LANSING - Significant cuts are in the offing for the Michigan 2009-10 budget, Governor Jennifer Granholm said Tuesday, and nothing is off the table in terms of resolving the fiscal plan including cuts to K-12 school aid and consolidating departments. No cuts to school funding should be needed for the remainder of the 2008-09 fiscal
LANSING - Though Michigan Occupational Health and Safety Administration officials argue there is still some time before ergonomics rules would become effective and still a chance they will not happen, business groups argued Friday that a vote to move ahead with the rules Wednesday by the two commissions that launched their creation would guarantee the
LANSING - Government employees and retirees across the state would have to pay 25 percent of the cost of their health care coverage under a ballot proposal former Rep. Lorence Wenke is working on. As a member of the Legislature last term, Wenke introduced several bills that would have put into place the 25 percent
LANSING - The Michigan Petroleum Association/Michigan Association of Convenience Stores is calling on the Legislature not to pass a series of bills backed by road building and various business groups that they say would mean Michigan drivers would pay the highest fuel taxes in the country. Should HB 4575 , HB 4577 , HB 6749
DETROIT - The 2008 Election and the Future of Labor and Employment Law: What will President Obama and the new Congress do is the focus of a Butzel Long complimentary program on Dec. 18. The Obama victory and a filibuster-proof, or effectively filibuster-proof, Senate could mean the most change in federal labor and employment law
LANSING - Administration and legislative officials have been meeting continuously on proposed executive order budget cuts and as soon as the different sides reach an agreement, Governor Jennifer Granholm will issue a letter informing the Legislature that the cuts are being issued, but the Senate leader said Thursday that his chamber will take up the
LANSING - Legislation providing early voting in Michigan, which languished in committee since testimony was taken earlier this year, may see some action this week in the House. HB 4090 , which requires clerks to be open for voting a week before each election, is expected to be reported out of the House Ethics and
LANSING - Governor Jennifer Granholm will be in Philadelphia next week for a National Governors Association meeting where President-elect Barack Obama will talk with the state leaders about the challenges they face in the current economic environment. Vice President-elect Joe Biden will also be at the meeting Tuesday. Obama officials said the topic will be
LIVONIA - Michigan's now 16-year experiment with term limits is a major reason for divisive politics in the state and endangers its future, former Governor William Milliken said at a dinner in his honor. But he raised hopes that the election of Barack Obama as America's next president is a signal that the public is
LANSING - Michigan faces further economic calamity if it does not significantly boost spending on transportation, contends a report from the state's Transportation Funding Task Force, which listed a series of proposed tax changes and increases, along with improved government efficiencies, that it said would boost funding on the state's transport system. There was no