Sunshine Week

This week the nation commemorates "Sunshine Week," when we celebrate the annual push for more transparency and openness in government. But, there is a problem. Where is the glitch? Read on...

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It is Time to Let the Sunshine in on State Spending Habits

Sunshine Week was begun six years ago in Florida, after legislators there tried to clamp down on information available to the public. Journalists rebelled, and so did the public. I think we need a similar rebellion in Michigan.

Taxpayers want to know why we spend money on things like cable television for prisoners and taxpayer funded lobbyists and frankly, so do I.

Right now, finding these answers is next to impossible. The governor says you can find her office's spending online already, but you'll having better luck finding Jimmy Hoffa's final resting place.

Last summer, House Republicans proposed the Michigan Government Funding Accountability and Transparency Act. Think of it as 'Google Government.'

The FAT Act is modeled on bipartisan legislation passed by Congress and signed into law.  Twenty states have already enacted or introduced similar legislation. But the Speaker of the Michigan House, supported by his govenor, has refused to let the legislation out for a hearing.

This spending transparency effort is consistent with the Founding Fathers' notion of accountable government: It was Thomas Jefferson, who once said: "We might hope to see the finances of the Union as clear and intelligible as a merchant's book, so that every member of Congress and every man of any mind in the Union should be able to comprehend them, to investigate abuses, and consequently to control them."

The Democrats say it is too costly to implement transparency. Really? Consider the following:

• The Oklahoma website, which just went live on December 28, 2007 and can be accessed at www.openbooks.ok.gov, initially carried a price tag of $300,000. In the end the implementing agency reported that the website cost only $8,000 plus expended staff time.

• The Missouri Accountability Portal, http://mapyourtaxes.mo.gov an expenditure website created via executive order by Gov. Matt Blunt, was created without the appropriation of a single additional tax dollar.
  

• Even the federal grant and contract website which was unveiled in December and is accessible at www.USASpending.gov was put together at a price tag of less than $1 million - and that covers grants and contracts of the entire federal government. The software that was used to create the federal site will soon be available as open source software.

Michigan taxpayers deserve and have the right to know how their money is spent and I therefore urge that the governor stop thwarting the effort to provide Michigan citizens with the tool to do so.

Continued Reports of DHS inefficiency

I have reported here before that the Michigan Department of Human Services is woefully inefficient.  We just received a new audit from the Office of the Auditor General (OAG). Unfortunately, things have not improved. Read on...

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Gongwer News Reports: DHS Inefficient, Costing the State Millions

Here are excerpts from a story from the March 12 Gongwer News.

AUDIT: DHS INEFFICIENT IN WELFARE PAYMENTS, COSTING STATE MILLIONS

The Department of Human Services (DHS) is struggling to accurately and timely identify who is qualified to receive assistance, costing the state millions in misspent assistance dollars and millions more in potential federal sanctions and lost incentives, said a report from Auditor General (OAG) Thomas McTavish released on Friday.

DHS, which is responsible for determining eligibility for cash, food assistance, childcare and Medicaid cases, didn't effectively catch or fix errors in determination in the four years reviewed by the audit, from October 2002 through November 2006, the audit said.

Among the chief finds of auditors was that DHS mistakenly sent out payments in fiscal year 2006-06 in 7.5 percent of cases, which the report attributed to ever increasing caseloads from workers.

Although DHS has made strides in its system, the error rate in Michigan in 2005-06 was still 1.5 percent higher than the federal government tolerates, opening the state to economic sanctions much like the $89 million the federal government initiated for the fiscal years 1995-02.

Not only is Michigan inaccurate in its approvals but it's slow, too, the report said.

Michigan ranks 45th in its turnaround time with 81 percent of clients receiving approvals within the 30 days required by the federal government. That compares to Massachusetts, which ranked first and informs nearly 99 percent of its clients about
their case status within a month.

In order to progress further, DHS said, it needs more "resources," because, although officials agreed with many of the audit's suggestions, they can't comply with them without more funds.

Among the fixes the department said it would initiate with more money is a study of how many workers it needs to handle caseloads and what tasks could be done by other staff members to increase worker availability for clients.

With more than 75 percent of workers and 87 percent of managers reporting that caseloads are too high, the study will likely find that more staff is needed, but the department said it can't hire more workers without additional funding.

