Thursday, October 1, 2009
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Michigan Budget Update as of 9/18/09 at 1:30 p.m.
From: Rep. Robert Jones
Date: Fri, Sep 18, 2009 at 1:52 PM
With just 12 days to go until our Sept. 30 deadline to balance the state budget, I'm writing to give you an update of what's happening at our State Capitol. Over the next 13 days I will be providing budget updates on a regular basis. It is important that we try to keep our communication lines open during this period and I will do my best to try to keep you up to date on negotiations.
As you know, the economic situation in Michigan this year is very difficult and has dramatically decreased the amount of revenue the state has to fund services. As a result, we now find ourselves with an approximately $2.8 billion deficit. I understand it is imperative that we reach a resolution to the budget as soon as possible. The uncertainty to school districts and municipalities makes it very difficult for them to formulate their own budgets.
My colleagues and I are making progress in reaching a budget resolution. It's not easy – there are extremely tough choices to make. We all know that Michigan is in terrible financial shape, due to many factors: the struggles of the auto industry, the national recession that hit Michigan first and hardest, the national economic downturn, etc. State revenues are down in part because of our 15.2 percent unemployment rate.
There's no doubt that severe, painful cuts must be part of the solution. House Democrats are ready to make those tough choices in order to create a leaner, more efficient government, move our state forward and avoid a shutdown.
But let me make one thing extremely clear: There are certain priorities that I and many of my Democratic colleagues will not compromise on! We simply cannot – and will not – give up the fight for what truly matters most to our residents and to our state's future.
No matter what happens, I will fight for four key priorities:
Police and fire protection: We must provide the funds our local communities need to keep police and firefighters on our streets so our families and communities stay safe.
School readiness programs and K-12 funding: Every child has the right to a quality education so they're prepared to succeed in life and in the 21st century economy.
The Michigan Promise Scholarships: Every high school student who has worked hard deserves the opportunity to go to college and learn the skills they need to make a better life for themselves.
Health care for our most vulnerable citizens: We in Michigan do not turn our backs on kids and seniors who lack basic medical care.
I've included a list of key cuts below included in the plan that the Senate Republicans passed. Please look at the list and consider how much these programs make a difference in your lives and the lives of your children, your family members, your neighbors. …
So much is at stake: Do we want to risk losing our home to a fire because our firefighters are stretched too thin? Do we want to lose a whole generation of kids to failing schools? Do we want to close the door to middle class families who dreamed of sending their kids to college? Do we really want to turn our backs on kids who need a healthy start in life? I don't think so … and I don't think that most of you want to, either.
Your support is always appreciated. Please feel free to forward this update to anyone you think is interested in knowing what's happening at the Capitol.
Please also feel free to e-mail me at robertjones@house.mi.gov – I am eager to hear your ideas and concerns.
Sincerely.
State Representative Robert Jones
60th House District
Some cuts included in the budget approved by the State Senate
* Slashed revenue sharing (local police and fire protection) by $97.5 million above and beyond what had already been cut
* Eliminated the Michigan Promise Scholarship for college students ($140 million)
* Cut $20.7 million from the Healthy Michigan Fund
* Cut K-12 funding by $110 per pupil ($174 million)
* Eliminated small/rural declining enrollment grants ($10.6 million)
* Eliminated school readiness grants (both district and competitive) ($103.5 million)
* Eliminated funding for the Michigan Youth ChalleNGE Academy ($1 million)
* Reduced Medicaid provider rates by 8% ($94.9 million)
* Cut Community Mental Health non-Medicaid aid ($61.8 million)
* Cut Family Independence Program grants to very poor families with children by $24 million
Date: Fri, Sep 18, 2009 at 1:52 PM
With just 12 days to go until our Sept. 30 deadline to balance the state budget, I'm writing to give you an update of what's happening at our State Capitol. Over the next 13 days I will be providing budget updates on a regular basis. It is important that we try to keep our communication lines open during this period and I will do my best to try to keep you up to date on negotiations.
As you know, the economic situation in Michigan this year is very difficult and has dramatically decreased the amount of revenue the state has to fund services. As a result, we now find ourselves with an approximately $2.8 billion deficit. I understand it is imperative that we reach a resolution to the budget as soon as possible. The uncertainty to school districts and municipalities makes it very difficult for them to formulate their own budgets.
My colleagues and I are making progress in reaching a budget resolution. It's not easy – there are extremely tough choices to make. We all know that Michigan is in terrible financial shape, due to many factors: the struggles of the auto industry, the national recession that hit Michigan first and hardest, the national economic downturn, etc. State revenues are down in part because of our 15.2 percent unemployment rate.
