January 30, 1998

Legislative & Political Week in Review

• On Thursday evening, Gov. John Engler delivered his seventh State of the State address to a special joint session of the legislature. Among the initiatives he put forward are
  • a half-percent, phased-in state income tax cut, beginning in 2000;
  • mandatory drug testing for state welfare recipients, with benefits canceled for those testing positive and refusing treatment;
  • a pilot job-training and placement program to help noncustodial parents of children on welfare pay their child support;
  • a required summer remedial program for third-graders with lagging reading skills; kids who fail to read at grade level by summer’s end could be held back to repeat the grade, unless the school district decides that the child’s competency in other academic skills warrants his/her being promoted despite the reading deficiency;
  • a ballot proposal for a constitutional amendment that would require a three-fifths majority vote in the legislature for any tax increase;
  • funding for two new state prisons plus additional correctional bed space; and
  • a half-million-dollar bond issue that will be used to clean up toxic sites and spruce up state parks and waterfronts: $400 million for brown-field redevelopment—most of it in the state’s largest cities, $50 million for spiffing up Michigan’s 96 state parks, and $50 million for pollution-prevention programs for lakes and streams.
• Governor Engler almost had national as well as state TV exposure this week. He had been scheduled to offer a GOP governor’s perspective on President Clinton’s state of the Union address, but he was bumped, presumably because the medium wished to use the time to cover the speech from another angle.
• Coinciding with the governor’s major policy address was release by the Legislative Black Caucus of its agenda at a news conference this week. The 18-member, all Democrat, primarily Detroit-based group is chaired by Rep. Mary Lou Parks (D-Detroit), who called on Governor Engler to address "the state of economic disparity in Michigan," charging that the executive branch has ignored racial issues and fostered policy that hurts Michigan’s disadvantaged. Caucus members say they will introduce some 20 bills this session dealing with social and economic reform.
• Privatization does not equal privation—at least not for certain road-maintenance contractors taking over services formerly performed by the state. A recent Senate Fiscal Agency report reveals that a pilot project on two Lansing-area highways cost almost twice as much as would have been the case had state or county services been used.
• The controversial closing and sale of the state’s vaccine-manufacturing laboratory has been forestalled by a House bill extending the sale deadline. House Bills 5300 and 4425 extend the state’s ownership of, and funding for, the Michigan Biologic Products Institute. The laboratory is the nation’s only producer of anthrax vaccine, and the U.S. Defense Department has announced that it will require all members of the military, active and reserve, to receive it.
• The House is dead set against human cloning and proved it in a trio of lopsided votes against genetic replication of human beings. House Bills 4846, 4962, and 5475 passed on votes of 92-11, 9 -11, and 92-11, respectively. The measures impose fines up to $10 million for those caught cloning, despite some demurring that the stringent ban could stifle life-saving research.
• The State Bar of Michigan announced this week a new program to monitor Michigan judicial campaigns for fairness. Under the initiative, the State Bar will launch investigations and propose corrective action for campaign advertising that its investigators deem unfair and misleading.