February 19, 1999

Legislative & Political Week in Review

• The Engler administration released the last proposed state operating budget of the century last week. The pre-Lenten presentation of a $9.1 billion spending plan paints a picture of Michigan as a "fat" state; the governor proclaims the state coffers to be "in better financial condition than any time in history." Recommended spending increases exceed current levels by 3 percent, or $261 million. Lawmakers predict major negotiation over the governor’s proposal to use tobacco settlement funds for scholarships and a new multitiered funding formula for state universities.
• Further fueling a Mardi Gras mood was Michigan’s top rating by Site Selection magazine. For a second year, the state leads the nation in attracting new industrial sites or expanding current ones. With 1,722 such projects, Michigan bests the runner-up, California, by more than a hundred. Ohio, North Carolina, and New York take the next three spots.
• Wait, there’s more: The U.S. Census Bureau cites metropolitan Detroit’s economic revival as among the most striking economic and demographic trends of the decade. In a report released this week, the federal agency names Detroit among 13 cities in its "From ’80s Losers to ’90s Winners" listing, ranking it third behind Cedar Rapids and Sioux City, Iowa.
• Amid so much good news, it comes as a real downer to learn than Michigan scores dead last in its ethics and disclosure laws for elected officials. That’s the word from the Center for Public Integrity, a Washington, D.C.–based watchdog group that puts the state at the bottom of the barrel—along with Vermont and Idaho—in requiring financial disclosure from public servants. The Michigan House Committee on Constitutional Law and Ethics immediately scheduled hearings to consider conflict-of-interest legislation—a perennially unpopular topic with state lawmakers. According to Gongwer News Service, Michigan currently has no conflict-of-interest disclosure requirements for public officials.
• Violent students face automatic expulsion from state schools under a two-bill package passed in the House. Improving school safety is the rationale for HBs 4240–41, which mandate that students older than 12 who assault a teacher or attack another student with intent to harm will be kicked out of school and may be compelled to attend a special academy that imposes sterner discipline. Passage is expected in the Senate.
• Keeping pornography and predators away from minors on the Internet is the aim of two bills passed in the Senate this week. Under provisions of SBs 7, 117, and 217, people using a computer to solicit a minor could have 24 additional months added to any sentence received for a sex crime resulting from the encounter. Moreover, distributing sexually explicit material to a minor via the Internet could bring a sentence of up to 38 months in prison. This last measure, contained in SB 117, is drawing flak from opponents who claim that first, there is no way to screen the age of people pulling porn off the Internet, and second, the measure violates the interstate commerce protections of the U.S. Constitution.
• Controversy continues to dog the concept of a mayoral takeover of Detroit public schools, as lawmakers considered enabling legislation in two days of Lansing hearings. The Detroit Free Press reports that although more than a half-dozen witnesses voiced support of the takeover—under which the mayor would be empowered to appoint a new school board—this view was "overshadowed, and at times shouted down, by those who denounced it as a racist plot by a white-dominated state government." Support for the proposal was expressed this week by the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce, and New Detroit, Inc. The Detroit NAACP has gone on record against the plan.
• John Engler didn’t have to look too far for a new director of the state’s Family Independence Agency: Iowa was close enough. Douglas Howard, that state’s director of human services will take over Michigan’s FIA next month. Engler and Howard first met several years ago in Washington, D.C., at National Governors Association events.