As usual, the Department immediately cries "We need more money! We need more staff!" They told the OAG they would use additional dollars to "do a study".  In fact, the OAG said that "DHS did not conduct a workload analysis to determine optimal
caseworker staffing levels" and not only did they not do that last year, they hadn't done it in 2001-02 after being told they should by the Auditor General. So now they say they will if we give them more money?

You may read the audit for yourself. Here is the link

Does DHS need more staff? Do they have too many managers and not enough case workers? It is hard to get those answers; the Department is not forthcoming. The bottom line is the Department of Human Services has been woefully inefficient and inept for years and it continues to be in spite of repeated Audit Reports reporting the problem and even suggesting the solution. This is a problem that cannot be fixed by the OAG and it cannot be fixed by the Legislature. It must be addressed by the "Executive". That's right folks; I am talking about the governor and her department heads.

I hate to sound like a broken record, but my Transparency bill, which would expose the entire state budget, including that of the DHS, to the sunshine for everyone to see and closely examine, would go a long way toward resolving many of these
issues.

On March 12, 2008, a joint committee of the Legislature met to ask for answers from the Department. What was their answer? We need more staff. We need more time. We are implementing a new program in the NEXT TWO YEARS. Once we have that in place, it will be better.

Here is hoping that Director Ismael Ahmed, the recently appointed Director of DHS can effectively address the issue.

This is how state government does business

HB5221 - Introduced on September 15, 2007, to provide the “template” or “place holder” for a Fiscal Year 2007-2008 capital outlay budget. This bill contains no appropriations, but may be amended to include them. It was introduced two weeks before the Oct. 1, 2007 deadline for adopting a 2007-2008 budget, with no agreement in sight regarding how to close a $1.7 billion gap between desired spending and expected revenue in this and preceding year’s budgets. The bill could be a “vehicle” for an eventual solution, or could become a short term “continuation budget” if a deal is not reached by Oct. 1.

The Detroit News did a story on this capital outlay project. It is all for public university buildings. Read the story below.

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080303/SCHOOLS/803030377
YPSILANTI -- After a funding dry spell, the state is gearing up for the largest higher education building boom ever in an effort to kick-start the economy and replace some deteriorating campus buildings.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm has recommended nearly $1 billion in construction projects at 10 universities and 15 community colleges, including a biology building at University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, a biomedical research building at Wayne State University and expansion of the engineering and plant sciences buildings at Michigan State University.

I also not the following from the University of Michigan endowment website:
ANN ARBOR, Mich.—The University of Michigan's endowment grew from $5.7 billion to $7.1 billion in the 2007 fiscal year, benefiting from a 25.6 percent investment return and strong contributions from alumni and other donors, according to the annual Report on Investments presented by Regent Rebecca McGowan, chair of the Finance, Audit and Investment Committee, to the Regents at its meeting today (Oct. 25, 2007).

This is how state government does business

HB5221 - Introduced on September 15, 2007, to provide the “template” or “place holder” for a Fiscal Year 2007-2008 capital outlay budget. This bill contains no appropriations, but may be amended to include them. It was introduced two weeks before the Oct. 1, 2007 deadline for adopting a 2007-2008 budget, with no agreement in sight regarding how to close a $1.7 billion gap between desired spending and expected revenue in this and preceding year’s budgets. The bill could be a “vehicle” for an eventual solution, or could become a short term “continuation budget” if a deal is not reached by Oct. 1.

The Detroit News did a story on this capital outlay project. It is all for public university buildings. Read the story below.

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080303/SCHOOLS/803030377
YPSILANTI -- After a funding dry spell, the state is gearing up for the largest higher education building boom ever in an effort to kick-start the economy and replace some deteriorating campus buildings.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm has recommended nearly $1 billion in construction projects at 10 universities and 15 community colleges, including a biology building at University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, a biomedical research building at Wayne State University and expansion of the engineering and plant sciences buildings at Michigan State University.

I also not the following from the University of Michigan endowment website:
ANN ARBOR, Mich.—The University of Michigan's endowment grew from $5.7 billion to $7.1 billion in the 2007 fiscal year, benefiting from a 25.6 percent investment return and strong contributions from alumni and other donors, according to the annual Report on Investments presented by Regent Rebecca McGowan, chair of the Finance, Audit and Investment Committee, to the Regents at its meeting today (Oct. 25, 2007).

