“I uphold the Constitution to the best of my ability, so help me God.” -Josh Schriver
June 20, 2024
Dear Neighbor,
Today, I would like to keep you informed about some bills I am very concerned about:
Senate Bills 603-604: Bills to Eliminate Legal Remedies for Illegal or Fraudulent Voting
Several days ago, our state legislature approved 2 bills that eliminate 19 references to the word “fraud” in our election laws and replace them with the word “error” or “mistake.” If something is listed as “fraud” on a recount petition, then it can be prosecuted. If it is listed as a “mistake” or an “error”, then it’s very difficult to do so.
Also, these bills also take away power from the Board of Canvassers to issue a subpoena to investigate voter fraud.
Some other problems:
The bills eliminate suspicion of fraud as a valid reason for a recount. By making this change, many will start to wonder what our government is trying to hide.
Recounts will cost candidates an arm and a leg. The bill package doubles the deposit fee for filing a recount petition to $50, $250, or $500 per precinct, depending on the type of recount that would need to be conducted. It would also require a deposit of $500 per precinct for a recount under certain circumstances.
Both of these bills make it more difficult for our residents to scrutinize our election process. All of us should have full confidence that our elections will be run in accordance with the rule of law.
Eliminating important avenues of legal recourse for those who have legitimate questions about the security and reliability of our elections diminishes public trust in one of our nation’s most important institutions. Furthermore, it could discourage legitimate challenges to the election results and even allow election cheating to go undiscovered.
Both of these bills passed both the House and the Senate. The bill package just passed the Senate with a concurrence vote. Now, it awaits the Governor’s signature.
Bills to Extend Corporate Welfare Subsidies to the Politically Well Connected for the Next 10 Years
Since the beginning of 2023, our state has authorized $4.4 billion dollars in corporate welfare subsidies. However, there is very little empirical evidence to suggest these programs actually help grow Michigan’s economy.
For example, the State of Michigan promised Ford Motor Co. $1.7 billion for its electric vehicle plant in Marshall before the company cut 800 jobs due to low consumer demand.
According to a Bridge Detroit article, under one program, Michigan spent $335 million to create roughly 11,000 jobs last year, costing taxpayers around $30,000 per job created. That’s over half a year’s salary. 40 percent of those jobs paid less than the median base wage of $45,000 for Michigan.
In 2013, the Auditor General conducted a review of the actual performance of corporate welfare programs. They found only 19 percent of the “economic development” projects actually delivered on the job creation targets promised by our government. Furthermore, a report published by the Auditor General in 2019 found managers of the Michigan Business Development program exaggerated the return on investment for taxpayers by 30 percent.
Timothy Bartik, a leading expert on economic development policy from the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, found no correlation between corporate welfare programs and a state’s current or past unemployment or income levels or future economic growth.
In spite of this, the state legislature is floating a policy proposal to extend the SOAR fund for 10 more years. However, one of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle called it “legislative malpractice.”
One essential principle of American governance is fair and equal application of the law. Corporate welfare programs give preferential treatment to some businesses at the expense of others.
Furthermore, these programs divert taxpayer money away from education, public safety, infrastructure repairs, and other . According to a 2023 report from the Public Service Consultants, Michigan underfunds its infrastructure by approximately $3.9 billion per year.
In spite of the lack of empirical evidence to support the effectiveness of this policy, why is Lansing doing this? It’s simple: lobbyists and special interest groups have a huge influence over spending priorities in our Capital.
Merely 6 years ago, Michigan’s economy was booming. CNBC said Michigan was one of the best states in the nation to do business. We were #11 out of 50! Now, much of that has changed.
It’s not too late to reverse that trend. One way to ignite economic growth: stop picking winners and losers in the free market. Furthermore, cut government red tape, so developers can break ground with less hassle. Lower or eliminate the personal income tax, just like many other states have done. Pay down pension liabilities. There are so many practical ways we can right the ship.
I look forward to sharing more with you next week.
God Bless You,
Representative Josh Schriver
For the sake of full transparency and accountability, I am one of only 8 out of 110 State Representatives in Michigan to report every single vote I make with a reason for each vote.
