Rick Pluta

This week: punishment, planning and politics. Republicans in the state Legislature are saber rattling, threatening school districts, public universities, and local governments with funding cuts if they agree to extended contracts with their employee unions that are meant to delay the effects of Michigan’s right-to-work law. Let’s call them “right-to-work around” contracts.

Michigan officially becomes a right-to-work state next week. That’s when the new controversial law goes into effect. Unions will no longer be allowed to require compulsory dues or fees – unless there is already a contract in place by next Thursday that allows that to continue. The contracts clause of the U.S. Constitution says state laws cannot “impair” existing contracts. So, any contracts in effect next Thursday will remain in effect as negotiated for the duration of the contract.

But Republicans are putting language into recent budget bills that would sanction public employers with funding cuts unless they achieve big savings. Meanwhile, there are policy implications to these negotiations. School districts, for example, are using them to retire budget deficits and delay pay increases. These funding threats from Lansing are also taking some potential school reforms off the table. Things like year-round schools, which would probably add costs for things like summer air conditioning to a school district’s budget.

Action-Reaction. Some of these are un-intended consequences of plans made well in advance of last December when Republicans and Governor Rick Snyder sprung right to work. And, this all wasn’t just launched out-of-the-blue. The right-to-work “conspiracy” was hatched long before last December. Republican leaders, former Michigan Republican Chairman Ron Weiser, Dick and Betsy DeVos, had a multi-faceted plan in place. First, it was find or create an opportunity to get right-to-work onto the agenda (thank you, unions and Proposal Two).

Michigan will be part of the federal government’s health insurance exchange, instead of being a partner in a joint effort.

That’s because the state Senate began its spring break yesterday without meeting a deadline to vote on accepting federal funds for the project.

Republicans in the state Senate defied the wishes of Governor Snyder and a lot of business groups by refusing federal funding for a joint federal-state health insurance exchange.

That’s where customers will go to comparison shop for coverage. Instead, Michigan customers will shop on the federal government’s exchange.

The state Senate Health Policy Committee has approved a measure that allows health care providers and insurance companies to deny patients medical treatments if they have a moral objection.

Committee approval puts the bill in line for a vote by the full Senate.

Republican state Senator John Moolenaar says there is an exception in the bill if a patient faces a medical emergency.

“If there was an emergency, health care services would be provided regardless of violations of conscience. In the case of a specific person, no person would be denied services based on personal characteristics.”

Moolenar says that ensures health care providers cannot discriminate against particular patients.

State Senator Rebekuh Warren is a Democrat who sits on the Senate Health Policy Committee.

She says patients facing a health crisis could still be denied services in some cases. She says that’s why she voted against the bill.

“This would allow health insurance payers, whole healthcare systems, hospital systems, doctors’ offices, medical schools, educational institutions to cloak themselves in a conscientious objection and refuse to give treatment, even emergency treatment, to people who need care.”

A health care professional who refuses to offer a service would have to refer patients to to a provider who does offer the treatment. The full state Senate could vote on the measure when it returns from a two-week spring break. 

Michigan already allows health professionals to refuse to provide abortions.

A state House subcommittee has stripped a provision from a budget bill to expand Michigan’s Medicaid program.

The money to add more than 400 thousand people to Medicaid would come from the federal government under the new national healthcare law.

Some Republicans say they don’t trust Washington to keep that promise or that they want to see some changes to Medicaid before they’ll support it.

Roger Martin is the spokesman for a coalition of businesses and healthcare providers that supports the expansion. He says concerns that the federal government will eventually cut off the money is unfounded.

“I can’t name one instance where the federal government has made a promise in law, that was affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court, the Congress and the president had, and then pulled the plug on. I can’t name one. So basically I think it’s a Trojan horse argument.”

Governor Rick Snyder says he expects the Legislature will ultimately accept federal money to expand Michigan’s Medicaid program

“This is just a part of the legislative process. There are usually some challenges. But, again, the track record’s good about overcoming barriers. Do you get everything you want? Not necessarily, but you work hard and achieve the goals that really count – relentless positive action.”

Governor Rick Snyder called for the Medicaid expansion in his new budget proposal. He considers the subcommittee action a temporary setback.

Last year, Michigan enacted a law that requires insurance companies to cover childhood autism treatments.

Today, the Michigan Department of Community Health will roll out its autism coverage plan.

