Red Tape Blog hosted by Michigan State University
Items of interest to government documents librarians or government information managers in Michigan.
Updated: 1 year 42 weeks ago
Budget Debate Drags On
Despite long hours of intense bargaining that stretched late into the night Thursday, lawmakers and Gov. Jennifer Granholm again failed to reach accord on solving the state’s $1.8 billion fiscal crisis, which almost certainly will involve a major tax increase.
And the Oct. 1 deadline for enacting a revenue and spending plan — avoiding a government [...]
Categories: Government Documents Blogs
University Research Corridor Sparks Economy
The three universities that comprise the state's University Research Corridor are expected to release a report as soon as today, showing they're worth 68,800 Michigan jobs and $12.8 billion in annual economic impact.
Categories: Government Documents Blogs
State Rep. Jones Introduces Bill to Add the Names of Juvenile Offenders to the Public Sex Offender Registry
State Rep. Rick Jones, R-Grand Ledge, is drafting a bill that would allow the names of teenagers convicted of violent sexual crimes to be placed on the Michigan public sex offender registry regardless of their juvenile status.
Categories: Government Documents Blogs
Should All Names on Michigan’s Public Sex Offender Registry Be Made Public?
You won’t find Matthew E. Macon’s name on the Michigan public sex offender registry.
That’s despite court records that show when he was 14 he sexually assaulted a child under 13 with a stick.
Macon appears on a hidden list - a list that can be seen only by law enforcement. And he’s not the only one.
Almost [...]
Categories: Government Documents Blogs
Competing Plans for Hoffmaster State Park Cause Controversy
A branch of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources is seeking final approval of a $280,000 grant for a new boardwalk intended to help prevent further erosion of Holland State Park’s Mount Pisgah dune.
Another branch of the agency, however, has listed for possible sale a state-owned lot that would provide public access to the project.
“This [...]
Categories: Government Documents Blogs
Dogfighting In Michigan Expose
Once thought of as confined mainly to the rural South, dogfighting is a growing national phenomenon that cuts across social, economic and racial lines, and experts say the Detroit area is a hotbed for it.
Categories: Government Documents Blogs
Can Smuggling Near Michigan’s Southern Borders Drains Deposit Fund
State lawmakers said they’ll move to stop the smuggling of tens of millions of beverage cans and bottles into the state from Ohio and Indiana by people who cash in on Michigan’s 10-cent deposit refund.
The lawmakers said Thursday that smuggled cans and bottles cost Michigan’s treasury and hurt beer and pop sellers who shell out [...]
Categories: Government Documents Blogs
The Scoop on Gift Card Expiration Dates
Meanwhile, legislation that would eliminate expiration dates on gift cards languishes in committee …
In the spring, Carolyn Graham of East Lansing bought a $100 gift card to Becky Beauchine Kulka Diamonds & Fine Jewelry during the WKAR-TV auction.
She didn’t pay much attention to the expiration date until last weekend. That’s when she noticed that the [...]
Categories: Government Documents Blogs
LSJ on Michigan’s New Primary Date
The voters of Michigan may notice how little they count in the ongoing fight over presidential primaries for the state.
This week, Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed into law a bill that creates a 2008 presidential primary voting day on Jan. 15. It’s not the best bill. In fact, it’s a horrible bill. But one thing Granholm [...]
Categories: Government Documents Blogs
Income Tax Hike Is the Easiest Solution to State’s Budget Crisis
As lawmakers look for new revenue to help close a nearly $1.8 billion gap in Michigan’s upcoming budget, some Capitol observers say an increase in the state income tax is a logical choice.
Economists and others say the increase, once enacted, would be relatively easy to put in place, would be spread over a broad base [...]
Categories: Government Documents Blogs
Would $1.5 Billion Tax Hike Hurt Michigan?
For more than a quarter of a century, I have focused my research on understanding the effects of taxes. Do taxes matter? Of course they do.
But it’s important to keep things in perspective as the governor and Legislature debate how to balance the state budget and avoid an estimated shortfall of $1.8 billion for the [...]
Categories: Government Documents Blogs
Restoring Great Lakes Would Bring Region $50 Billion in Economic Gain
The Brookings Institution has released a new report that quantifies the economic benefit to the region of restoring the Great Lakes. The numbers tell a compelling story:
$50 billion in long-term benefit.
$24 billion net gain to the region.
Cited report : America’s North Coast : A Benefit-Cost Analysis of a Program to Protect and Restore the [...]
Categories: Government Documents Blogs
Michigan Cyber Safety Initiative Announced
Online predators have a language all their own.
That’s a lesson that Michigan school kids will learn somewhere between their ABCs and don’t-talk-to-strangers under a new Internet predator education program unveiled Wednesday by Attorney General Mike Cox.
The Michigan Cyber Safety Initiative aims to teach kids how to recognize the language of Internet predators and protect themselves [...]
Categories: Government Documents Blogs
Thoughts on Sentencing Reform
After Lansing police arrested state prison parolee Matthew Macon last week as a suspect in the murders of five women, state Sen. Alan Cropsey, R-DeWitt, promptly pronounced overdue sentencing reforms dead.
Like most Republicans, however, Cropsey had already opposed sentencing reforms that would save the state a much needed $100 million by diverting some minor offenders [...]
Categories: Government Documents Blogs
Voter ID Guidelines Released
Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land on Wednesday released guidelines for implementing the state’s voter ID law, set for use for the first time in local elections Nov. 6.
Land said the 1996 law, upheld by the Michigan Supreme Court earlier this year, requires voters to produce current photo identification or sign a statement stating they [...]
Categories: Government Documents Blogs
Talk of Sales Tax Hike Fizzles
The tax-hike door opened briefly at the state Capitol on Wednesday, as legislative leaders considered asking voters to approve a one-penny sales tax increase to deal with the state budget crisis.
But by late in the day, it appeared no one was prepared to walk through — at least not in time to meet today’s deadline [...]
Categories: Government Documents Blogs
Former Governors Urge Action on Resolving State Budget Impasse
Former Govs. William Milliken and James Blanchard urged immediate action Wednesday on moves to address state government’s looming budget crisis, calling for tax hikes, spending reform, government consolidation and cuts in spending on health care and prisons.
Milliken and Blanchard, who headed up a financial crisis review team for Gov. Jennifer Granholm in January, said in [...]
Categories: Government Documents Blogs
Republicans Criticize Detroit River International Crossing Study (DRIC)
Republicans say Detroit-Windsor traffic is declining, and that a publicly funded bridge across the Detroit River is unnecessary. They call the DRIC study a waste of taxpayers’ money at a time when the state budget is severely strained.
Categories: Government Documents Blogs
Bill Introduced To Slow Down Copper Thefts
In hopes of thwarting what he calls an epidemic of copper thefts, Sen. Buzz Thomas, D-Detroit, introduced legislation that would require scrap metal dealers to be licensed and monitored by the state.
Thomas, citing a Monday Free Press story detailing the recent surge in copper thefts, said he first learned of the problem last year from [...]
Categories: Government Documents Blogs
DNR Seeking Comments on Use of Chemicals In State Forests
Several readers e-mailed to ask about an item on the Department of Natural Resources Web site that asks for public comment on the “derogation” of five chemicals for use in forestry.
Derogation simply means deviating from a standard and using something in a way that it is not used normally or hasn’t been used before.
Dennis Nezich, [...]
Categories: Government Documents Blogs


