By Kahryn Riley
It is a basic principle of American law that the government may not deprive citizens of their property without due process. But, according to the Michigan Court of Appeals, at least one Michigan statute lets the state do exactly that.
When Shantrese Kinnon and her husband were arrested on drug charges in Kent County, the police searched her home and seized some property, including a GMC Denali, a Chevrolet El Camino, a motorcycle, a tablet, a laptop, and nearly $400 in cash from her purse.
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 4163, Relax licensure restrictions on residential lift installers: Passed 62 to 47 in the House on March 11, 2015
By Ben DeGrow
For years, and especially in the wake of the state’s school funding “adequacy study,” people have called for more “equity” in how Michigan funds its public schools. Unfortunately, many of the appeals for more funding equity fail to consider the progress that has been made over the years. Instead, they treat each and every funding disparity as evidence of an entirely rigged, broken funding system.
As groups and individuals across the country work to educate workers about their rights during National Employee Freedom Week, right-to-work states like Michigan should consider another reform that would make workplaces more fair and free.
Mackinac Center Policy Analyst Jarrett Skorup wrote in an op-ed published by The Detroit News this week that even workers who opt-out of union membership can be forced to accept union representation even if they don’t want it. Worker’s Choice would free workers from forced representation and unions would no longer be required to negotiate on behalf of non-members.
This piece was originally published in the Orange County Register.
It seems there is a never-ending war on “sin” and a desire by some to try and tax it away. This includes higher taxes on snacks and cigarettes, among other items. As to the latter item, California voters will weigh in with a November ballot proposal to hike California’s cigarette excise tax by $2 per pack – a 229 percent increase.
On July 1, a new Detroit school district was created as part of a major legislative reform package — the old district will remain but serve only as a tax collecting entity. Another new organization will be responsible for educating students. This dual-district model, however, is not a new concept.
Most Michiganders are familiar with the state’s bottle deposit law, which was enacted in 1976. At 10 cents a bottle or can, Michigan has one of the nation’s highest deposit rates — most of the other states that use these deposits require only five cents. But what may not be as well known is that Michigan also enforces this law with an iron fist. A recent case from Livingston County resulted in felony charges and raises the question of whether this punishment fits the crime. It also highlights Michigan’s tendency to overcriminalize undesirable behavior.
In Traverse City, a couple could lose thousands of dollars in cash as well as their home because of the state’s loose civil forfeiture laws. Their case shows the perspective of both sides of this issue, but the solution is fairly simple – governments should not be able to take ownership of people’s assets unless they are convicted of a crime.
A new survey finds an overwhelming majority of rank-and-file union members across the country believe employees should have the freedom to represent themselves in negotiations with their employer if they choose not to be part of a union.
Mackinac Center for Public Policy’s Director of Labor Policy Vinnie Vernuccio wrote about his idea to make workplaces more fair and free environments in an op-ed published by The Hill. Along with his co-author and Mackinac Center Adjunct Scholar Jeremy Lott, Vernuccio explains that Worker’s Choice benefits individual workers, unions and employers.
Property owners in Wayne County may pay the highest effective tax rates in the state, but they will be asked to pay more this November.
On the ballot will be a proposed new property tax aimed at raising money for regional transit and public schools. Mackinac Center for Public Policy’s Vice President for Marketing and Communications John Mozena explained in an op-ed published in The Detroit News that, “For potential homebuyers or commercial property owners, it’s hard to make the argument that what we get in Wayne County is worth the additional cost.”
If Michigan wants to attract high-quality, job-creating businesses to the state, it should consider removing some of the hurdles companies must face to operate.
Mackinac Center for Public Policy’s Assistant Director of Fiscal Policy James Hohman wrote about the state’s failed attempts to grow the economy through crony capitalism. Rather than offer handouts to a few favored companies that often fail to deliver on their promises, the state should look at its business climate.
By Jack McHugh
While the Legislature is on a summer break with no voting, the Roll Call Report begins a series that reviews key votes of the 2015-2016 session.
Senate Bill 34, Revise concealed pistol license procedures: Passed 28 to 9 in the Senate on February 3, 2015 and passed 76 to 34 in the House on Feb. 25, 2015.
To eliminate county concealed pistol licensing boards and transfer their duties to the State Police and county clerks.
Acres of shiny new Chevrolet Camaros temporarily parked outside a Lansing auto plant: temporarily because they’re being snapped up by customers almost as fast as the state-of-the-art facility can ship them out. The image may sum up the evidence assembled in a new study from the respected Fraser Institute in Canada.