There's no doubt that severe, painful cuts must be part of the solution. House Democrats are ready to make those tough choices in order to create a leaner, more efficient government, move our state forward and avoid a shutdown.
But let me make one thing extremely clear: There are certain priorities that I and many of my Democratic colleagues will not compromise on! We simply cannot – and will not – give up the fight for what truly matters most to our residents and to our state's future.
No matter what happens, I will fight for four key priorities:
Police and fire protection: We must provide the funds our local communities need to keep police and firefighters on our streets so our families and communities stay safe.
School readiness programs and K-12 funding: Every child has the right to a quality education so they're prepared to succeed in life and in the 21st century economy.
The Michigan Promise Scholarships: Every high school student who has worked hard deserves the opportunity to go to college and learn the skills they need to make a better life for themselves.
Health care for our most vulnerable citizens: We in Michigan do not turn our backs on kids and seniors who lack basic medical care.
I've included a list of key cuts below included in the plan that the Senate Republicans passed. Please look at the list and consider how much these programs make a difference in your lives and the lives of your children, your family members, your neighbors. …
So much is at stake: Do we want to risk losing our home to a fire because our firefighters are stretched too thin? Do we want to lose a whole generation of kids to failing schools? Do we want to close the door to middle class families who dreamed of sending their kids to college? Do we really want to turn our backs on kids who need a healthy start in life? I don't think so … and I don't think that most of you want to, either.
Your support is always appreciated. Please feel free to forward this update to anyone you think is interested in knowing what's happening at the Capitol.
Please also feel free to e-mail me at robertjones@house.mi.gov – I am eager to hear your ideas and concerns.
Sincerely.
State Representative Robert Jones
60th House District
Some cuts included in the budget approved by the State Senate
* Slashed revenue sharing (local police and fire protection) by $97.5 million above and beyond what had already been cut
* Eliminated the Michigan Promise Scholarship for college students ($140 million)
* Cut $20.7 million from the Healthy Michigan Fund
* Cut K-12 funding by $110 per pupil ($174 million)
* Eliminated small/rural declining enrollment grants ($10.6 million)
* Eliminated school readiness grants (both district and competitive) ($103.5 million)
* Eliminated funding for the Michigan Youth ChalleNGE Academy ($1 million)
* Reduced Medicaid provider rates by 8% ($94.9 million)
* Cut Community Mental Health non-Medicaid aid ($61.8 million)
* Cut Family Independence Program grants to very poor families with children by $24 million
Friday, September 18, 2009
The Associated Press would not post the below story to their website. I have decided to put it on mine:
At a time when we Americans may abandon health care reform because it supposedly is "too expensive," how is it that we can afford to imprison people like Curtis Wilkerson? Wilkerson is serving a life sentence in California - for stealing a $2.50 pair of socks. As The Economist noted recently, he already had two offenses on his record (both for abetting robbery at age 19), and so the "three strikes" law resulted in a life sentence.
This is unjust, of course. But considering that California spends almost $49,000 annually per prison inmate, it's also an extraordinary waste of money.
Astonishingly, many politicians seem to think that we should lead the world in prisons, not in health care or education. The United States is anomalous among industrialized countries in the high proportion of people we incarcerate; likewise, we stand out in the high proportion of people who have no medical care - and partly as a result, our health care outcomes such as life expectancy and infant mortality are unusually poor.
It's time for a fundamental re-evaluation of the criminal justice system, as legislation sponsored by Sen. Jim Webb has called for, so that we're no longer squandering money that would be far better spent on education or health.
Consider a few facts:
The U.S. incarcerates people at nearly five times the world average. Of those sentenced to state prisons, 82 percent were convicted of nonviolent crimes, according to one study.
California spends $216,000 annually on each inmate in the juvenile justice system. In contrast, it spends only $8,000 on each child attending the troubled Oakland public school system, according to the Urban Strategies Council.
For most of American history, we had incarceration rates similar to those in other countries. Then with the "war on drugs" and the focus on law and order in the 1970s, incarceration rates soared.
One in 10 black men ages 25 to 29 were imprisoned last year, partly because possession of crack cocaine draws sentences equivalent to having 100 times as much powder cocaine. Black men in the United States have a 32 percent chance of serving time in prison at some point in their lives, according to the Sentencing Project.
Look, there's no doubt that many people in prison are cold-blooded monsters who deserve to be there. But overall, in a time of limited resources, we're over-investing in prisons and under-investing in
schools.
