UNDER THE DOME
Capitol Update, June 17-August 1, 2008
Cynthia A. Paul
House Speaker Gets New Chief of Staff- Cindy Peruchietti, who has served as chief of staff for House Speaker Andy Dillon for the last year and a half is resigning July 3. Ms. Peruchietti will become chief administrative officer for the Early Childhood Investment Corporation. Peter Cunningham will succeed her as the chief of staff for Mr. Dillon.
Proton Beam Certificate of Need (CON)-Granholm caves into pressures from L. Brooks Patterson and Beaumont Hospital, in rejecting the Certificate of Need Commission Standards. The CON rule allowed the proton beam facility only if the state’s largest cancer centers agreed to run it jointly, finding that, given the relatively small number of cancers where the treatment has shown success, it would be excessively expensive for each hospital to have its own. This will cost our state’s health care system an estimated at $130 million for each Proton Beam
Minimum Wage Increase- The final increase in Michigan’s minimum wage, required by a 2006 act, took effect on July 1 when the state’s minimum wage increased to $7.40 an hour from the current $7.15 an hour. The U.S. minimum wage increased to $6.55 an hour on July 24.
Nursing Home Package Reported out of House Senior Health Committee and Currently on the House Floor, included in this package is HB 6251 that adds Section 22225a to make the furnishing of a security bond a requirement for approval for a certificate of need to acquire a nursing home, begin operation of a nursing home, or make a change in bed capacity in licensed nursing home beds. HB 6252 amends Section 20142 to provide that an applicant for a nursing home license or a licensee disclose the names, addresses, principal occupations, and official positions of all control persons. Currently, applicants and licensees must only disclose this information about those with an ownership interest. HB 6253 amends Section 21766 to provide that when a nursing home reports a change in ownership or control to the DCH, or not less than 30 days before the change occurs, whichever occurs sooner, the nursing home would be required to specifically notify, in writing, a patient and that patient's guardian or legal representative of the change in ownership or control. HB 6254 amends Section 21781 to require a licensed nursing home to post the names and contact information for control persons and persons who have an ownership interest in the nursing home. (This would be in addition to current posted information.). HB 6255 amends Section 21711 to prohibit the DCH from issuing or renewing a nursing home license unless the applicant or licensee submits financial statements audited by a certified public accountant, bank officer, or other independent authority with knowledge of long-term care operations, as approved by the department. The applicant or licensee would be required to include in the audited financial statements the accountant's, or other authority's statement that the applicant's or licensee's assets, liabilities, revenues, and expenditures identified in the applicant's business plan are sufficient to predict that the applicant (or licensee) has the financial capacity to own and operate a nursing home. HB 6256 amends Section 21799c to specify that a licensee, nursing home administrator, or employee of a nursing home who knowingly and willfully makes a false statement to the DCH in the course of a visit made for the purpose of survey, evaluation, or consultation, or in the course of an investigation made following a complaint, is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for not more than one year and/or a fine of not less than $1,000 or more than $10,000. HB 6261 amends numerous sections in Chapter 21 to provide that beginning October 1, 2008, a person could not establish, operate, or maintain a nursing home without maintaining proof of liability insurance coverage on that nursing home in an amount not less than $1 million per occurrence. This is the SEIU Healthcare Michigan Package.
Day Care Package Moves- This package passed the House Unanimously and has been referred to the Senate Committee on Family and Human Services. The bills in the package include HB 6214, which would change the eligibility review to every 180 days; HB 6215, which would require clients to show proof of employment, school or other approved activity every three months; HB 6216, which would require the department to make a health and safety checklist available to parents when they sign up for childcare assistance; HB 6217, which would prohibit non-licensed providers from receiving payment for caring for more than four non-sibling children at one time; HB 6218, which would require providers and clients to maintain attendance records for the time children are in care and then to submit those records to the department bi-weekly; HB 6219, which would require DHS to make an orientation and training program available to clients and providers; HB 6220, which would require DHS to provide parents with information about childcare or other resources for the child at the time they apply for assistance and HB 6221, which would define daycare aide and relative care provider.
The House Retiree Health Care Reforms Committee Passed out of Committee House Bill 5913 by a vote of 4-3. In its current form (H-4), health reimbursement accounts were struck and it gives a contractual right to the retiree health care benefits.