There are about 50,000 people in Michigan with autism.  It’s a disorder that effects communication and social skills.

The path of emergency management in Detroit is packed with political peril and promise (we decided to be quite alliterative this week). As Joe Biden once said, “This is a big deal.”

An Emergency Manager for the state’s largest city: It’s big. It’s complicated. Success would be sweet, but it’s certainly not guaranteed.

You could say Governor Rick Snyder now owns the city of Detroit, or at least its problems. And yet, his fate -  his political fate, the fate of his aspiration to be the governor who finally fixes Detroit - is now in the hands of someone else: Kevyn Orr. Orr was named Emergency Manager yesterday afternoon in Detroit. Orr’s success or failure will be Rick Snyder’s success or failure.

There’s already been a lot of talk about what this means for Rick Snyder’s future as he gets ready to run for reelection next year. And opinions are mixed. One take: The governor looks assertive and he’s taking action, which helps him regardless of the result. The other side: He’s taking a big risk and can be tagged as a failure if Detroit isn’t showing some real improvement by next spring or summer.

Here’s what’s difficult about any analysis of this situation: Ceteris paribus. It’s a common Latin phrase that economists use. It means “all things being equal.” And any analysis of any individual situation has to assume there’s some stability in the circumstances surrounding it. And in politics that’s not the case. Ever. There are always moving parts that are forcing other moving parts into new directions.

A Republican state lawmaker wants school officials to justify employee contracts that could be used to skirt Michigan’s new right-to-work law.

The right-to-work law takes effect March 28. It allows workers to opt out of paying union dues and fees, but it cannot supersede existing contracts.

School officials in some Michigan districts have negotiated concessions with unions in exchange for dues arrangements that last as long as 10 years.

Schools have used the negotiations to get concessions on salaries and work rules.

State Representative Tom McMillin (R-Rochester Hills) is calling school officials before his oversight committee.

He says he wants them to prove taxpayers are getting their money’s worth out of the contracts.

He just called officials from Warren Consolidated Schools before his committee for a hearing in two weeks, but he cannot compel anyone to show up.

Earlier Taylor school officials declined to appear.

Wayne State University has yet to answer his request to have officials come before his committee to explain its employee contracts.

The political chattering class is busy today in Michigan talking about Senator Carl Levin – retiring after three decades in the US Senate. Politicos are remembering a long and distinguished career – a career, we should mention, that is certainly not yet over. Senator Levin still has another 20 months before the end of his term. But if we’re honest – really honest – this announcement kicks off the insider talk about who will run to replace him. Right now, that’s a delicate subject: sort of like talking about what’s in the will while you’re still at the funeral. But, the plotting has already begun… this is politics, after all.

It would be somewhat uncouth - slightly tacky - for anyone to publicly express interest in the seat this soon. But, let’s just say, anyone who has not taken themselves out is either in or thinking about it. On the Democratic side, we’ve got Congressman Gary Peters and Democratic National Committeewoman and southeast Michigan power broker Debbie Dingell. On the Republican side we’ve got Congressman Justin Amash, former Sectary of State Terri Lynn Land and Lieutenant Governor Brian Calley.

Calley, however, is in a bit of an awkward position if his name keeps getting mentioned.  Attorney General Bill Schuette made sure he took his own name out of consideration very quickly. For his office, like lieutenant governor and secretary of state, the nomination is made at a party convention. If Schuette, Calley or Secretary of State Ruth Johnson keep popping up on people’s lists of possible Senate candidates, that invites an effort for other contenders for their jobs to organize a convention challenge – which is just a couple thousand people; something that’s do-able for a lot of people who might not have the wherewithal to organizer a primary campaign. So, some possible contenders really have to decide quickly: fish or cut bait. It may be an honor to be mentioned… but that doesn’t necessarily make it a good thing.

A federal judge in Michigan could rule as soon as Thursday on a challenge to the state's ban on same-sex marriage and civil unions. The challenge comes as the U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear two cases dealing with gay marriage later this month.

In the Michigan case, a lesbian couple sued not because they want to be married, but because they want to be parents.

Governor Rick Snyder is pushing lawmakers to act soon to adopt a plan to raise more than a billion dollars in new revenue for roads and transportation projects.

He wants a revenue package ready in time to for projects to begin in the coming spring and summer construction season.

A deal does not seem to be near, but lawmakers are discussing different ideas.

The governor says that’s promising.

