One of the more ill-advised things the Legislature and Gov. John Engler did back in the 1990s was to impose their “wisdom” on Michigan communities that made residency requirements for certain public servants. The Legislature decided that for the city of Detroit to require police officers to live in Detroit was unacceptable, for example. They […]
Michigan Government
Citizens cannot do their job of running their government if they don’t know what their public servants are doing.
Posted inMichigan Government
SE Michigan is hotbed for government collaboration talks
Michigan is well-populated with organizations and people studying how to develop better public policies and better governments. One such group is the Center for Local, State and Urban Policy at the University of Michigan. A key part of their work is to survey government leaders to discern what’s going on in the trenches of delivering […]
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Michigan's regulation of liquor business is sobering
(Originally published June 22, 2011) By Susan J. Demas No, it’s not your imagination. That bottle of Jack Daniels really does cost more in New Buffalo than in Michigan City, Ind. “There is a mark-up,” said Andrea Miller, spokeswoman for the Liquor Control Commission, the state agency that regulates alcohol. Why is that? The answer […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Learning from prison cuts in other states
(Originally published Feb. 3, 2011) When Judge Steven Alm was appointed to a Honolulu felony court in 2004, it didn’t take long before the new jurist identified what he considered a major flaw in the system: Offenders on probation repeatedly flouted simple rules without sanction, until a-dozen-or-so accumulated violations sent them to state prison for […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Why Snyder's government reform plan may sound familiar
(Originally published March 22, 2011) Gov. Rick Snyder’s speech Monday aimed at reinventing local government actually reinvented (or at least reiterated) numerous reform ideas offered in recent years by the Center for Michigan and other public interest groups. Examples: • Intensifying local government consolidation and service sharing was a key recommendation of the Center’s citizens’ […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Redistricting: How political map-making leaves voters with uncompetitive, pre-determined elections
(Originally published Feb. 10, 2011) In the past decade, voters decided 664 races for seats in the Michigan Legislature. The majority of those races were never in question. Millions of votes didn’t really matter. Districts for many state representatives and senators are not competitive. Many seats are engineered for partisan advantage. A consequence is the […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Voters back taxes on local level
Voters across Michigan continue to show themselves willing to approve tax requests for local governments and schools, though some requests fare better than others. That’s the conclusion of a Center for Michigan analysis of May 3 tax elections around the state. More than 80 percent of the tax issues for schools and local governments gained […]
Posted inMichigan Government
MSU dominates U-M in Legislature
The Michigan Legislature has voted over the years to designate a state rock (Petosky stone), a state tree (white pine) and even a state fossil (mastodon). If lawmakers decide to name a state university, Wolverine fans should be worried. There are almost twice as many Michigan State University alumni in the House and Senate than […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Statewide voters overwhelmingly pass tax levies
(Originally published Aug. 12, 2010) Faced with choices between fixing roads or paying less in taxes, Michigan voters overwhelmingly opted for smoother streets in the Aug. 3, 2010, election. They also opened their wallets for fire and police departments, for senior citizens and libraries. Across the state, voters approved 86 percent of the 623 ballot proposals […]