Binding Arbitration for County Correction Officers, HB 6112- Passed the House by a 78-29, Please see record roll call # 601 at http://www.legislature.mi.gov/(S(obgghn45qlbbeemvrh4qaemr))/documents/2007-2008/Journal/House/htm/2008-HJ-06-26-064.htm
Governor’s Council on Prisoner Re-entry Named -The council is to be chaired by Corrections Director Patricia Caruso. Other members are Community Health Director Janet Olszewski, Labor and Economic Growth Director Keith Cooley, Human Services Director Ismael Ahmed, Superintendent of Public Instruction Michael Flanagan; Keith Molin, director of the Michigan State Housing Development Authority, and Greg Roberts, director of the Governor’s Office of Community and Faith-Based Initiatives.
The Single Market Reform Package (AKA the Blues Bills)- The House did not concur with the Senate consumer oriented amendments, sending the package to conference committee. HB 5282 (26-79) and HB 5283 (26-78).
Legislation providing Hemlock Semiconductor a Huge Michigan Business Tax credit for a new plant's energy cost, which would range from $20 million to more than $35 million a year up to 2021 before beginning to decline, won unanimous passage in the House, HB 5972 and HB 5973, SB 1267, SB 1268 and SB 1270. Thus, leaving yet another hole in our budget for next twelve years.
Michigan Business Tax Revamp (Gross Receipts) Passes the House and is Tie Barred to Kreiner and the Campaign Finance Omnibus Bill- SB 1038 removes several items from taxation under a business' gross receipts, including sales and use taxes, cigarette and alcoholic beverage taxes, bottle and keg deposits and other provisions dealing with hedge funds, bonds and bad debts. The House tie-barred the measure to Kreiner (HB 4301) and the campaign finance omnibus bill (HB 4628) allows public employee checkoff, gets rid of the annual authorization and returns to a $20 reporting threshold bill. Altering the Michigan Business Tax will cost the state $231 million in lost revenue in the 2008-09 year with implementation implications of about $135 million a year in ongoing revenue losses. It passed the House 103/1.
Juvenile Justice Employee Early Out- HB 5944 provides an early-out for some Bureau of Juvenile Justice employees who were laid off as part of budget cost savings measure in the current year budget won passage in the House by a 68-39 vote after an amendment that would have opened up the early-out program to all state employees under the old retirement system was added to the bill and then substituted out.
Unemployment Benefit Extension-Governor Jennifer Granholm signed an agreement with the U.S. Department of Labor to provide unemployment benefits extensions beginning July 20. The agreement provides an additional 13 weeks of benefits for those who have exhausted state benefits.
In the Courts-
Absentee Voter Ballot Applications-Conducting mass mailings of unsolicited absentee voter ballot applications to seniors are illegal and unconstitutional, ruled the Court of Appeals. This opinion overturned a lower court decision that allowed the Macomb County clerk to issue the ballot applications in 2006. County boards don't have the authority to give clerks permission to sidestep state election law and Ms. Sabaugh "lacked statutory or constitutionally-granted authority to mail unsolicited voter applications," since state law clearly defines that voters must request the ballot and that clerks must furnish them upon request. Fleming v. Macomb, COA docket No. 279966).
Gun Ban Ruled Unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court- The US Supreme Court held that Washington DC’s ban on handguns violated the second amendment and was unconstitutional. This may have an impact on some local ordinances here in Michigan.
FOIA Cases- The Michigan Supreme Court held in the University of Michigan case, that the release of the names, home addresses and telephone numbers of workers who did not choose to publicly disclose the information satisfies both prongs of the privacy exemption of FOIA: it is personal and it would constitute an unwarranted invasion of privacy.(Michigan Federation of Teachers v. UM, SC docket No. 133819).
Injunction Firefighters- Firefighters in Pontiac and Detroit who claimed layoffs would jeopardize their safety and undermine the ability of fire departments to respond to emergencies lost their cases before the Supreme Court. The court said it is not enough to show that safety would just be affected by layoffs in order for a court to issue an injunction, but that a union must show that the employer’s action is inextricably intertwined with safety. (Detroit Firefighters v. Detroit, SC docket No. 131463) (Pontiac Fire Fighters v. Pontiac, SC docket No. 132916), the court said that the mere apprehension of reduced safety by the union is insufficient grounds for an injunction to be issued and the union did not prove the firefighters who would still be on the job following layoffs would face real and imminent danger. It overruled a 1985 Court of Appeals case that had allowed preliminary injunctions to be issued without a finding of irreparable harm or inadequate other legal remedies, the court said the circuit court must now apply the traditional four-part test for issuing a preliminary injunction, with the union particularly demonstrating it has a substantial likelihood of succeeding on the merits, that it would suffer irreparable harm and that the staffing plan is “inextricably intertwined with safety.”
