|
NAVIGATION
|
NEWS TIPS!
RightMichigan.com
Who are the NERD fund donors Mr Snyder?Tweets about "#RightMi, -YoungLibertyMI, -dennislennox,"
 |
The Caucus Courier: Ergonomics, Transparency and Democratic ObstructionBy Nick, Section News
Chalk up one more serious issue the obstructionists in the Democrat controlled House are going to have to either handle or choose to ignore at job-makers' expense.
Approved today, Senate Bill 93, sponsored by Senator Alan Sanborn prevents mandatory ergonomics standards in the work place that would severly harm the viability of Michigan job providers. SB 93 prohibits the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration from establishing mandatory ergonomic rules and standards. The legislation was needed because, well, the Granholm-Cherry administration is a big fan of following in California's footsteps on this issue. The Sunshine State is the only one in the union with these sorts of onerous "standards" and the cost to job makers is expected to reach $500 million or more. "Michigan's economy remains the worst in the nation, and if we're serious about recovery, we need to enact this bill," said Sanborn, R-Richmond Township. "Despite the lack of evidence that these rules are necessary, the administration has spent more than six years crafting mandatory standards. It's just plain bad policy, but to foist this on us during a recession borders on negligence." "Just the specter of joining California in implementing mandatory ergonomics rules could affect job-provider decisions to locate, expand--or even to survive--here in Michigan," And before the bleeding hearts start belly-aching about carpal tunnel syndrome... Michigan's repetitive stress injury rate decreased by nearly 40 percent since 1998 without mandated ergonomic standards--better than the nationwide drop of 32 percent during that time. We're not talking about a choice between healthier work places or more dangerous work places. We're talking about work places (period) or no work places (period). Props to the Senate for doing the right thing. Again. And the clock is now officially ticking on the state House. And speaking of the House... the Republican caucus apparently isn't as interested in wasting the taxpayers' time as Andy Dillon is. Minority Leader Kevin Elsenheimer, Paul Opsommer, Kim Meltzer and Tom McMillin joined Attorney General Mike Cox today in calling on the Granholm-Cherry administration to provide a healthy dose of desperately needed transparency to their wild spending. Read on...
The Republican team came together to urge the governor to create an easy-to-use Web site where people can see exactly how their taxpayer dollars are being spent. Elsenheimer and House Republicans today became the first state lawmakers to disclose office expenditures online, broken down by easy-to-use categories.
"Our entire system of democracy is based on the people's right to an open and transparent government, and residents clearly deserve to know how their money is being spent," said Elsenheimer, R-Kewadin. "As lawmakers, we have easy access to state expenditures. The people of Michigan certainly warrant the same consideration." Elsenheimer said that despite claims of exorbitant costs cited by the administration, the federal government built www.usaspending.gov for less than $1 million, and the state of Oklahoma built their Web site for $8,000 in software costs plus staff work. Since 2007, House Republicans and Cox have advocated for greater government transparency and the creation of an easy-to-use Web site. Early in the current legislative session, House Republicans introduced House Bills 4043 (Kim Meltzer), 4121 (Tom McMillin), and 4150 (Paul Opsommer) to require all state spending for state agencies to be publicly available on a searchable Web site. Lawmakers said transparency in government spending is now even more important because of the potential allocation of a federal stimulus package. "The best way we can have oversight of the distribution process is to shine light on who exactly is getting this funding," Elsenheimer said. "Michigan residents and state lawmakers have a right to know if cronyism or other political shenanigans have a role in how the money is distributed."
Share This:
The Caucus Courier: Ergonomics, Transparency and Democratic Obstruction | 1 comment (1 topical, 0 hidden)
The Caucus Courier: Ergonomics, Transparency and Democratic Obstruction | 1 comment (1 topical, 0 hidden)
|
 |
