#factsmatter, The Citizens Research Council Of Michigan Podcast

Karley Abramson, health policy associate for the Research Council, speaks with Guy about her most recent paper, Upcoming Changes to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Tax Credits Will Also Disrupt Michigan’s Health Care System, which details how the One Big Beautiful Bill Act would likely result in about 200,000 fewer Michiganders having health care, including about 100,000 who will become uninsured because Congress did not renew or extend the Enhanced Premium Tax Credit (EPTC). The other half are expected to become uninsured due to new administrative requirements that may create barriers to people qualifying for EPTC. Data indicates that about 8 million fewer Americans will have health care over the next decade. “Our research found that of the 530,000 Michiganders who purchase health care through the ACA, more than 350,000 are covered by a tax credit-supported plan,” said Abramson. “As a result of the tax credit enhancement under the 2021 American Rescue Plan 2021, expanding both the size of the credit and who

Guy speaks with Senior Research Director Craig Thiel about his recent issue brief looking at Michigan’s efforts to improve early literacy among low-income students, with increased funding and accountability measures. Unfortunately, while the data is still relatively new, the state’s efforts are not yielding hoped-for results. While Michigan student test scores in several other grades and subjects have shown important (albeit gradual) improvements since the COVID-19 pandemic, the reading proficiency rates for third- and fourth-grade students continue to decline. A recent reminder of this concerning trend was brought to light when the Michigan Department of Education released the Spring 2025 statewide assessment results, showing that fewer than four in ten third graders tested proficient in reading. The new analysis of third-grade reading results for at-risk students shows that fewer than half of all Michigan school districts have demonstrated improvement in “at-risk” student reading proficiency rates since

Guy and Eric Lupher delve into the weeds, discussing the pros and cons — more pros — of allowing local units of government in Michigan to have a local tax option. Michigan is one of just a few states that doesn't allow local governments to levy a local tax without state legislative approval. Most states, including those with conservative leadership such as Indiana and Ohio, provide multiple means for their local governments to raise revenue for their local communities. One unintended consequence of the prohibition on local tax options is intense pressure on Michigan property taxes, which are among the highest in the nation. Michigan relies too heavily on property taxes for nearly all local government expenses. "In simple terms, cities and villages should have the ability to determine how they want to operate. They can decide things like how many city council members there should be, whether they should elect or appoint the clerk, and all kinds of other details and niceties related to state and city operatio

Guy Gordon chats with Citizens Research Council president Eric Lupher about his study examining how an admissions tax on sports and entertainment venues could help offset some of the costs of providing public services that support these venues and their visitors. The study, commissioned by the City of Detroit’s Legislative Policy Division, focuses not only on Detroit but also on several other Michigan cities that could benefit from revenues generated by an admissions tax. These revenues could be used to provide benefits such as property tax relief and to invest in attracting future national events to Michigan. Among the many issues the report, Evaluating Local-Option Admissions Taxes in Michigan, examines are the economic impact of events, admission tax revenue estimates, tax design and policy considerations, revenue generation from comparable cities, the advantages and disadvantages of local-option taxes, and the viability of Michigan having an admissions tax. In a Nutshell: Detroit is one of th

#FactsMatter host Guy Gordon chats with Craig Thiel, Research Director for the Citizens Research Council, who first wrote about the impact of state budget uncertainty on Michigan’s $200 million School Meals program back in June –before passage of the federal One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). Michigan’s two-year-old School Meals program guaranteed universal access to free school breakfast and lunch to all K-12 students across the state, regardless of their income status. The continued lack of certainty about Michigan’s K-12 budget, due to its not being passed, has already prompted at least one notable district, Okemos, to discontinue its universal school meals program, effective the first day of school. Funding for the state School Meals program, established in response to student food insecurity concerns following the COVID-19 pandemic, has been in place for the last two years. Current funding will end on September 30. The budget passed by the Michigan House does not include dedicated funding for t

Put on your tick spray because we are headed into the weeds! Announcing “In the Weeds,” a new occasional podcast from the Citizens Research Council of Michigan Universe. As described by our host, broadcast giant Guy Gordon, In the Weeds is for “those who are a little wonkier, a little nerdier, and who want to dive deeper” into public policy issues discussed on our regular #FactsMatter podcast. Joining Guy in the weeds for this first podcast is Research Council infrastructure analyst is Eric Paul Dennis. Eric and Guy piggyback off their conversation in the most recent #FactsMatter podcast on why so many Michigan roads are so bad, road funding dysfunction and why Michigan hasn’t been able to solve this problem for decades. They discuss the outrageous level of complexities involved in accessing the conditions and funding of Michigan’s roads and how Michigan roads stack up, apples-to-apples, against other states. They also discuss badly needed reform of Act 51, a 74-year-old “zombie” bill that is the primary f

Veteran newscast journalist Guy Gordon speaks with award-winning infrastructure analyst for the Citizens Research Council, Eric Paul Dennis, about his latest update on Michigan’s roads conditions and funding levels. Their conversation covered a lot of, ahem, road, including m road conditions haven’t improved; road funding slightly improved; the challenges of creating a national road funding and pavement quality index; reasons for shortfalls and inefficiencies, the challenges of reforming Michigan’s primary road funding law, Public Act 51 and so much more. Dennis created the State Road Funding Index, using several federal datasets and methods of analysis to create a first-of-its-kind method to quantify and rank each U.S. state’s road funding.