"Obviously, there are pros and cons to any approach. There are no perfect answers, but there are good answers that should be possible out of this," said Snyder.

The governor says he’s pleased there seems to be general agreement that roads need to be fixed - even if there’s no agreement yet on how to pay for it.

One proposal would raise the sales tax by a one cent.

That would have to approved  by voters.

That idea would have to clear the Legislature this week to appear on the ballot in May.

Democrats in the Michigan Legislature and a nurses’ union are calling for a state law that would require hospitals to maintain staff levels without resorting to mandatory overtime.

Sixteen states currently have rules regarding staff-to-patient ratios.

Right now, California is the only state with a law that sets minimum staffing levels in hospitals.

State Representative Jon Switalski (D-Warren) is about to introduce legislation to set staffing requirements in emergency rooms and other hospital wards.

“Nurse staffing can literally be a life-or-death issue and affects families from Detroit to the Upper Peninsula,” said Switalski.

Scott Nesbit is a registered nurse from Muskegon. He says he and other nurses have experienced mistakes or a “very near miss” caused by short-staffing.

“I don’t think people realize that when your nurse is handling far too many patients, or working a double-shift or been mandated to stay over, it’s probably because the hospital wants it that way,” said Nesbit.

Similar legislation has failed in previous sessions of the Legislature.

The Michigan Health & Hospitals Association opposes the idea.

The group says a law that sets staffing requirements would rob administrators of the flexibility they need to meet different situations. The association says the bigger problem is a shortage of trained nurses.

Anyone in need of a biscuit? A lump of sugar? Grab a cuppa, because it’s time for a Tea Party edition of It’s Just Politics. And we think this classic quote from Maxwell Smart kind of sums up this past week for the Tea Party in Michigan: “Missed it by this much…”

A Tea Party insurgency at last weekend’s state Republican convention came very close to unseating incumbent Michigan Republican Party Chairman Bobby Schostak.

“Missed it by this much…”

For whatever reasons, Schostak has never been able to convince a wide swath of the Tea Party that he’s one of them. Also, Governor Rick Snyder – once again – bucked the Tea Party to back the Medicaid expansion (an option part of Obamacare). The state would get federal money to add hundreds of thousands of people to Medicaid. It’s part of the Governor’s budget. He’s still trying to sell that. But this week, the state House Republican leadership did something that for the last two years was unthinkable – it passed legislation with a majority made up of more Democrats than Republicans.

Twenty-nine House Republicans nervously brushed off a full-throttled Tea Party effort to reject federal funds to set up a partnership online exchange – between the state and the federal government –to sell health insurance. Another big part of Obamacare.

A one-judge grand jury has granted itself more time to investigate a party-switch and election-rigging scandal that includes state House Speaker Jase Bolger.

The investigation was supposed to wrap up this week. Almost everything about the grand jury’s inquiry is secret.

In fact, the order extending the investigation was signed and filed 20 days before it was made public by the Ingham County Circuit Court.

Judge Rosemary Aquilina is looking into whether any laws were broken as House Speaker Jase Bolger and state Representative Roy Schmidt plotted Schmidt’s jump to the Republican Party last year and also to avoid any serious opposition when he ran for  re-election.

 A Kent County investigation found the episode was unethical, but not illegal. This inquiry was requested by state Democratic Party leaders.

The extension allows the grand jury to continue to call witnesses and subpoena records through August 22nd.

Governor Rick Snyder has appointed David Viviano to fill a recently vacated seat on the Michigan Supreme Court.

The 41-year-old is currently Chief Judge of the Macomb County Circuit Court.

Snyder says Viviano is a "rule of law" type of judge.

“He knows the role the judiciary has, which is to look at the law and make sure it's fairly and impartially applied,” Snyder said at a press conference announcing the appointment this afternoon.

Governor Rick Snyder has called for a review of how Michigan provides mental health services.

The governor has signed two executive orders to come up with recommendations.The executive orders create two separate commissions.

Both of them will be led by Lieutenant Governor Brian Calley.

One major goal is to identify gaps that send people to jails and prisons instead of to programs that could treat their illnesses.

The plans also include teaching police, teachers, and clergy to spot signs of mental illness, earlier intervention for children with mental health issues, and helping more people get into treatment instead of being sent to jail or prison.

Administration officials say this will be the first thorough review of mental health services in Michigan since the state shut down its psychiatric hospitals in favor of community-based programs in the early 1990’s