The Mackinac Center’s mission is premised on the notion that free markets and free people make for a more prosperous and flourishing society. So it’s no surprise that we find Michigan’s alcohol control regime problematic, because it is designed to unjustly enrich a few beer and wine wholesalers at the expense of consumers everywhere. Indeed, parts of the state liquor code read as if it were written specifically for the benefit of wholesaler business interests.
It’s not coincidence or bad luck that causes government economic development programs to so reliably fail to meet their promises — there are good reasons to expect this. So why do politicians keep returning to this dry well?
Sadly, even an unconventional, non-careerist politician like Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder is taking a turn with an executive order that appears to embrace the flawed economic central planning vision that inspires such programs. He is doing so despite having expressed skepticism about such programs in his first election campaign and reducing their scale after he was elected.
By Jack McHugh
The House and Senate held pro-forma sessions this week with no votes. Therefore, this report continues its series of describing some of this year’s interesting or noteworthy bill introductions.
Senate Bill 718 and House Bill 5284: Mandate school music classes
Introduced by Sen. Curtis Hertel, Jr. (D) and Rep. Erika Geiss (D), to require that public schools provide children in grades K-5 with 90 minutes of music instruction a week, taught by an instructor who has particular academic credentials specified in the bill. SB 718 would impose a quota of one of these instructors for every 400 children in a school, and in HB 5284 the quota would be one for every 650. Referred to committee, no further action at this time.
An initiative that may appear on Colorado’s November’s ballot would, if adopted, nearly triple the state’s current cigarette excise tax. This, we believe the evidence shows, will usher in a wave of cigarette smuggling and other undesirable consequences.
By Ben DeGrow
Though the evidence for Michigan spending its way to educational success continues to disappoint, its champions have turned to misdirection and misinformation to keep pressing their cause forward.
The release of the $400,000 Michigan Education Finance Study (better known as the adequacy study) was far more of an early summer flop than a box office hit. As Detroit Free Press editorial page editor Stephen Henderson laments, the study “landed with the force of a feather on desks in Lansing.” His call for the adequacy study to start “a bigger conversation” about school funding was echoed a few days later in a Free Press column written by education professors Michael Addonizio and David Arsen.
Michigan may be the birthplace of the automotive industry, but it has yet to open its borders to what could be the future in vehicle innovation.
Thanks to a law signed into law by Gov. Rick Snyder in 2014, cars may only be sold through a dealership, preventing companies like Tesla from selling their products in the state because they choose to sell cars directly to consumers. The Detroit Free Press wrote about the debate and a growing effort to lift the ban and allow Michiganders to buy vehicles without an intermediary.
By Kahryn Riley
In 2004, a Hawaiian circuit court judge named Steven Alm launched a new program to ensure that his court dealt fairly and promptly with people on probation. Judge Alm found a simple solution to the shortcomings of the probation program.
The problem was that the consequences for probation violations were ineffective. A probation violation drew only warnings, no actual discipline. And probation violations began piling up. Eventually frustrated probation agents, with left with no alternatives, sent probationers to court, where they would receive a disproportionately severe punishment. “What a crazy way to try to change anybody’s behavior,” said Judge Alm.
It may come as little surprise that private schools serve their students well, but thanks to the competition they create, private schools also consistently help raise the bar for area public schools as well.
That is one of the points made by Ben DeGrow, director of education policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, in a recent online debate forum hosted by WalletHub. In his essay, DeGrow makes the case for expanding educational choice to better serve all students.
How does economic liberty affect human well-being? Some of the most interesting recent research in economics and social science has looked at this question. The Fraser Institute, based in Canada, has been a leader in this field with its annual Economic Freedom of North America indexes. Policymakers whose primary goals are increased freedom and prosperity should take note.
The latest dump of Democratic National Committee emails by WikiLeaks confirms the cozy relationship between the party and labor union leadership, but also reveals how some staffers truly feel about working with unions.
Mackinac Center adjunct scholar Jeremy Lott wrote about the email leak in an op-ed published by The Detroit News, explaining that the documents show party officials see value in unions when it comes to fighting Republicans. But, when it comes to actually working with unions, the DNC views them as more trouble than they’re worth.
By Jack McHugh
The House and Senate are on a summer and primary election season break. Therefore, this report again explores methods lawmakers use to associate their names with certain interests or causes: bills to grant select nonprofits privileges including state income tax fundraising privileges and property tax breaks.
Housing prices in Michigan have recovered from the Great Recession. The price of the average home sale in Michigan in the first six months of 2016 was $147,323. This is the highest since 2006, and approaching record levels.
Other state housing value indicators are up as well. The federal Housing Finance Authority’s house price index says that Michigan’s values increased 33.6 percent from the first quarter of 2010 to the first quarter of 2016. That’s the seventh-highest increase among the states.