Budget Currently Being Hashed Out by Legislators to Decline by $1.1 Billion; OBBBA to Eat 40% of Expected General Fund Growth by FY2032 The Citizens Research Council today released an analysis of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), the massive federal legislation signed into law earlier this month that touches nearly every corner of the federal government. The analysis focuses on the likely short- and long-term impacts of OBBBA provisions on Michigan’s budget outlook. Key provisions of OBBBA include the extension of the vast majority of tax cuts included in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 and an assortment of new – albeit temporary – tax relief provisions for tipped income, overtime pay earners, and senior citizens. Under Congressional rules, the legislation needed to identify significant federal spending reductions to offset the revenue loss attributed to the new tax policies as well as increased military and immigration enforcement spending. OBBBA also achieves federal spending reductions

As policymakers in Washington debate major legislation that, as written, would significantly reduce federal spending on Medicaid, Citizens Research Council released a brief primer on Medicaid in Michigan and the impact of those proposed cuts. Research Council Health Policy Associate Karley Abramson, the author of the paper, discusses the human and economic impacts of the proposed cuts with Research Council President, Eric Lupher. Senior Research Associate for State Affairs Bob Schneider joined the conversation with important context about the effect of the proposed cuts on Michigan’s budget, likely to experience a loss of at least $2 billion per year if the bill passes as is. “As a matter of policy, Medicaid is relatively complicated, so it is not always easy to understand how a change in the law might impact the actual delivery of health care on the ground,” said Abramson. “If you are not familiar with how Medicaid eligibility and funding work, you would not necessarily realize how dramatically the prop

Happy CREC Day! Catch up quickly with Research Council Director Craig Thiel and Senior Research Associate for State Affairs Bob Schneider as they take a few minutes to highlight key takeaways from Michigan's Consensus Revenue Estimating Conference (CREC), held Friday, May 16.

Detroit News politics editor and columnist Chad Livengood sits down with Citizen Research Council’s infrastructure analyst Eric Paul Dennis, PE, discussing the Research Council’s most recently released, 86-page paper: "Data-Driven Assessment of Michigan’s Road Program" which makes the case that Michigan legislators should overhaul the way the state divvies up money for road improvements. The report was released as there is currently a push by state leaders to find billions of dollars in additional infrastructure funding. Among other recommendations, it describes Michigan’s primary road funding law, known as Public Act 51 of 1951, as "a decades-long failure." "The bottom line is that PA 51 is obsolete," the report said. "Increasing Michigan’s road funding without fundamental reform to how it is spent would be a disservice to citizens of the state." The Detroit News coverage of the research.

Vic McCarty of the Vic McCarty Morning Show, WTCM Traverse City, interviews Eric Lupher, president of the Citizens Research Council of Michigan, which last week released novel research making the case that much more work is needed on the road funding issue than just securing more resources for roads and bridges. In a Nutshell: Michigan ranks 30th among all 50 states in road and 40th in road system conditions. Michigan’s road program performance has declined between 2004 and 2024. Policy discussions regarding road funding review the efficacy of Michigan’s approach to pavement management and to prioritize the repeal and replacement of Public Act 51 of 1951. Eric makes the case that Michigan’s residents and taxpayers deserve a thorough evaluation of transportation funding policy, without questioning that more road funding is probably needed, before being subjected to substantial tax increases or redirecting general fund revenue from other critical Michigan programs. “There are multiple inefficiencies in our

Infrastructure research associate Eric Paul Dennis and senior research associate for state affair Bob Schneider catch up with Clara Hendrickson, politics reporter for the Detroit Free Press, to discuss the state of Michigan’s roads, the latest two road funding “frameworks” put forward by Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Speaker Matt Hall, how they differ and who or what the different revenue-raising proposals would hit the hardest.