Worker’s Compensation Case and Immigrants- In Pablo Gutierrez Romero v Burt Moeke Hardwoods Inc. (COA Docket No. 271122), the Court of Appeals affirmed the Worker’s Compensation Appellate Commission decision to award the plaintiff disability benefits after Mr. Romero was injured on the job. The defendants argued that Mr. Romero could not have obtained employment in the country without a visa, which would have expired regardless of the accident that cost him effective use of his right leg, and so should not have to pay compensation since Mr. Romero had not exhausted the “universe of jobs.” The appellate court ruling, written by Judge Jane Beckering and signed by Judges Henry William Saad and Kathleen Jansen, holds that Mr. Romero did not have to exhaust job possibilities and successfully demonstrated a loss of work related to the injury. His status as a legal alien does not affect Mr. Romero’s ability to obtain employment, since he had been promised work in Mexico once trained and would not need a visa.
Ballot Initiatives-
Health Care Ballot Initiative Short Signatures- Proponents of an effort to require that lawmakers pass affordable and comprehensive health care measures were about 255,000 signatures short of making the ballot. The Healthcare Ballot for Michigan campaign collected 125,000 petition signatures, which was less than the approximately 380,000 signatures required to put the measure on the ballot. Petition signatures were due to the state by Monday, July 7.
Reform Michigan Government Now Proposal - Reform Michigan Government Now! filed 487,000 signatures July 7th with the Department of State (for more information on the contents of the ballot initiative please see my Under the Dome Column for June 17th) and if it survives all of the legal and constitutional challenges being thrown at it by the chamber of commerce, it will be on the ballot in November.
Embryonic Stem Cell (CureMichigan)- Filed 570,016 signatures on July 7th and will most likely appear on the November ballot. This proposal amends the state Constitution to allow embryonic stem cell research in the state.
Marijuana for Medical Reasons has already made the November ballot.
Conference Reports-
The Department of Labor and Economic Growth (HB 5809) (PA 251)- totals $1.39 billion, a $75.89 million increase from current year. General fund was $73.56 million, a $27.56 million increase. Among the changes in the conference, the bill includes $15 million general fund for the No Worker Left Behind program, a cut from the $40 million approved by the House, but the Senate had approved only federal funding for the program. The conference also approved a $3.5 million GF increase for the Nursing Corps program, again less than the House but more than the Senate had approved. The agreement cut the $1.8 million that the Senate had added to the Housing and Community Development Fund, leaving it with the $2.16 million it has in the current year. The budget also retained Senate language that would prohibit the Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation from prohibiting insurance rates based on credit scores and would prohibit the department from implementing rules on ergonomics.
The governor vetoed boilerplate language regarding $2 million in funds allocated to the Michigan Housing and Community Development Fund and the Michigan State Housing Development Authority. Two boilerplate sections that would have prohibited the Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation from using any money to ban the use of credit scoring in determining insurance premiums, as well as prohibited the department from spending money on development of ergonomic standards more strict than federal guidelines, were legally unenforceable. Both sections are unenforceable as they amend “by implication” powers and duties vested in the OFIR commissioner, as well as the provisions of the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Act.
The budget for the Department of History, Arts and Libraries (HB 5804) (PA 254)- totals $52.9 million, a $3.39 million increase from current year. General fund is $39.79 million, $533,900 more than current year. But both the total and the general fund represent cuts from what had been approved by the two chambers. Among the changes is a $41,200 reduction from expected decreases in insurance costs. The conference also added $10,000, for a total of $360,000, for book distribution centers where the House had maintained current funding and the Senate had cut spending. And the agreement includes the $180,300 shift of the Film Office to the Strategic Fund.
The governor included two vetoes – one involving the Michigan History Day and the other for local historical society grant programs.
The budget for the Judiciary (HB 5810) (PA 250)- totals $262.9 million ($159.3 million in general funds). That is $1.3 million above general fund spending than the current fiscal year. The House had included funding for new positions in the Appellate Public Defender program, but those were not part of the conference report. One position, however, was added to the appellate assigned counsel administration.
It also includes $550,000 for pilot mental health courts, which is less than the $1.1 million the governor had recommended or the $700,000 approved by the House.
The Governor vetoed a boilerplate section regarding a $980,000 interdepartmental grant from the Department of Corrections for a probation pilot program.
