With an overhaul and update of the blogging site, the MSMS Legislative Update is back up and running again and we are happy to provide the latest up to date happenings in Lansing and beyond. This month we find the legislature facing it's final year of the term, leaving law making playing second fiddle to the upcoming campaigns ahead of the lawmakers. This also means the timetables are accelerated which leaves the possibility of a state budget being done before the start of June. Lets review the happenings of the legislature over the past couple weeks.
Consensus Revenue Estimating Conference:
The month started out, as per usual, with the two fiscal agencies and the Michigan Department of Treasury coming together to sign an agreement on the amount of tax dollars the state will have to spend in the coming fiscal year and how the economy in Michigan is looking and will look in the future. All parties agreed that Michigan is continuing its financial recovery at a slow up strong pace. Current new starts of homes are continuing to rise in Michigan and are projected to continue on that upswing. Good news for those working and those looking for jobs with the personal wealth of people continues to rise and unemployment is projected to fall leaving people with work and more money in their pockets.
As for the state's coffers those continue to rise as well. Tax reforms done by the legislature with the cutting of the Earned Income Tax Credit, modifying the homestead tax credit, and the elimination of the child deduction, Michigan will decrease it's tax expenditures by $2.5 Billion for FY 13-14 (courtesy of the
Senate Fiscal Agency). This for the coming fiscal year law makers found out that they will have an additional $474 Million to appropriate. Some are calling for a tax refund, some would like to see road work, some would like to see the tax deductions put back into place, but it will be a wait and see until the Governor releases his budget recommendation to see where the money ends up going. Click on the
link to see the final estimates.
State of the State Address:
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Governor Snyder delivering fourth State of the State Address. Courtesy of MLIVE. |
On January 16th Governor Rick Snyder presented his report to the legislature on the report card of Michigan. The speech started out with a review the past three years of the Governor's term talking about the points that he was proud of accomplishing including the safe sleep initiative, a policy move that MSMS supports. From there Governor Snyder moved towards his agenda on what he wanted to do yet and really started laying out his campaign platform for the coming elections. Here is a great breakdown from our multi-client lobbyists at Capitol Strategies Group:
The Governor presented his annual State
of the State address Thursday evening in Lansing in front of a packed House
chambers on a snowy night in Lansing. Many of the pundits in Lansing concluded
the speech lacked many specifics, but below is excerpts from the speech
released by the Governor’s press office.
- Snyder will create the Michigan Office
for New Americans, which will drive strategies for attracting immigrants to
Michigan. Snyder also is urging Congress to approve
Michigan’s application to become only the second state with a state sponsored EB-5
visa regional center. The EB-5 is a tool for attracting investment and creating
jobs for U.S. workers.
- Stepping up efforts to connect job
providers and talent. The governor this year again will host economic and
education summits to foster greater collaboration between the private sector
and education community.
- Expanding the Michigan Advanced
Technician Training (MAT2) program, an employer-driven
initiative that helps employers bridge the “skills gap” through a statewide system
for training and educating skilled technicians to fill high-paying jobs. Henry
Ford Community College and Oakland Community College will serve as pilot
locations for the program, which is a unique model that also includes best practices
from Germany.
- Continuing the successful Community
Ventures program, a public/private/nonprofit partnership created to hire at
least 1,000 structurally unemployed residents from distressed neighborhoods,
initially in the cities of Flint, Detroit, Pontiac and Saginaw. First-year
goals have been met, resulting in jobs for over 1,400 structurally unemployed
residents.
- Supporting small businesses through
creative partnerships. Under the Pure Michigan Micro Lending Initiative,
Huntington Bank has committed $5 million for a pilot program in Detroit to help
small businesses grow. Upon its successful completion, Huntington will commit
$20 million more to be distributed through lines of credit to community micro
lenders. Under another initiative, the 10,000 Small Businesses program, Goldman
Sachs announced a $20 million partnership to help entrepreneurs in Detroit by
providing access to education, financial and business support services.
21st Century Education
Ensuring that
Michigan’s education system is indeed a 21st century system that reflects the
needs of this technology age. This includes:
- Encouraging schools to consider a
voluntary program in which they would extend classes year-round, rather than
interrupting student learning with a three-month summer break. It can take
weeks for many children to recover the information they learned prior to
leaving for the traditional summer vacation, which delays the learning of new
material. Under this concept, students still would get shorter breaks
throughout the summer. Snyder applauded the Legislature’s bipartisan effort to
explore this concept and urged further action.
- Providing a uniform
definition of “truancy” to schools across the state. Doing so will result in
greater consistency and will provide educators, human service providers, judges
and police with ample opportunities to customize assistance to families so that
the number of truants can be reduced.