Indeed, education spending may reduce the need for incarceration. The evidence on this isn't conclusive, but it's noteworthy that graduates of the Perry Preschool program in Michigan, an intensive effort for disadvantaged children in the 1960s, were some 40 percent less likely to be arrested than those in a control group.
Above all, it's time for a rethink of our drug policy. The point is not to surrender to narcotics, but to learn from our approach to both tobacco and alcohol. Over time, we have developed public health strategies that have been quite successful in reducing the harm from smoking and drinking.
If we want to try a public health approach to drugs, we could learn from Portugal. In 2001, it decriminalized the possession of all drugs for personal use. Ordinary drug users can still be required to participate in a treatment program, but they are not dispatched to jail.
"Decriminalization has had no adverse effect on drug usage rates in Portugal," notes a report this year from the Cato Institute. It notes that drug use appears to be lower in Portugal than in most other European countries, and that Portuguese public opinion is strongly behind this approach.
A new U.N. study, World Drug Report 2009, commends the Portuguese experiment and urges countries to continue to pursue traffickers while largely avoiding imprisoning users.
Webb has introduced legislation that would create a national commission to investigate criminal justice issues - for such a commission may be the best way to depoliticize the issue and give politicians the cover they need to institute changes.
"There are only two possibilities here," Webb said in introducing his bill, noting that America imprisons so many more people than other countries. "Either we have the most evil people on earth living in the United States, or we are doing something dramatically wrong in terms of how we approach the issue of criminal justice."
Would we rather use scarce resources to educate children and heal the sick, or to imprison people because they used drugs or stole a pair of socks?
This is unjust, of course. But considering that California spends almost $49,000 annually per prison inmate, it's also an extraordinary waste of money.
Astonishingly, many politicians seem to think that we should lead the world in prisons, not in health care or education. The United States is anomalous among industrialized countries in the high proportion of people we incarcerate; likewise, we stand out in the high proportion of people who have no medical care - and partly as a result, our health care outcomes such as life expectancy and infant mortality are unusually poor.
It's time for a fundamental re-evaluation of the criminal justice system, as legislation sponsored by Sen. Jim Webb has called for, so that we're no longer squandering money that would be far better spent on education or health.
Consider a few facts:
The U.S. incarcerates people at nearly five times the world average. Of those sentenced to state prisons, 82 percent were convicted of nonviolent crimes, according to one study.
California spends $216,000 annually on each inmate in the juvenile justice system. In contrast, it spends only $8,000 on each child attending the troubled Oakland public school system, according to the Urban Strategies Council.
For most of American history, we had incarceration rates similar to those in other countries. Then with the "war on drugs" and the focus on law and order in the 1970s, incarceration rates soared.
One in 10 black men ages 25 to 29 were imprisoned last year, partly because possession of crack cocaine draws sentences equivalent to having 100 times as much powder cocaine. Black men in the United States have a 32 percent chance of serving time in prison at some point in their lives, according to the Sentencing Project.
Look, there's no doubt that many people in prison are cold-blooded monsters who deserve to be there. But overall, in a time of limited resources, we're over-investing in prisons and under-investing in
schools.
Indeed, education spending may reduce the need for incarceration. The evidence on this isn't conclusive, but it's noteworthy that graduates of the Perry Preschool program in Michigan, an intensive effort for disadvantaged children in the 1960s, were some 40 percent less likely to be arrested than those in a control group.
Above all, it's time for a rethink of our drug policy. The point is not to surrender to narcotics, but to learn from our approach to both tobacco and alcohol. Over time, we have developed public health strategies that have been quite successful in reducing the harm from smoking and drinking.
If we want to try a public health approach to drugs, we could learn from Portugal. In 2001, it decriminalized the possession of all drugs for personal use. Ordinary drug users can still be required to participate in a treatment program, but they are not dispatched to jail.
"Decriminalization has had no adverse effect on drug usage rates in Portugal," notes a report this year from the Cato Institute. It notes that drug use appears to be lower in Portugal than in most other European countries, and that Portuguese public opinion is strongly behind this approach.
A new U.N. study, World Drug Report 2009, commends the Portuguese experiment and urges countries to continue to pursue traffickers while largely avoiding imprisoning users.
Webb has introduced legislation that would create a national commission to investigate criminal justice issues - for such a commission may be the best way to depoliticize the issue and give politicians the cover they need to institute changes.
"There are only two possibilities here," Webb said in introducing his bill, noting that America imprisons so many more people than other countries. "Either we have the most evil people on earth living in the United States, or we are doing something dramatically wrong in terms of how we approach the issue of criminal justice."
Would we rather use scarce resources to educate children and heal the sick, or to imprison people because they used drugs or stole a pair of socks?
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