The Department of State Police budget (HB 5811) (PA 249)- It contains $7.3 million for a 100-member-strong trooper school. It also includes $1 million more than was proposed for the crime laboratories, with $200,000 slated for the Detroit lab. The additional money is aimed at trimming the backlog of cases. The general fund portion of the budget does absorb the across-the-board 0.5 percentage point cut.
The budget for the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs (HB 5812)-totals $183.8 million ($40.3 million in general funds). That represents a $50 million, or 37.6 percent, increase compared to current year spending, but that's all due to more federal dollars going to the department. The general fund portion of the budget is $164,000, or 0.4 percent, below the current year spending level, which are absorbed through the two veterans homes that will use restricted funding to make up the loss of state dollars. Veteran service organizations will receive a 3 percent increase in funding next year.
The Department of Education (SB 1096)- totals $95.14 million ($7.55 million general fund). The budget represents a $4.76 million cut in overall spending from current year, but a $476,000 increase in general fund. Among the changes in the budget is an overall savings of $5,400 by moving employee health coverage to a managed care system. The agreement also cuts $11,000 each from new positions around the department, a total $66,000 GF cut from the governor's recommendation. The agreement also provided only $48,300 for a new teacher tenure position where the House had provided $50,000 for the post. It does not include the governor's and House's 21st Century Schools Program, but it does add employees for audit and oversight functions.
The Community Health Budget (SB 1094) (PA 246))- totals $12.533 billion, the general fund portion totals $3.095 billion. The budget is nearly $490 million larger than the current year's appropriation, and larger than what Ms. Granholm had proposed. In the end, the budget did not affect the status of 19 and 20-year old residents to receive Medicaid, nor did it cut any funding from the state's healthy Michigan fund. It also made no cuts in payments to provider groups and was able to provide a slight increase in payments made to physicians.
The Corrections Budget (SB 1095) (PA 245)- totals $39 million less than the current year's appropriation to end at a gross amount of $2.04 billion. The general fund portion in the bill is $1.975 billion. Staffing changes accounted for the biggest set of the savings, $22.3 million worth. Of that, the budget saves $15.7 million by changing the so-called relief factor for corrections officers (the relief factor refers to how prisons are staffed over every seven days). The budget also changes the definition of custody supervisor shifts, which should save $3.1 million, and will save another $6.4 million by requiring cuts of nearly four positions at each correctional facility. The budget also cuts $4 million in prisoner health care costs and expects $2.7 million in savings from health maintenance organizations. Another $14.1 million in savings should be realized in creating regional operations for prison warehouses and stores.
There are increases in the budget, including $7.8 million in economic changes. Not included in the budget was Ms. Granholm's original proposal to add $10.8 million for an additional 800 prison beds. The budget also orders an $800,000 cut in central staff operations. The budget also restored the lower $15 a day rate for prison work crews. Last year the per diem cost was increased to $30 a day per prisoner, but the increase forced many local governments to suspend using prison labor for such jobs as cutting weeds and cleaning parks. However, to make up the difference the Legislature added $1.2 million in general funds.
The governor vetoed $980,000 for an intensive probation pilot program in the general fund DOC budget because it would unconstitutionally give judiciary employees supervisory authority over executive branch employees. The program, targeted to “nondangerous offenders” at significant risk of committing new crimes.
The Department of Agriculture (HB 5807) PA 253- totals $107.8 million ($32.5 million in general funds). That represents a $1.5 million reduction compared to current year spending and a $1.3 million increase in general fund spending. The budget was cut by $6.4 million in the emerald ash borer and plant pest management programs line items to reflect a reduction in federal funding. General fund cuts were made in the food and dairy, environmental stewardship and laboratory services line items. The budget also shifts $1.5 million from the Agriculture Equine Industry Development Fund for bovine tuberculosis to horse racing and building and track improvements at the fairs. The budget includes $3.8 million for capital outlay funding for farmland and open space development acquisition.
Governor Granholm cut $11.6 million in horse racing line items, including fair building and track improvements, sire stakes and award, which was to have been paid for by a reduction in the bovine tuberculosis program. She vetoed $1 million for a cooperative resources management initiative program, saying the money spent could be better used on a timber program rather than a discretionary program. She said the veto was similar to one in the DNR budget. The governor also said boilerplate language dealing with purse and program money held in escrow if there is no thoroughbred race in 2008 or 2009 is legally unenforceable.