- Implementing recommendations of the
Michigan Council for Educator Effectiveness. The council recommended a fair and
rigorous means to evaluate the skills of teachers using a combination of
observed classroom practice and measured student growth.
- Making Michigan a leader in promoting
STEM programs in schools and colleges. Jobs are robust in the fields of
science, technology, engineering and math. Michigan must do a better job of
aligning education with economic trends and inevitability.
Quality of Life
Improving the quality of life in our
communities, as well as for seniors, and residents with special needs. The
governor said:
- Michigan should
become a “no wait state” for seniors who qualify for home delivered meals and
in-home services. Nearly 4,500 seniors are not receiving the in-home services – including
home-delivered meals – that
they need. In Southeastern Michigan, half of the people qualifying for services
must wait six months or more to receive services. The governor will propose
additional funding in his recommended budget to eliminate this waiting list.
The governor also announced that he will prepare a special message outlining
opportunities to reinvent the way in which Michigan provides services to seniors.
- Lawmakers should pass pending bills that
provide consumer protections for seniors.
- Adopting recommendations of the Mental
Health and Wellness Report will help people with mental illness, substance
abuse disorders or developmental disabilities to lead more independent lives.
Recommendations include developing a Pure Michigan marketing strategy to
highlight opportunities for families living with disabilities, and having Michigan join the “Spread the Word to End the Word” movement, which
seeks to rid our vocabulary of derogatory terms regarding people dealing with
mental illness.
- Michigan should enact laws that provide
school safety drill recommendations, and encourage schools to report on
completion of the drills to the state. Snyder will propose funding in the
upcoming budget for school safety initiatives.
- The quality of life for nearly
half-a-million Michiganders will be enhanced now that the federal government
has approved the Healthy Michigan Plan. By improving access to affordable
health care coverage, Healthy Michigan also will reduce uncompensated care that
shifts costs onto businesses and taxpayers.
- Significant progress is being made in
reducing the crime rates in Pontiac, Detroit, Saginaw and Flint. While the
rates remain unacceptably high, it’s clear that the
state
and local partnership under the Secure Cities Initiative is having an impact. In
the first 10 months of 2013, violent crimes declined by 30 percent in Flint; 16
percent in Saginaw; 7 percent in Detroit and 6.5 percent in Pontiac.
Protecting Our Environment and Natural
Resources
Ensuring the protection of Michigan’s natural resources while allowing for their wise use, the governor called
for:
- Increasing the
state’s effort to combat invasive species, which cause environmental
damage, as well as economic harm in excess of $4 billion annually across the
Great Lakes region. The governor will recommend funding in the new fiscal year
to implement a program aimed at preventing the introduction and spread of both
aquatic and terrestrial invasive species. The program was developed through a
partnership with the DNR, Department of Environmental Quality and Department of
Agriculture and Rural Development.
- Using the information gathered last year
through numerous public forums to develop a framework for the comprehensive
energy policy that Michigan needs. In December 2013, Snyder used that
information to set the stage for critical discussions on Michigan’s energy needs as they relate to adaptability, affordability
and reliability.
Good Government
Continuing with the reinvention of state
government so that it is customer-focused and delivers the best possible
service. The governor proposed that:
- Michigan should join other states in
passing a resolution that supports a Federal Balanced Budget Amendment to the
U.S. Constitution. Unlike Michigan, Washington still lacks the fiscal
discipline to balance its budget, which hampers the nation’s economic turnaround. Passing this amendment sends a strong signal
to Washington that fiscal responsibility is needed for the good of working families
and all taxpayers, as well as future generations of Americans.
- The state enhance
its “early warning system” to assist communities and schools facing financial
instability. Creating strong financial intervention teams, housed within the
departments of Treasury and Education, will allow for earlier intervention
strategies. This is in the best interests of children and taxpayers.
- While continuing to be fiscally
responsible in the short and long term, it is appropriate to provide some tax
relief to hard-working families. Michigan has come a long way in three years. The state’s fiscal health has improved due to the tough but
necessary decisions that have been made. The governor will make an FY 15 budget
recommendation that eases the burden on low- and middle-income families so that
they can continue to share in Michigan’s comeback.
The state now looks ahead with the Governor's budget message on the horizon to start working to get the budget done before their self imposed deadline of June 1.
MSMS will continue to follow the activities of the budget and other areas. Find all of that information at http://www.msms.org/advocacy. Your support helps us get the policies you want passed by the legislature. Go to http://www.mdpac.org to see how you can help!