer tax from $6.30 to $21.70 per barrel, a nearly 250 percent hike. Michael LaFaive, director of the Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative at the Mackinac Center, weighed in on the debate in a recent Mlive article.
By Jack McHugh
House Bill 4282, Exempt small-project home repair contractors from licensure mandates: Passed 66 to 40 in the House
To exempt individuals who do residential repair and rehab jobs worth less than $4,000 from licensure mandates imposed on contractors.
Tesla is taking its fight to sell vehicles directly to consumers in Michigan to the courtroom.
According to an article published by USA Today and the Detroit Free Press, the electric automaker is suing Michigan Secretary of State Ruth Johnson, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette and Gov. Rick Snyder over a 2014 state law requiring manufacturers to sell vehicles through dealerships. Tesla, much like Apple, wants to sell directly to consumers.
The Nov. 8 North Dakota ballot initiative to raise cigarette excise taxes by 400 percent will — if adopted — increase cigarette smuggling and cause other unintended consequences.
We have studied cigarette evasion and avoidance (what we call “smuggling”) around the United States for a decade and have developed a statistical tool for measuring the degree to which cigarettes are smuggled across state and international borders.
The Michigan Education Association recently released a survey of some of its membership. Much of it isn’t surprising — like other workers, teachers want to make more money and don’t like how they are evaluated.
But one key question is about retirement and shows that school employees don’t feel secure with the current teacher pension system.
Pugsley Correctional Facility in Kingsley, Michigan, is slated to close later this month, on Sept. 24.
The state’s FY 2016-17 budget calls for the Department of Corrections to close the Pugsley Correctional Facility to save money, a compromise struck by a conference committee between the Senate proposal to close two prisons, and the House plan to close none. Lawmakers expect that closing the 1,342-bed facility will save $22 million.
By Ben DeGrow
Charter schools, like all other public schools, cannot legally turn away children with physical, intellectual and emotional challenges. Nevertheless, the numbers reported to state officials bear out that Michigan charters — as in many other states — serve lower rates of special-needs students. A closer look reveals that blame for this apparent discrepancy cannot be placed at the feet of charter school operators.
By Jack McHugh
While legislative committees were active this week, no votes were taken in House or Senate. The Roll Call Report therefore continues its review of key votes from the 2015-2016 session.
House Bill 4522, Expand legislative subpoena power: Passed 69 to 39 in the House on June 2, 2015
Michigan lawmakers took some important steps last year to reform Michigan’s civil forfeiture laws, but there’s still plenty of work to be done.
Mackinac Center Policy Analyst Jarrett Skorup spoke with Lester Graham on Michigan Radio’s Stateside program about the practice of civil asset forfeiture. Under this practice, law enforcement may seize private citizens’ property, regardless of whether or not that person has been convicted of or even charged with a crime.
A recent MIRS report, “State Collects 32% More In Fees Than It Cost to Regulate,” notes that the state brings in $147 million in revenue for licenses and permits. But the total cost to regulate Michigan’s variety of industries was much probably much higher.
By Jason Hayes
The Detroit News recently reported that low oil prices have resulted in a decreased number of new oil and natural gas wells around Michigan. As a result of the slowing markets and dropping prices, the industry is seeing losses mount and is laying off hundreds of thousands of employees across the country. The article notes that Michigan is setting record lows in the number of drilling permits, with accompanying job losses. In fact, Energy Information Administration (EIA) numbers indicate that oil production in the state actually reached a 25-year low in 2015.
It’s not news that government employee pension systems across the nation have promised retirees billions in pensions and not saved enough to make good on those promises. But a related problem could pose an even greater risk to taxpayers: lifetime health insurance benefits provided through these systems.
According to MIRS News, Sen. Mike Kowall, R-White Lake, is pushing for driverless vehicle legislation, hoping to land a research center in Willow Run. The intent of the legislation, MIRS said, “is to propel Michigan to the head of the line in the highly competitive autonomous sweepstakes, which involves such states as California, Nevada, Texas and Florida.”
Like state and local governments across the nation, Michigan has a variety of public entities that offer pensions to former and current employees. And like nearly all other governments, Michigan’s units have huge unfunded liabilities.
Unfunded liabilities exist because politicians have not saved enough money to pay for the pensions promised to employees and retirees.
By Jack McHugh
House Bill 4209, Impose licensure, regulation on medical marijuana industry: Passed 25 to 12 in the Senate
To impose a 3 percent tax on retail medical marijuana sales, along with a licensure mandate and comprehensive regulatory regime for medical marijuana growers, transporters, dispensaries and more, with civil and criminal penalties for violations. This would be modeled on the state's "three tier" alcohol sales regime, which has been criticized for empowering anti-competitive regional distribution monopolies.
The Legislature is considering a bill that would prohibit local governments from banning people from owning pit bulls. Senate Bill 239, sponsored by Sen. Dave Robertson, R-Grand Blanc Township, has passed the Senate and is being considered in the House.
A study from the Michigan League for Public Policy says that Michigan should spend more taxpayer dollars on state universities. This would do little to lower tuition, though, until the schools stop their spending spree.
For universities, tuition and taxpayer support are revenues that pay for their expenses. The League states that cuts in taxpayer funding of universities are the culprit for tuition increases. The biggest driver for tuition increases, however, is not stagnant taxpayer support but university expenses.
One Michigan city’s unfunded pension liability was the subject of a city council meeting this week after a concerned resident read about the problem in Michigan Capitol Confidential and decided to call on local officials for a fix.
Norton Shores resident Jim Riley told Fox 17 — which covered the meeting after Riley encouraged other residents to attend — his city must begin to address its unfunded pension liability to avoid severe cuts to services, major tax hikes, or cuts to employee retirement.
By Ben DeGrow
You can read Part 1 here.
According to the Mackinac Center’s recent survey, nearly 90 percent of Michigan voters agree that students should be able to choose a private or parochial school.
However, many families are unable to afford the option. The average tuition at a private Michigan elementary school is $4,700 a year, and $7,800 a year for high school. But with its unusual model of financing through the Corporate Work Study Program, Detroit Cristo Rey High School makes a private education affordable.
By Ben DeGrow
While most of their neighboring peers soaked in the last days of summer vacation, incoming students at Detroit Cristo Rey High School spent much of their time in training sessions before the academic year started on Aug. 29.
The payoff for their small sacrifice may end up being life changing. The proof is in the record, and in the students’ own stories.
Michigan’s economy has been on the upswing since it passed right-to-work legislation in 2012, with employment climbing 7 percent, private-sector wages increasing 4.9 percent, an unemployment falling from 9 percent to 4.5 percent – below even the national average.
By Jack McHugh
While the Legislature is on a summer break with no voting, the Roll Call Report continues its review of key votes from the 2015-2016 session.
House Bill 4329, Authorize emergency manager for chronically overspending school district: Passed 59 to 50 in the House on April 23, 2015
A recent article from Crain’s Detroit covers a study that says the state’s taxpayer-funded venture capital partnerships provided a 21-times multiplier on investments. That is, there were $21 of economic activity for every dollar taxpayers spent. The report, which argues for more taxpayer spending on venture capital, is yet another attempt to draw faulty conclusions by misapplying an economic multiplier analysis.