The Department of Human Services (HB 5814) (PA 248)- totals $4.6 billion ($1.3 billion in general funds). Total spending represents a $31.3 million, or 0.7 percent, reduction, while the general fund portion cut is $29.7 million, or 2.3 percent. The budget cuts 60 positions in the Bureau of Juvenile Justice; 30 from the state's medium security facilities, 20 from central staff and 10 from the closure of the Flint House. That represents a savings of $4.1 million in general funds. The budget includes funding for 63 new caseworkers and 20 new positions in the Bureau of Children and Adult Licensing, Foster Care/Adoption Contract Monitoring Division, Child Protective Services and Interstate Compact. Individuals receiving cash assistance from the Family Independence Program would see a $1 per person, per month boost. The maximum payment for a family of three current is $489. That increase is paid for with federal funds. Disabled adults would also receive a $5 per month boost, going from $264 to $269 a month. The state's children clothing allowance would go up from $43 to $88 per child next year, at a cost of $5.6 million in federal funds. The budget also includes a new $50 incentive program for FIP families who meet federal work participation standards for three consecutive months. That program costs $1.8 million in general funds. The budget reflects a reduction in caseloads for public assistance, foster care and adoption subsidies, for a total savings of $33 million in general funds. The residential rate for adoption subsidies is increased by 4 percent under the budget, as are administrative rates for child placing agencies providing living services to older foster children.
The governor vetoed two boilerplate sections dealing with the department contracting for the collection of child support arrearages and awarding grants to organizations that provide education on the earned-income tax credit and programs teaching strong marriages, fatherhood and parenting. She also vetoed a $100 appropriation for a child care fund in-home care incentive program and corresponding boilerplate because the money wouldn’t cover the cost of the initiative. She also vetoed $120,000 for a pilot program in Sanilac County coordinating a system of care and referral for families with children. She also vetoed $500,000 in capital outlay spending for Adrian training school property development, saying she believes in the current policy regarding surplus property and that the process should be followed. The total budget for DHS is $4.6 billion, with the $1.3 billion general fund portion representing a 2.3 percent reduction from the current fiscal year.
Higher Education (SB 1099)- The state's 15 public universities will share $14.5 million in new funding. It provides $1.769 billion ($1.646 billion general fund). The operations increase represents a 1 percent across-the-board increase for the schools, down from the 3 percent recommended by the governor and approved by the House and the 2.7 percent approved by the Senate and down $30.32 million from the amount approved by both chambers initially. The agreement also ditched the formula that the governor had used to spreading out the increase. The 1 percent increase also went to Michigan State University's Agriculture Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, giving a combined $633,200 increase to $34.34 million and $29.62 million respectively. The conference took out increases that had been approved by the House for Indian Tuition Waivers and State Competitive Scholarships, retaining the latter at a maximum $1,300 per student. It does include intent language that those two items, as well as per-student floor funding, be increased if there is a balance left from the current fiscal year. The final budget also included language to penalize schools that did not provide promised tuition rebates after receiving the delayed payment from the 2006-07 budget.
Community colleges (SB 1093) (PA 255)- provided the schools $299.36 million, all general fund, overall a 2.1 percent increase from current year. Most of that was distributed to the 28 colleges via a formula that provided increases ranging from 1.6 percent (only for Gogebic Community College) to 2.6 percent (only for Washtenaw Community College). The $7 million that the House had put in for expanding nursing education is out, members of the conference committee generally agreed the issue should be a priority next year.
Department of Environmental Quality (SB 1097) (PA 247)- The budget includes $13.5 million more in general funds to offset reduced fee revenue, but $1.1 million in general funds were taken out of the drinking water revolving loan fund to meet overall targets. Another $5.7 million that had been targeted for a new Clean Michigan bond program was removed because the bond proposal came too late to be implemented. It includes reverse vending machines that will receive $2 million, $250,000 will go for the real-time water monitoring project in Macomb County, $250,000 is for an environmental ombudsman pending approval of legislation and giving first priority to wetlands complaints, and $895,000 is included for monitoring the state's new water withdrawal regulations. The bill also includes language creating a workgroup to review the use of operational memoranda in the Leaking Underground Storage Tank program. The overall budget is 2 percent less than the current-year spending and $44.4 million in general funds is 3.9 percent less. It has 48 fewer employee positions, most of that to reflect funds available, but with 13 due to transferring human resources functions to the Department of Management and Budget.