Letter from an Alert Reader

What brought me to write you was the renewal of my sailboat registration. I don't want to pay more in fees (taxes) than I have to, but the renewal for 3 years comes to a total of $9.00 (three dollars a year for three years!) I figure it costs a good portion of that nine bucks just to get the form to me, process the form, send out the competed paperwork and the stickers. Come to think of it, I remember reading that the average business letter cost over $10.00 to send out, when you consider the personnel and overhead.

So here we have a state in financial trouble, charging nine bucks/three years for a sticker on a sailboat. Maybe they should consolidate the billing for a ten year sticker, or something that at least covers the cost, and make something for the till. Or maybe we should consider that there is little gained by registering a sailboat: no safety inspection, no safety course requirement, nothing at all and therefore, maybe we should do away with the requirement completely, unless it’s just a revenue stream for the state instead.

Letter from an Alert Reader

What brought me to write you was the renewal of my sailboat registration. I don't want to pay more in fees (taxes) than I have to, but the renewal for 3 years comes to a total of $9.00 (three dollars a year for three years!) I figure it costs a good portion of that nine bucks just to get the form to me, process the form, send out the competed paperwork and the stickers. Come to think of it, I remember reading that the average business letter cost over $10.00 to send out, when you consider the personnel and overhead.

So here we have a state in financial trouble, charging nine bucks/three years for a sticker on a sailboat. Maybe they should consolidate the billing for a ten year sticker, or something that at least covers the cost, and make something for the till. Or maybe we should consider that there is little gained by registering a sailboat: no safety inspection, no safety course requirement, nothing at all and therefore, maybe we should do away with the requirement completely, unless it’s just a revenue stream for the state instead.

When assault is REALLY assault

Assault and battery is a bad thing. It is against the law. Anyone who assaults or batters someone should be properly charged and tried. That is where the judge (and possibly the jury) steps in to deliberate and decide the guilt or innocence and apply the appropriate sentence depending on the circumstances. For instance, if you assault one person standing on the street, should that be handled differently than an assault of a bus driver who is driving a bus load of fare paying customers? Perhaps so. That is why we have judges, to make "judgements". They are entrusted with the responsibility to review the facts of the case and upon a guilty verdict apply the appropriate sentence.

Ah, but here comes the House of Representatives to save the day! Judges just don't seem to have the ability to make wise judgements anymore. But they don't have to. We now have HB 5560, 5561 and 5562.

HB 5560 would:
- Create a new crime if an individual assaults and batters an employee of a public transit authority who is operating a public transit vehicle or performing duties associated with operation of such a vehicle and causes any physical injury.
- Also include an assault and battery, causing physical injury, upon an individual who is a passenger on a public transit vehicle or is entering into or existing from a public transit vehicle.
- Create a felony penalty punishable by imprisonment for up to 4 years and a fine up to $2,000.
HB 5561 would:
- Prescribe sentencing guidelines for assault or battery of a public transit employee or passenger causing injury. The felony is categorized as a "person" felony and classified as a level "F" felony.
HB 5562 would:
- Create a new crime if an individual, causing physical injury, assault and batters another who is in a location designated for use by public transit vehicles in picking up or discharging passengers. - Also include an assault and battery, causing physical injury, if the victim is in a facility or area owned or operated by a public transit authority and that is used for in providing public transportation to the general public, including a parking lot for visitors.
- Create a felony penalty punishable by imprisonment for up to 4 years and a fine up to $2,000.

It's too bad the Legislature has to micromanage criminal law and procedure. Warning to prison wardens across the state: make room in your crowded penitentiaries. The bus-driver beaters are coming.

When assault is REALLY assault

Assault and battery is a bad thing. It is against the law. Anyone who assaults or batters someone should be properly charged and tried. That is where the judge (and possibly the jury) steps in to deliberate and decide the guilt or innocence and apply the appropriate sentence depending on the circumstances. For instance, if you assault one person standing on the street, should that be handled differently than an assault of a bus driver who is driving a bus load of fare paying customers? Perhaps so. That is why we have judges, to make "judgements". They are entrusted with the responsibility to review the facts of the case and upon a guilty verdict apply the appropriate sentence.

