Sept. 27, 2024 | This Week in Government| Business Advocates: It’s Time to Act on Paid Leave

Businesses continue to try to exert pressure on the Legislature in hopes it will act to make changes to the paid leave requirements set to go into effect in February.

During a Thursday morning press conference, business leaders again outlined their desire for the Legislature to make changes to the law that would require employers to provide paid sick leave following the Supreme Court’s Decision in Mothering Justice v. Attorney General (MSC Docket No. 165325).

“The approach we’ve taken is we really want to talk about implementation,” said Brad Williams of the Detroit Regional Chamber. “We want to make sure if they go in place they’re actually going to work effectively.”

If the laws go into effect as is, the consequences will be destructive for the business community, Williams said, costing jobs, businesses, and employee flexibility, as many employers will not be able to cover the requirements of the law as written.

Business organizations are asking the Legislature to add exemptions for small businesses, require employees to notify their employer about the paid sick leave before the start of their shift, remove the language allowing for private right of action and rebuttable presumption all allow businesses to frontload time off rather than having it accrue.

Williams said business organizations are meeting with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to explain their concerns.

“What’s going to be crucial is turning that understanding into action,” he said. “We’re not asking for the sun, moon, and stars. We’re just asking for some help for our members.”

Commonsense solutions are key, said Kelli Saunders, vice president of policy and engagement at the Small Business Association of Michigan.

Where things stand, the law is ambiguous, which could spell trouble for businesses if they’re taken to court because the law could be interpreted in different ways, business groups said.

“This is an extremely practical set of problems, and we’re offering a very practical set of solutions,” she said. “They’re not political. They’re certainly not ideological … this is a very reasonable conversation to have to make the law reflect that so there’s no ambiguity.”

The House, the Senate, and the governor’s office have been receptive to the conversation, Williams said, but there hasn’t been any indication what their priorities will be.

Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks (D-Grand Rapids) did not commit to making changes to either the paid leave law or the minimum wage increase, also set to take effect next year, in an interview last week.

House Speaker Joe Tate (D-Detroit) and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer also have not directly expressed if they support making changes.

Advocates who worked toward making the paid sick time proposal law are also pressuring lawmakers. They want them to leave the language as is. Labor unions are also asking lawmakers not to change the proposals like the business groups want.

Groups like Mothering Justice, which collected signatures for the paid sick leave proposal and brought the lawsuit challenging the Legislature’s 2018 amendments to it, have said the businesses are using scare tactics to pressure lawmakers to change the law.

The time to make changes is limited, with likely fewer than a dozen days left of session for the 102nd Legislature, said David Worthams of the Michigan Manufacturers Association.

“By the time they get everything up and running for the 103rd Legislature, there will no time to make changes,” he said. “The Legislature is … burning days.”

The House tried to drag bills to provide tax incentives for data centers across the finish line on Wednesday though ultimately only one of the two bills cleared the chamber.

Both pieces of legislation, SB 237 and HB 4906, were on the board for well over a half hour.

The House passed floor amendments that would ensure data center facilities could not pass rate increases onto consumers and gave facilities a five-year window to apply for the exemptions.

Only SB 237, which amends the Use Tax Act, passed. The vote total was 56-54, with 22 Democrats and 34 Republicans voting in support of the bill.

The other bill in the package, HB 4906, which amends the General Sales Tax Act, was cleared from the board twice during the House’s session.

Taken together, the bills would create a sales and use tax exemption for enterprise data centers and set a sunset date for the exemption. Additionally, they would extend to 2050 a credit created in 2015 that exempts data center equipment from the sales and use tax. That tax break currently is scheduled to expire after 2035.

Republicans were broadly supportive of the bills, while Democrats struggled to put up votes. Environmental groups opposed the legislation and said that they did not want to see the bills pass without rate protection or clean energy requirements.

“I’m in favor of lowering taxes, increasing investment in our state, in data especially when you see the emergence of open AI … this is going to be a driving force in our 21st century economy,” Rep. Bill Schuette (R-Midland) said. “I want those investments to happen in Michigan.”

SB 834 also passed the House on Wednesday in a nearly unanimous vote. The legislation would amend the Public Safety Officers Benefit Act to increase one-time benefit paid to an officer who dies or is permanently disabled in the line of duty.

The bill raises the amount from $25,000 to $50,000. It passed 104-5, with Rep. Steve Cara (R-Three Rivers), Rep. Jim DeSana (R-Carleton), Rep. Joseph Fox (R-Fremont), Rep. Neil Friske (R-Charlevoix), and Rep. Josh Schriver (R-Oxford) voting against it.

The House also unanimously passed legislation to create the Office of Tribal Legislative Liaison. HB 5600 passed 109-0.

HB 5429, which create a court-appointed special advocate program, passed 96-13.