The Governor vetoed the $2 million in the DEQ budget that would have reimbursed retailers for the cost of retrofitting reverse vending machines to accept only returnable beverage containers from Michigan. Governor Granholm also cut out $250,000 for an environmental ombudsman in the Legislative Council that was contingent upon lawmakers creating the position. The $44.4 million general fund DEQ budget is 3.9 percent more than the current fiscal year.
Department of Natural Resources (SB 1106) (PA 252)-totals $289.977 million ($10.6 million in general funds), which represents a $13 million GF cut, or 55.3 percent. Overall spending is $1.9 million above current year funding. The budget adds $1.25 million for timber management programs, transfers for the payment in lieu of taxes over to the Department of Treasury, adds $750,000 for conservation districts and $500,000 for fishery hatchery operations and public outreach and education.
The Governor vetoed a provision for using restrictive funds for a cooperative resources management program between the DNR and the Department of Agriculture; she said forest development funds are better used for timber management. The $750,000 allocation was intended for forestry programs in local conservation districts.
School Aid Budget (SB 1107)- It totals $13.789 billion, $481.1 million more than the current year’s budget. Just $40.8 million of that is in general funds, and that is $5.9 million more than the current year. It is smaller than any or the budgets proposed, the Governor had called for the budget to total $13.5 billion, the House had passed a version that totaled $13.4 billion, and the Senate passed a version that set the total at $13.38 billion. It provides for per-pupil funding increases of between $56 to $112 per pupil with the state’s poorer districts getting the larger increases. And the measure includes $15 million to help finance the start of Governor Jennifer Granholm’s proposal to tackle dropout rates by creating smaller high schools. The 21st Century Schools proposal Ms. Granholm pushed is less than half what she had hoped to receive and the $15 million will not be used to back up bonding. Instead, the money will be allocated in $3 million grants to school districts where the graduation rate is lower than 70 percent. The money can be used to begin planning and begin construction of new schools so long as the district matches the grant. But if the school district did not graduate at least 80 percent of its students by the third year of the grant then the district would have to return at least 50 percent of the initial grant.
General Government Budget (HB 5816)- totals $3.16 billion, $668 million in general funds, which is a $23.8 million or 3.7 percent increase above current year spending. Both the Legislature and Executive Office received no funding increase. It includes money for a legislative corrections ombudsman, but not a sentencing guidelines commission. It includes a 2 percent increase in statutory revenue sharing – in the 2008-09 fiscal year. The budget covers spending for the Legislature, Executive Office and Departments of Attorney General, Civil Rights, Information Technology, Management and Budget, State and Treasury.
Legislation Introduced-
Hate Crime Statute Revamp (AKA Bias Crimes (HBs 6340 & 6341)- Redefines the state’s current ethnic intimidation statute “bias-related” crimes, that could include hanging a noose on a person’s property if done so maliciously. The proposal will also allow a person to be charged with bias-related actions if they commit crimes against persons based on their disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression. It will also base the charge on the alleged perpetrator’s intent, not whether the victim was actually a member of a targeted group.
School Anti-Privatization HB 6342 (Mayes)- It requires cost-benefit analysis before privatizing certain services. This is a stripped down version of the Public Service Accountability Act for schools and there has been preliminary discussions with Mayes to modify the bill to mirror the language in the Public Service (HB 6111).
SEIU Nationwide (International)-
Common Dreams- August 4 A series of events in states across the country, SEIU will call attention to health care insurance industry tactics that do more to ensure profits than insure patients. On Tuesday, August 5, SEIU members and other health care consumers will hold events targeting the insurance industry in Iowa, New Hampshire and Oregon. Participants will distribute information to the media, provide first-hand accounts, and demand answers from the companies. In the coming weeks, additional events will be held in Colorado, Rhode Island, Washington, Missouri and other states. Details on Tuesday’s events can be found below. The follows a newly released report that reveals that the health insurance industry is making record profits while patients struggle with rising costs, lower quality For more information please visit. http://www.commondreams.org/news2008/0804-11.htm
Bingham Farms attorney J. Martin Brennan is putting his name up for the Democratic Party’s nomination to take on incumbent Supreme Court Justice Clifford Taylor. His announced interest in the seat leaves him and Wayne Circuit Judge Debra Thomas as declared candidates.
Former Sen. Norm Shinkle has been named as a Republican member to the Board of State Canvassers by Governor Granholm. The appointment comes one day before the board is scheduled to set the deadline on challenging petition signatures to the Reform Michigan Government Now! proposal. Mr. Shinkle, of Williamston, succeeds Stephen Linder who resigned.