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.
In June, Washtenaw County became the first local government to approve a tax on disposable carry-out bags at the grocery store. If you forget to bring your own bags, grocers are forced to charge a 10 cent tax on every new bag you receive, paper or plastic. If you double-bag, it will cost you 20 cents.
Michigan appears to be about average in access to dental care. There are about 7,700 dentists in the state and over 10,000 dental hygienists. In 2011, there were 6.2 dentists per 10,000 people, exactly the national average. But there is a concerning trend: Michigan’s dentist population skews older than average and the state may be facing a dentist shortage in the near future.
Detroit is living up to its motto and rising from the ashes by embracing business, but it would see greater job growth and faster recovery if it removed the arbitrary occupational licensing laws that are preventing it from reaching its full potential.
Michigan’s regulatory system aimed at protecting the Straits of Mackinac are working, but that hasn’t stopped media, environmental groups and public officials from criticizing a private company that’s following the rules.
As explained in an MLive op-ed by Mackinac Center’s Director of Environmental Policy Jason Hayes, Enbridge Energy has come under fire in recent months after it reported erosion around lakebed supports of its Line 5 pipeline in the Straits and requested permits from the state to fix the unsupported sections. The company followed the regulations in conducting a survey of the pipeline and is now trying to repair the eroded areas.
By Ben DeGrow
MLive reports this week that the share of Michigan students enrolling across school district lines or in public charter schools has reached 23 percent. Still others choose private schools (7 percent) or homeschooling (3 percent). The growing trend of families to access different school options is reinforced by the broader popularity of choice found in a new Mackinac Center public opinion survey.
If the government prevented people from shopping outside of their own town or state, they would be outraged and recognize it as limiting their freedom. If Michigan businesses were prevented from buying or selling their products to people from other states, most people would understand that to be economically destructive.
At an event held in northern Michigan on Aug. 4, Gov. Rick Snyder announced that he and Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne would sign a memorandum of understanding to cooperate in promoting the automotive industries of Michigan and Ontario. This type of selective government meddling in the economy is a bad idea and should be avoided.
By Ben DeGrow
This year’s back-to-school season has brought out more than the usual share of anti-charter hostility — with local critics seeking to amplify national voices.
On his HBO show, comedian John Oliver skewered charter schools with 18 minutes of uninformed and outdated (but otherwise funny) satire. The NAACP has called for a moratorium on new charters, which has provoked a bewildered backlash from many who see the benefits they have provided for children of color.
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.
Senate Bill 231, Ban selling “e-cigarettes” to minors: Passed 37 to 0 in the Senate on May 20, 2015
To ban selling or giving minors electronic vapor cigarettes, or any product or device that delivers nicotine. Violations would be a misdemeanor with a $50 fine, which also applies to giving a minor regular cigarettes. The House has not voted on this.
By Kahryn Riley
Herbert Hoover said, “The worst evil of disregard for some law is that it destroys respect for all law.”
This point of view goes to the heart of the Mackinac Center’s work on over-criminalization. Center analysts have examined Michigan’s vast, disorganized criminal code, discovering at least 3,102 crimes. Many of these crimes are duplicative (prohibiting the display of material containing the name of an elected official at a polling place) or unnecessary (specifying the lettering type and color for contact information displayed on a barge). Still others are of dubious constitutionality (prohibiting the cohabitation of divorced parties).
If a private company were responsible for the mistake that led to the discharge of over 570,000 gallons of wastewater into the Kalamazoo River this week, there would likely be public outrage, but because the government is responsible, most seem to turn a blind eye.