Reiterating a topic that’s been front of mind this election cycle, local clerks and voter advocacy groups emphasized the security of Michigan’s election systems and pushed back against misinformation circulating ahead of the November 5 general election during a Thursday press call.

Hosted by Promote the Vote and the American Civil Liberties Union, the event featured Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum and Genessee County Clerk Dominique Clemens. Both clerks detailed the many safeguards in place for election security, including several they said most voters aren’t aware of.

“We continue to face mounting challenges in the form of mis-and disinformation being spread about our elections process, and we have to spend time and resources combating that,” Byrum said. “In reality, there are dozens of safeguards that most voters don’t even realize.”

Those safeguards include paper ballots, which allow for later recounts, audits and inspection, tabulators that vet the paper ballots; and vigorous, public testing for the tabulators.

“After polls close, local clerks bring election media flash drives or memory cards to the county clerk to be read into the election computer and posted onto our websites,” Byrum said. “In Ingham County, I download the unofficial results to a flash drive and move that flash drive to my county computer to post those results online. Then that flash drive is destroyed, never to be used again.”

Byrum and Clemens said they have concerns about ongoing comments from public officials asserting that Michigan’s elections have already been “rigged or stolen,” including from several high-profile Republicans. Clemens said he urges any elected official sowing doubt about election integrity to examine their own electoral success.

“If these elected individuals think the election is stolen, why did they take their seats? They were elected in the same election as all of these other individuals (who they say won fraudulently),” Clemens said. “Our elections are safe and secure. They got them elected and will be safe in the election this year.”

Byrum and Clemens were joined on the call by former U.S. Assistant Attorney General Stuart Gearson, who said that although some voters will refuse to accept certified election results as trustworthy, it’s still important to increase awareness of the security mechanisms used in Michigan elections and how the process ensures accuracy.

“Those who like that sort of thing will find it just the sort of thing that they like,” Gearson said. “There are people out there who are susceptible to every known conspiracy theory, and the reaction to it is to fight falsehood with the truth.”

Jessica Ayoub, ACLU Michigan field director, said the organization is working on legislative, legal, and community outreach to promote the security of the election process. Part of that, she said, has been informing county and state canvassers of their constitutional obligation to certify results.

“We’re working to ensure that the state constitution and the will of the voters is followed and that no bad actors can threaten to undermine the election,” Ayoub said. “The Michigan Constitution clearly states that the role of the Boards of Canvassers is non-discretionary, and that election results must be certified based only on the official record of votes cast. We fought that one in the courts to ensure that no single actor was undermining the democratic process and the will of voters.”

Promote the Vote Executive Director Michael Davis addressed legal challenges to absentee voting, which have occurred in Michigan and elsewhere in recent weeks. The process of absentee voting, he said, is secure and equipped with various verification measures to ensure the person requesting an absentee ballot is the one casting the vote.

“The recent lawsuits aimed at absentee voting are baseless attacks against the integrity of Michigan’s elections, and we can’t let them distract from the truth that Michigan’s elections are accurate and secure,” Davis said.

Davis, Ayoub, and Gearson commended local clerks and election workers for standing firm in the face of frequent attacks on their integrity and committing to continue service despite threats to their personal safety.

“It’s because of the clerks across Michigan that in 2024 we will see the safest, most secure election in Michigan history,” Ayoub said. “We are prepared for whatever comes our way, because we know that our democracy is strongest when everyone can participate.”

Legislative Democrats moved to restore some of the funding they previously cut from K-12 grants for mental health and school safety on Wednesday with a supplemental spending plan that cleared both chambers.

Legislative Democrats in the 2024-25 fiscal year budget cut the line item for mental health and safety grants by roughly $300 million. Education leaders and Republicans hammered the funding reduction. Legislative Republicans have called for Democrats to restore the funding for three months.

HB 5503 moved through a conference committee in the early afternoon before the House and Senate overwhelmingly passed the bill. While it cleared the House 98-11 and the Senate 23-15, Republicans called it a “half measure.”

Senate Republicans did not provide the support needed for immediate effect.

Action on the supplemental capped a blitz of activity during the only expected voting day in the House prior to the November election.

Additionally, the Legislature voted party line on HB 5803, which would make permanent the rate reduction in the retirement contribution cap for schools and eliminate the 3% contribution toward retirement health care benefits now required of Michigan Public School Employees’ Retirement System employees hired before Sept. 4, 2012.

Republicans staunchly oppose the move that was key to the K-12 budget for 2024-25.

The House did not replace all $300 million cut from the mental health and school safety line instead voting to restore $125 million. Defenders of the reduction have noted it was a relatively new spending line and labeled one-time, not something school districts should expect to continue. The counter-criticism is that the one-time label is semantics – the entire budget is one time.

The bill passed 99-11, with broad bipartisan support, though Republicans felt it didn’t go far enough.