Ah, but here comes the House of Representatives to save the day! Judges just don't seem to have the ability to make wise judgements anymore. But they don't have to. We now have HB 5560, 5561 and 5562.

HB 5560 would:
- Create a new crime if an individual assaults and batters an employee of a public transit authority who is operating a public transit vehicle or performing duties associated with operation of such a vehicle and causes any physical injury.
- Also include an assault and battery, causing physical injury, upon an individual who is a passenger on a public transit vehicle or is entering into or existing from a public transit vehicle.
- Create a felony penalty punishable by imprisonment for up to 4 years and a fine up to $2,000.
HB 5561 would:
- Prescribe sentencing guidelines for assault or battery of a public transit employee or passenger causing injury. The felony is categorized as a "person" felony and classified as a level "F" felony.
HB 5562 would:
- Create a new crime if an individual, causing physical injury, assault and batters another who is in a location designated for use by public transit vehicles in picking up or discharging passengers. - Also include an assault and battery, causing physical injury, if the victim is in a facility or area owned or operated by a public transit authority and that is used for in providing public transportation to the general public, including a parking lot for visitors.
- Create a felony penalty punishable by imprisonment for up to 4 years and a fine up to $2,000.

It's too bad the Legislature has to micromanage criminal law and procedure. Warning to prison wardens across the state: make room in your crowded penitentiaries. The bus-driver beaters are coming.

Taxpayer Funded Lobbying

I am sure you know what a lobbyist is. It is someone who is paid by a client to represent that client to the legislature. Everybody has one or more. The Chamber of Commerce, the Michigan Education Association, the Small Business Association, etc. all advocate for or against pending legislation and seek favorable treatment by the legislature. Sometimes they lobby for more funding.  But would you expect departments of state government to have lobbyists? Read on...

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How Your Tax Dollars are Used to Spend Your Tax Dollars

If a department of state government thinks their budget is about to be cut, what can they do to ensure the taxpayer's spigot of money stays wide open? One creative method is to hire a lobbyist. Several government entities, the Department of the Treasury, Department of Environmental Quality, the Department of State Police, Department of Education and even the Executive Office of the Governor, are doing just that. They are using your tax dollars to hire lobbyists who pressure the legislature to spend more of your money on growing their budgets.

That's right. Executive departments of government are spending YOUR money to lobby the government! Let that sink in for a minute.

These departments spent over $320,000 on lobbying last year. That is a 20% increase over the previous year! So in a year of supposed budget shortfalls and impending "budgetary disasters", government agencies found enough extra change in your sofa cushions to hire lobbyists who worked the halls of the legislature to ask for more of YOUR money.

Let's look at one of the largest offenders: Higher Education. Over $1.8 BILLION of you tax dollars are used on higher ed. And yet, virtually every public university has at least one lobbyist, each of whom is working hard to get more money for their
respective schools. What is especially frustrating about this is the Constitution says we have to fund public universities but then says we cannot tell them how to spend it. Higher Education uses taxpayer dollars to lobby for more taxpayer dollars,
and they don't even have to tell the legislature how they plan to use the money. If they want to build a new multi-million dollar home for a university president, or teach useless courses that force students to take five years to achieve their four-year degree, they can. After holding legislators hostage and labeling them as anti-education, they too often abuse our trust and throw the dollars away on things that are unnecessary.

The Michigan Taxpayer's Alliance, headed by former state Rep. Leon Drolet has suggested we should investigate where this money is going.  Unfortunately for the taxpayers, the budget is under the governor and her office is exempt from Freedom of Information Act requests, so the chances of getting any answers are slim to none.

I can't wait for the budgets to come to the House floor for consideration.  When we are told that there is nowhere to cut any money in the budget, I might just bring up taxpayer funded lobbying.

More Big (brother) Government

HB 5543 - Creates a new act to allow local units of government to enact ordinances to require the fingerprinting of door-to-door solicitors, taxicab drivers and street vendors. Those fingerprints would then be transmitted by the local unit of government to the Michigan State Police for the purpose of conducting a criminal background check. The local unit of government can charge the applicant for the cost of processing the criminal background check.

This passed the House of Representatives today by a vote of 88-18. I guess Republicans like big government, too.