St. Joe-Benton Harbor News

For her third State of the State address, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has offered only further expansions of government with no limitations, according to the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.

According to Mackinac Center, Whitmer opened her State of the State address by pointing out several bipartisan accomplishments, including auto insurance reforms and Clean Slate Legislation. These actions decreased the government’s role and are therefore supported by the Mackinac Center.

In her address, Whitmer proposed nine government expansions, including permanently extending unemployment benefits, providing extra resources for some small businesses and permanently raising wages for home health care workers by $2 an hour.

Also included were proposals for funding for academic recovery, school infrastructure and support for students, implementing regulatory changes recommended by the prescription drug task force, creating new ways for local governments to raise taxes for roads and spending more money on Michigan’s water infrastructure.

She announced the passing of the MI COVID recovery plan, a massive $5 billion plan that focuses on vaccine distribution, grants for small businesses, funding for schools and more. 

She also proposed renewing the Good Jobs for Michigan program, which provides incentives to businesses to create jobs. The Mackinac Center for Public Policy previously opposed the program because it unfairly chooses winners and losers, and the funding has rarely produced the desired results. Since most companies would have taken the same actions even without incentive funding, the Center feels it's a waste of taxpayer dollars that could have been better spent elsewhere.

Whitmer is proposing these plans to address the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, but implementing such incentive programs will be of little help to the public health or to the economy, says the Mackinac Center.

“The government is throttling small businesses across the state," Michael LaFaive, senior director of fiscal policy at the Mackinac Center, told the Center's website. "Asking them to pay more, especially right now, so that a few large corporations can pay less, is regrettable. Good Jobs for Michigan and other taxpayer subsidies are expensive, unfair and ineffective.”