“We have taken every opportunity to support our local educators,” House Speaker Joe Tate (D-Detroit) said during a press conference held on the supplemental Wednesday morning. “Today, we will pass a school aid supplemental to ensure our schools are strong and our kids are healthy. This is a meaningful change for Michigan students, and as we all know, actions speak louder than words and House Democrats are bringing transformational change to local schools and continuing to put people first.”

Democrats emphasized the grants were labeled as one-time, but before the final version of the budget was unveiled in June, all three proposals – from the House, Senate, and governor’s office – included more than $300 million toward the program.

“Mental health funding that we are providing additional funding for today, the past few budgets have been funded for through federal funds, one-time federal funds, that were available through COVID-19. What we are seeing in this budget, for the first time, is to return to a more normal School Aid Budget,” Rep. Regina Weiss (D-Oak Park) said. “With all those federal dollars gone, we made a lot of difficult decisions in terms of how we’re going to allocate our dollars, because this fund has always been funded with one time money.”

Moving the funds to a different line item provides schools with more flexibility.

“It might be having additional tutoring resources, giving the system flexibility to be able to use those dollars how they need to use them, is really critical here, because we know that is the gold standard for education in the state, we want to make sure that we are getting out of the way and just making sure we are investing dollars back into the classroom in order to make sure that they are getting to students directly,” Weiss said.

The supplemental does not affect the $300 million in funds Democrats left on the books after passing the budget.

Republicans called the supplemental a “half-measure.”

“In reality, they’ve cut it by $300 million, and even after the supplemental, it’s really still going to be a major cut to education,” Rep. Bryan Posthumus (R-Cannon Township) said. “Rather than doing a half-measure, just putting a little bit of money back, what we should be doing is fully funding back to previous levels.”

Posthumus said that money could have come from appropriations for special interest projects in member districts.

Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt (R-Porter Township) said the full funding could have been restored by the Democrats, but instead chose to pass a “half-baked bill.”

“Budgets are a statement of priorities. For the majority, the health and safety cuts our students apparently need, doesn’t make the cut,” Nesbitt said. “Maybe if schools rename themselves after some Chinese communist corporation, maybe they’d receive the full funding.”

That was a dig at the millions in taxpayer incentives Democrats have approved for Gotion to build a facility in the Big Rapids area.

Republicans then blocked immediate effect on the bill, which sparked a heated floor debate and rebukes from both sides of the aisle.

Sen. Darrin Camilleri (D-Brownstown Township) laid into Republicans, pointing to months of GOP attacks over the amount of spending included in the 2024-25 budget.

“That’s why we just sent $125 million back to the classroom, but then Republicans, just now, the overwhelming majority of them, voted to pause this money from getting to our classrooms right away,” Camilleri said. “What kind of leadership does that show our kids, our teachers, our counselors, our school resource officers … What is wrong with you?”

Denial of immediate effect likely means the funding won’t be available to districts until late March of next year.

Sen. John Damoose (R-Harbor Springs) countered that he was outraged by the process in putting forward the bill, during which he alleged there being no outreach to Republicans. He also accused Democrats of seeking to score political points with the bill.

“This is nothing but pure politics,” Damoose said. “Pure political gamesmanship.”

Sen. Sam Singh (D-East Lansing) pointed out that House Republicans allowed immediate effect to be granted, and the House vote was 98-11. Singh said debates over the dollar amount or policy is one thing but to withhold immediate effect was ridiculous.

“If you’re going to withhold money from the schools, don’t lecture us,” Singh said.

The minority party in the House has no ability to stop the majority from granting bills immediate effect.

The Michigan Association of Non-Public Schools in a statement questioned the lack of nonpublic schools in being provided school safety funding and called on that to be addressed before it is signed by the governor.

“All parents deserve the peace of mind in knowing their children are in safe learning environments and have the resources they need to thrive in their learning setting,” MANS Executive Director Brian Broderick said. “It is beyond comprehension why some Michigan students’ safety would be potentially compromised just by virtue of the name on their school building.”

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Michael Rice in a statement called passage of HB 5503 a step in the right direction for school safety and mental health. He also questioned the inability to grant immediate effect.

“For the good of children, I hope that the Senate will reconsider and make the funds available to schools sooner,” Rice said. “The additional $125 million in funding that’s been approved today would greatly benefit our students and local schools.”

K-12 Alliance of Michigan President Al Latosz in a statement thanked the bill sponsors of HB 5503 and HB 5803 for their leadership.

“Today’s actions will have both a short and long-term positive impact on public education funding and directly benefit the work educators are doing in classrooms across Michigan,” Latosz said.

Other groups also issued statements following the votes on HB 5803.

A coalition of several education and school administrator organizations in a statement said it put the funding shift from MPSERS payments directly to schools and districts permanently on the path to reality.