John Lindstrom and Bob Schneider discuss a topic that has been popping up increasingly among Michigan lawmakers lately: transparency and reforming the use of budget earmarks … especially “11th hour” earmarks. Lindstrom, a former reporter, editor, and publisher of Gongwer News Service, and Schneider, senior research associate for state affairs at the Citizens Research Council recall the history of end-of-session budget earmarks. “This is nothing new,” said Lindstrom. “I mean, you go back to when I first started covering the legislature when dinosaurs still roamed the earth. The last session day before Christmas, it was well understood that there was a bill called grants and transfers, which was known in the legislature as the “Christmas tree bill.”’ While ham is often associated with traditional Christmas dinners, Christmas tree bills/11th-hour earmarks are always associated with pork. Eighteen months ago, Schneider reviewed and wrote that over 65 percent of over $1.3 billion in earmarks in the FY2024 “omn

On this week's FactsMatter podcast, hear Citizens Research Council Senior Research Associate Bob Schneider and Ryan Wrecker of WWJ Radio in Detroit chat about the hot-off-the-press Executive Budget for fiscal years 2026-27. They discuss everything from "where's the road funding" to K-12, new "sin" taxes on vaping and patches to yet another initiative designed to cast more sunshine and transparency on state budget earmarks ... aka: pork projects. Catch up on it all in just 25 minutes!

Citizens Research Council Senior Research Associate Bob Schneider sat down today with Research Director Craig Thiel following today’s Consensus Revenue Estimating Conference (CREC) to discuss updated economic and revenue forecasts and analyze what they could mean for Michigan’s current and future budgets. Officials from the Department of Treasury and legislative fiscal agencies agreed that Michigan’s combined General and School Aid Funds will receive an additional $769 million in FY2025 and an extra $910 million in FY2026, compared to the previous May 2024 revenue forecast. Thiel and Schneider noted that the increased revenue growth in Michigan will likely ease tensions, to a degree, among policymakers' many competing priorities. Schneider remarked that the stronger-than-expected revenue growth in the School Aid Fund will be welcomed among lawmakers seeking an ongoing increase in the per-pupil foundation grant. “It makes the budget process very interesting,” said Schneider. “I’m sure road funding and tax

Citizens Research Council health policy analyst Karley Abramson is interviewed by guest host Andrew Minegar, a reporter with MIRS News. Last year, Abramson wondered why there was a stark rise in healthcare spending by the Michigan Department of Corrections, one of state government's largest general fund budgets. In subsequently published research, she discovered that there was no data to review. Minegar/MIRS News recently uncovered and reported that the state's former prisoners' healthcare contractor owes providers $35 million in unpaid medical bills, prompting the state to drop the contract before it ended and to go to court to recover damages. Grand Prairie Healthcare Services, based in Tennessee, was awarded a nearly $600 million five-year contract in April 2021 to provide the Michigan Department of Correction (MDOC) with health care and pharmacy services for prisoners at 27 state prisons. Listen to Abramson and Minegar as they compare notes and discuss what they believe should be done by the Legislat

Gongwer News administration reporter Lily Guiney speaks with Senior Research Director Craig Thiel about his recently published, novel analysis of school-level spending patterns across the largest districts in the state, showing many schools are not being funded equitably. Approximately 55 percent of schools in the state's largest districts do not receive equitable per-pupil funding at the state, local and federal levels. This is at odds with the current school funding policy priorities of Lansing officials. The study found that among the 25 largest school districts in the state, several of which also include some of the largest populations of low-income students, a significant number of them did not disperse per-school funding proportionate to their students' socioeconomic status and needs. “As Michigan policymakers look to continue providing additional state “at-risk” funds to those districts with greater proportions of high-need students, they may have to consider additional policy directives to en

State budget officials met on May 17, 2024, to finalize state revenue estimates that will be used as guideposts for ongoing FY2025 budget deliberations. The Research Council's Bob Schneider and Craig Thiel provide insights into what the new estimates mean as lawmakers wrap up the budget as well as the budget outlook for Fiscal Year 2026. Scheider said the conference experts delivered a positive outlook, stating that the forecast for the national and state economy was generally good: real GDP, the key metric to monitor the health of the national economy, is expected to continue to grow through the next few years at a normal, healthy rate. Inflation is falling back, though not quite as fast in Michigan as it is nationally; incomes are growing, and Michigan's unemployment rate remains low. The revenue conference, held in January and May each year, brings together the State Treasurer, the Michigan Legislature's top budget advisors and economists who present information on the state and national economy, workfor

Lauren Gibbons of Bridge Michigan chats with Eric Paul Dennis, research analyst specializing in infrastructure policy. While Michigan is working to ‘fix the damn roads,’ with historic levels of state and federal road funding, this effort has been undermined by unprecedented inflation in the cost of construction. And road construction inflation is not uniform: using 2015 as a baseline year, cost increases range from 34 percent in the Upper Peninsula to 63 percent in the Detroit Metro region. Michigan’s highway construction costs have increased 12 percent above expected historical rates, resulting in the purchasing power of Michigan’s road agencies dropping by over $700 million in 2023 alone. Following the enactment of a 2015 road funding package to increase Michigan’s annual transportation revenue by an estimated $1.2 billion by 2021, subsequent gains in state and federal funding increased Michigan’s transportation budget from $3.7 billion in 2015 to $6.1 billion in 2023. Expenditures on road and bri