Insider Intelligence

This week, Speaker of the House Kevin Cotter (R-Mount Pleasant) and Representative Dan Lauwers (R-Brockway) introduced legislation reforming Michigan’s civil service system and giving directors of state departments the ability to discipline or remove government workers.  The package consists of a House Bill and a House Joint Resolution (HJR), which would amend the constitution.  Unlike […]

According to numbers released this week by the Department of Technology, Management, and Budget, Michigan’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for April 2016 was 4.8%.  While the rate remains unchanged from the previous two months, it is eight-tenths of a percentage point below the April 2015 rate.  During the month of April 2016, total employment rose […]

This week, the House Oversight and Ethics Subcommittee on Unemployment Reform, approved recommended reforms to the Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency (UIA), with the goal of making the agency more efficient and effective.  The proposed changes aim to correct serious flaws within the agency found in two recent Auditor General reports that were critical of the […]

This week, the Michigan Agency for Energy issued their annual 2016 Summer Energy Appraisal, projecting prices and availability of energy in Michigan during the summer months.  The agency is projecting dramatically lower gasoline prices and lower natural gas prices.  Additionally, distillate fuel oil, used heavily in logistics, is almost 20% less expensive than last year.  […]

This week, the House and Senate began naming members to serve on the conference committees for each of the budgets for the upcoming 2016-2017 Fiscal Year.  Both chambers have passed their own versions of the budgets and will now come together to work through their points of differences to reach an agreement.  Conference committees consist […]

This week, Governor Rick Snyder signed into law bills providing flexible financing plans for local governments working to conserve energy.  The financing agreement is known as the Tax Exempt Lease Purchase.  It allows for a lease-purchase agreement, under specific conditions, among the mechanisms a local unit uses to achieve energy conservation.  The partnerships can be […]

The House and Senate are scheduled to hold session Tuesday – Thursday.

Today, the biannual Consensus Revenue Estimating Conference was held in Lansing.  State Treasurer Nick Khouri, Senate Fiscal Agency Director Ellen Jeffries, and House Fiscal Agency Director Mary Ann Cleary came together to hear testimony and reach a consensus on the numbers that will be used to complete the state budget for the 2016-2017 Fiscal Year.  […]