LANSING - A sales tax increase to finance road construction and improvements would "put a dagger in the state's economic recovery," a letter from the Michigan Retailers Association to Governor Rick Snyder and the Legislature says. The letter, dated Wednesday and signed by James Hallan, CEO of the retailers association, said increasing the sales tax
LANSING - The conference report adopted for the Michigan higher education budget includes a 5.9 percent increase for universities and removes language that would have docked Michigan State University $500,000 for its role in a course regarding so-called "prohibited instruction activity" on unions. Overall, the items of difference amount to about $85.9 million gross (about
LANSING ? Michigan Senate Democrats and Republicans are clashing on whether a proposal to increase Michigan's sales tax is the right solution to build funding for roads, and Democrats won't back down on having a solution that includes some consideration for those with lower incomes that would be disproportionately affected by a tax increase. In
LANSING - The Tuition Grant program will likely see the same increase for the 2014-15 fiscal year as the state's 15 public universities. Sen. Tonya Schuitmaker (R-Lawton), chair of the Senate Appropriations Higher Education Subcommittee, said Monday the higher education increase would be at 6.1 percent including the Tuition Grant Program. Other sources were not
MACKINAC ISLAND - Insisting the state must find a way to finance at least $1.2 billion in transportation funding, Governor Rick Snyder said the 15.5 percent fuel tax Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville has called for would net the amount of revenue the state needs to help tackle the transportation issue. With the Legislature poised
MACKINAC ISLAND - Former Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels told a crowd at the Detroit Regional Chamber's Mackinac Policy Conference on Thursday that regardless of a person's political affiliation, providing first rate infrastructure is a responsibility of government. In 2006, Daniels said, Indiana got lucky and the time was right to lease one of its existing
MACKINAC ISLAND - Lt. Governor Brian Calley joined some House Democrats, business groups and local officials calling for the approval of Proposal 1, the proposal that would reimburse local communities the revenues lost form the personal property tax repeal. During a press conference at the Detroit Regional Chamber's Mackinac Policy Conference, Calley said the state
MACKINAC ISLAND - After interviewing both candidates, the Business Leaders for Michigan's Political Action Committee announced on Thursday its endorsement of Governor Rick Snyder for re-election in 2014. Cynthia Pasky, chair of the group's PAC, said during a news conference at the Detroit Regional Chamber's Mackinac Island Policy conference that in 2009, the Business Leaders
LANSING ? Nearly $1.4 million in government subsidies and loans will help build a 47,000 square foot grocery store in the City of Detroit. The Michigan Strategic Fund ponied up $834,800 in Community Revitalization Program incentives, while the City of Detroit, through the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, a $200,000 loan. Invest Detroit also provided a
LANSING - Michigan's minimum wage workers will see the first of several wage increases starting September 1 following the enactment Tuesday of a bipartisan deal to bring the state's minimum wage to $9.25 per hour by 2018 and, for the first time, tie the rate to inflation going forward. Not long after 8 p.m., Governor