Insider Intelligence

This week, Governor Rick Snyder announced a plan that would hire fifty Flint residents to assist with water testing in the city.  The state is partnering with Orchards Children’s Services and the Flint YMCA’s Safe Places Program to hire and train the residents this month, to fill jobs on teams helping conduct water tests across […]

On Tuesday, February 2, Governor Rick Snyder issued Executive Order 2016-4 creating the Office of Performance and Transformation (OPT).  The new office will be housed within the State Budget Office, and is tasked with working with state departments to establish a more effective system of customer service, performance measurement, and regulatory and business practices.  The […]

On Wednesday, February 3, the Michigan Agency for Energy unveiled their website to help Michigan residents participate in the effort to develop Michigan’s plan to comply with the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) carbon rule.  The agency is utilizing the website in order to allow for stakeholder engagement that will provide interested parties the ability to […]

This week, a group of local government and schools officials filed a lawsuit in federal court stating that the provisions of Public Act 269 of 2015 are unconstitutional and the law should be rejected.  Signed into law only weeks ago, some claim that the changes ban elected and appointed public and school officials from providing […]

On January 22, the Flint Water Advisory Task Force provided their recommendations to Governor Rick Snyder.  First and foremost, they encourage a strong response in dealing with the challenges of re-establishing a reliable water distribution system.  The task force’s other recommendations include; •    Engaging with the Environmental Protection Agency’s experts, empowering them to guide implementation […]

This week, the Michigan Commission of Agriculture and Rural Development elected new officers for the 2016-2017 year.  Serving as chair will be Fred Walcott of Valley View Pork, LLC.  Dru Montri, owner and operator of Ten Hens Farm, will serve as vice chair.  Elected as secretary is Bob Kennedy, who is the area manager for […]

According to numbers released this week by the Michigan Department of Technology, Management, and Budget (DTMB), Michigan’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for December 2015 was 5.1%.  While the rate didn’t change from the prior month, it is noticeably lower than the December 2014 rate of 6.4%.  The state’s labor force grew by 0.8% from December […]

This week, the Senate Fiscal Agency (SFA) released their monthly revenue report for December 2015.  According to their numbers, December tax collections were $231.7 million lower than their estimates at the May 2015 consensus revenue estimating conference.  The breakdown as to where the collections were earmarked for is as follows; $137.4 million to the General […]