Below, you will find all of my votes and reasons from this week:
SB 498: Foster Care Review Board Tribal Government
NO- This an unnecessary change that already exists in SCAO policies. There are also other glaring holes in this policy including but not limiting to allowing non-tribal children to be considered for this program, and removing tribal children from stable homes to move them to homes of a different tribe, as evidenced by different cases in other states that have laws like the one proposed here.
PASSED 90-19
SB 690: Revise the Michigan Code of Military Justice
NO- Rather than deepening the military judicial system, these processes should be handled by civilian courts.
PASSED 104-5
HB 5043/5044: Increased Death Certificate Filing Requirements
NO- This unnecessary, additional government mandate for physicians will add a redundant requirement for record keeping on physicians leading to unnecessary, additional work.
BOTH PASSED 105-4
HB 5737: Allow Children w/ Special Needs in Mentored Youth Hunting Program
YES- The Mentored Youth Hunt has been successful in opening the door for youths to explore outdoor recreation opportunities, leading to a lifetime of pursuit. It is important to allow the opportunity for all children to participate.
5393: Changes to Juvenile Justice Task Force
NO- Since I did not agree with the changes made in the overall Juvenile Justice Task Force bill package (see earlier vote explanations), including SB 428 (on which the vote was 56- 53), I do not support this policy.
682: State Regulated Speed Limits on Mackinac Island
NO- Mackinac Island has an excellent public safety record with few instances of fatalities or serious injuries and this would restrict the freedom of all riders on the island o This could be viewed as an unnecessary addition as the Mackinac City Council and the Mackinac Island State Park Commission already regulate the operation of e-bikes on the island.
PASSED 65-44
HB 5379/5747: Fuel Tax Reciprocity
NO- Continuing to expand the distances for reciprocity agreements could lead to us forgoing the IFTA requirements altogether.
5379 PASSED 100-9
5747 PASSED 99-10
5030, 5031, 5032: MSHDA Administrative Reforms
NO- This will increase costs for MSHDA and could require additional bond sales. • MSHDA should have to cancel the bonds upon purchasing them, they should not be able to leverage this, if given the option to not cancel them.
5030 PASSED 59-49
5031 PASSED 56-53
5032 PASSED 60-48
SB 702: Increase Cosmetology Training Hours Requirements
NO- Why are cosmetologist instructors and manicurists being increased to a minimum of 600 hours, but estheticians are being increased to 750 hours? How many cosmetology students utilize federal financial aid currently? This policy leaves many questions unanswered. Why is our government working so hard to further entrench itself in stricter authority over non-governmental cosmetologists?
PASSED 93-16
SB 465: Snowplow Driving Restrictions
NO- A mandate to follow snowplows at a minimum of 200 feet is difficult for drivers to visualize/measure and could cause confusion and unintended violations of the law. Also, there might be certain situations in which following a snowplow at a distance less than 200 feet may be safer for drivers.
PASSED 80-29
SB 251: Eliminates the requirement for a bus to display the primary telephone number on both sides of the bus
YES- This bill cleans up the books to align with federal standards. Also, there have been reports of prank calls to motor carriers given the prominent display of the phone number. This bill would help motor carriers receive only legitimate information.
PASSED 110-0
SB 417: MSDHA Short Term Bond Financing
NO- Why do we need to dramatically increase the cap on outstanding loan commitments for a loan borrower from $25 million to $100 million? It would be in the best interest to facilitate any increase in an incremental, responsible timeline...if anything. Why are we only expanding this to include senior housing developments? This seems oddly narrow and tailored to a specific group of developers.
PASSED 58-51
HB 5569/5570: Civil liability/criminal penalties for dissemination of deep fake sexual images
YES- This is a small step towards eliminating the large amount of pornographic images thrusted upon Michigan residents. Advances in technology have made it more possible to produce pornographic photos and videos that depict a particular individual, even though the images are altered or faked. Individuals can suffer great harm to their reputations if such images are circulated widely on social media. The law should be changed to prohibit the production and publication of such pornographic images.
BOTH PASSED 108-2
HB 4427: FOIA Requests for Inmates
NO- This bill would significantly increase the requirements placed on public bodies. Incarcerated persons have a great deal of time to write and send public records requests, and many requests allowed by this bill will be dilatory and harassing. This bill places an undue burden on public bodies.
