Elected leaders, judges and law enforcement want to learn more about the state’s crowded jails in an era of lower crime rates, in hopes of crafting new laws to reduce the inmate population, cut costs and right wrongs.
Most Michigan schools visited take active shooter security seriously. Just don’t ask the state what each school is doing – it doesn’t keep track. And the Office of School Safety the Legislature created? It remains unfunded.
The ball is in the Republican Legislature’s court when it comes to presenting an alternative to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s $2.5 billion road-funding plan. Will private negotiations produce a compromise both sides can sell?
The state’s high court will hear arguments in July on whether the Legislature followed the rules when it watered down the impact of citizen-drafted legislation to raise Michigan’s minimum wage and require employers to offer paid sick leave. But the court stopped short of saying it will issue an opinion.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has proposed making roads with the heaviest traffic a priority for more than $2 billion in new funding. That’s not going over well in rural Michigan.
A federal judge stopped work requirements in Arkansas and Kentucky, ruling the federal government did not fully consider harm to patients. Michigan’s law, which is similar, does not yet face a court challenge.
Attorney General Dana Nessel and the state Supreme Court may yet weigh in on whether the Legislature violated the Michigan constitution in passing, then gutting, these laws during lame duck. The controversy may end in court.
The Democratic governor says the increase will likely be offset by tax relief elsewhere. Critics say that’s unlikely and warn that higher taxes will reverse gains Republicans attribute to business-friendly reforms from 2011.
A new study of the working poor in Michigan, from the Michigan Association of United Ways, suggests that more people, particularly seniors, are finding it difficult to afford necessities such as housing, child care and transportation.
Supporters of repealing a 2011 tax on some retirement income say seniors were asked to shoulder more of the state’s income tax burden to offset a business tax break. Advocates for keeping the tax say it treats all retirement income equally.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s budget proposal is based on a series of interlocking monetary moves to fund roads, schools, cleanups and more. The Rube Goldberg-like plan is certainly bold, drawing a mix of admiration and caution.
The new governor urges a state spending increase of 3.6 percent, with the centerpiece a 45-cent gas tax hike. She also proposes spending more for schools and to protect drinking water. The budget will test bipartisan pledges with state Republicans.
Michigan’s governor’s first budget offers a fairly radical change in how the state spends money on public school students, with questions still on where the money would come from.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer visited local chambers of commerce and small businesses to promote her administration’s policy vision. Here’s what businesses want to see from Lansing while she’s in office.
Michigan’s medical marijuana licensing board has been criticized as too slow at approving licenses. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer plans to abolish it and replace it with a new regulatory agency meant to speed up the process.
A new analysis by the nonpartisan Citizens Research Council of Michigan offers suggestions to state policymakers looking at ways to pay to fix Michigan’s crumbling roads.
Bad blood still remains after the GOP-controlled Legislature adopted citizen initiatives only to gut them later. Now, they want the Supreme Court to rule on whether lawmakers have that power.
A request from the Republican-majority Legislature would sidestep the traditional litigation process, and do an end-run around Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is trying to avoid a repeat of Arkansas, where thousands of poor people lost medical coverage because of complex work rules. Republican Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey says she has little to worry about with his legislation.
Michigan state Sen. Jim Runestad, a Republican from Oakland County, is trying again to force lawmakers to wait at least two years before going to work as lobbyists.