PASSED 56-53
HB 5546: Provide Michigan Beer & Soft Drink Distributors a Tax Credit Equal to ½ cent Per Returnable Container Sold
NO- Bottle Deposit Law is antiquated, hurts Michigan recycling efforts, has become convoluted with a myriad of regulatory requirements, and needs to be repealed. Forty states do not have a bottle deposit law and have recycling rates better than Michigan.
PASSED 103-7
HB 4630: Expand Michigan Department of Corrections to Include Juvenile Justice Task Force
NO- This bill only benefits the trial lawyers who would gain more public-funded (taxpayer funded) court-appointed legal work.
PASSED 79-31
HB 5179: Legalize Fentanyl Test Kits
YES- While these testing strips are used to test for harmful substances in controlled substances, they are not used as a drug nor as a method to use drugs and should not be considered drug paraphernalia if someone has it in their possession.
PASSED 77-32
HB 5110: The Unitrust Act
YES- Unitrusts in Michigan law will provide trustees with additional options to serve and protect the best interests of beneficiaries.
PASSED 109-0
SB 235: Designate Feb 1 as “Blue Star Mothers Day”
YES – Blue Star Mothers are mothers, stepmothers, grandmothers, foster mothers, or legal guardians with children serving, or having served, in the military, guard or reserves.
These mothers work tirelessly to support men and women who serve in our armed forces. Also, according to one of my colleagues, they welcome home returning veterans, visit wounded veterans in hospitals and rehab centers, and attend numerous ceremonies, rallies, and meetings.
These individuals have done a lot to serve our country, and this bill simply gives much deserved recognition.
PASSED 109-0
SB 603/604: Strip Election Fraud Oversight from Board of Canvassers
NO- These bills would strip away any current, time-honored law that gives the bipartisan county boards of canvassers in our state the authority to investigate fraud, wrongdoing, or a violation of the law in our elections. In ten different places, Senate Bill No. 603 deletes the words “fraud or mistake” and replaces them with the word “error.” In other places in the bill, it deletes even more language about “fraudulent” or “illegal” activity, and even about “ballot tampering.” These bills would essentially say we can’t even look at potential fraud or illegal activity during a recount, which seems very counterproductive. o Especially when Michigan has 104 percent of the voting-age population of our state registered to vote—104.5 percent. You don’t have to be a mathematician to know this is alarming. We also have no system to tell if someone votes in multiple states. The current Secretary of State failed to remove 170,000 names from the voting rolls of people who no longer lived in the state until after she was sued.
PASSED 56/53
5598/5599: Penalties for Fraudulent Deeds
YES- The bill provides clarity surrounding what activities constitute deed fraud. Allowing registers of deeds to provide evidence to county prosecutors can help root out deed fraud.
PASSED 109-0
SB 841, 842, 843: Criminal Penalty for Sex with Dead Bodies
YES-Michigan law should contain a penalty for necrophilia, and that someone who commits that crime should be required to register as a sex offender.
PASSED 109-0
All 2023 VOTES & REASONS: CLICK HERE
All 2024 VOTES & REASONS CLICK HERE
Sources:
(1) Business Subsidy Scorecard - Mackinac Center for Public Policy
(2) Legislation could bring $1B in transit funding to metro Detroit over next decade - Bridge Detroit
(3) Performance Audit of the 21st Century Job Trust Fund Programs - Michigan Strategic Fund - September 2013
(4) Office of the Auditor General Performance Report - Michigan Business Development Program - Michigan Strategic Fund Department of Talent and Economic Development - Published in January of 2019
(5) Handing Out Tax Breaks to Businesses Is Worse Than Useless: A new study exposes the futility of the $45 billion that states spend on economic development incentives by Bloomberg Magazine
(6) Legislation could bring $1B in transit funding to metro Detroit over next decade - Bridge Detroit Magazine
(7) Legislation could bring $1B in transit funding to metro Detroit over next decade - Bridge Detroit Magazine
(8) Report finds that Michigan has a $3.9 billion annual funding shortfall to fix roads and bridges - by Michigan Transportation Infrastructure Needs and Funding Solutions
(9) America's Top States for Business 2018 - A scorecard on state economic climate - CNBC News Report