“With the House’s passage of HB 5803, lawmakers have acknowledged the many years of financial sacrifices made by Michigan’s public schools and their employees to fully address the MPSERS OPEB debt,” the coalition said. “By reducing the MPSERS payroll rate, this legislation will lift a considerable financial strain on schools and give a direct boost to educator’s take-home pay by eliminating the 3% employee healthcare contribution.”

Michigan Education Association President and Chief Executive Officer Chandra Madafferi also thanked lawmakers for their action.

“The changes made in this legislation will allow school districts to invest more resources directly into helping students learn and give them a better opportunity for success,” Madafferi said. “We look forward to this bill being signed into law by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.”

Wayne Regional Educational Service Agency Superintendent Daveda Colbert praised the bill sponsors.

“The resources provided within each of these bills will allow for more funding to be directed where it is needed most: in the classroom and to ensure the health and safety of our students and staff,” Colbert said.

Addressing members of the business and technology communities Tuesday, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson raised concerns about the potential negative impact of artificial intelligence being used to spread information about the November 5 general election.

On a livestream hosted by the Detroit Regional Chamber, Benson joined Microsoft’s Ginny Badanes in a discussion about combatting election-related misinformation and the role of businesses in ensuring voters are aware of the risks of AI-generated content during an election.

“I’ve been grateful to see business leaders all across the state of Michigan joining with our department to ensure that no matter where someone lives or who they decide to vote for, that they know who to turn to for trusted information about our elections,” Benson said. “And indeed, with so much designed to sow seeds of doubt in this process, we know transparency is our friend and knowledge is our friend.”

Detroit Regional Chamber President Sandy K. Baruah said polling commissioned by the Chamber has shed a light on the prevalence of misinformation in people’s perceptions of politics and elections.

“The same amazing technology tools that make our life better and easier with instant access to the world’s information, also give rise to the adage, ‘a lie can make it around the world before the truth can get its pants on,’” Baruah said. “(Our pollsters) said that we do now live in an era of misinformation… Sixty percent of Michigan voters report they’re doing the same, if not better, financially than prior to the pandemic, but 60% of voters also believe economic conditions are weak. Sixty-eight percent are dissatisfied with the condition of democracy in America, with equal percentages of fingers pointing to the other party. Seventeen percent believe it doesn’t matter if American government is a democracy or not, and even more chilling, 5% believe that violence is acceptable if their candidate loses the election. That would translate to about 17 million Americans who believe this.”

Considering those sentiments from many voters, Badanes outlined steps Microsoft has taken in recent months to address AI-generated content on its own platforms and in partnership with other tech companies, including Meta, TikTok, and X, formerly Twitter. She said as AI technology advances, tech giants have to be ready to deal with the adverse effects it can have on civic life.

“There’s a lot of concern that it can be used by bad actors to deceive the public about maybe what a candidate said or something about a voting location, and that’s unacceptable,” Badanes said. “And there’s a lot of things people can do, but it kind of depends on your role. There’s a role for industry.”

The role, Benson and Badanes said, is to spread awareness of false or misleading content and work to prevent it from taking hold online. Microsoft offers a quiz users can take to see if they can identify examples of AI-generated content and has a reporting system in place for users to flag potentially false material. Beyond that, they said businesses have a responsibility to educate their employees about elections and how to identify misinformation.

“As we see trust across institutions globally in decline, one area that people continue to trust is their employer,” Badanes said. “People still trust the organizations that they work for, and so with that comes responsibility.

Badanes likened AI-generated content misinformation to email phishing scams. Prior to very recently, people didn’t know not to click on unfamiliar links or how to identify a potential scam, but thanks to training from their employers, those actions have become a regular part of people’s interactions with technology.

“Ten years ago, 15 years ago, people were sending money to Nigerian princes all the time, right? How did we get to a place where we were a little more resilient as a society?” she said. “There’s a lot that goes into that, but one of the key factors is that employers were having trainings and were pushing out information to their employees about it, and of course, there was a business risk if their employees clicked on those links. But nonetheless, we’ve seen the power of what an employer can do when they communicate and train their employees.”

Benson said Michigan laws about deepfakes and intentionally deceptive uses of AI technology are an important element of preventing the spread of misinformation, but businesses getting involved and pledging to promote critical consumption of online material is still necessary.

“When it comes to in this next month and a half, as people begin voting in our state, we know that as turnout progresses, efforts to discourage participation or cause citizens to hear so much noise that they just give up altogether are greater than ever before,” Benson said. “And that’s where business leaders come in, trying to cut through the noise and simply with data and information and transparency.”

Michigan now has laws banning the intentionally deceptive use of AI to create deepfakes or other types of imagery that would deceive individuals about how and where to vote and about where candidates stand on issues. New regulations also require any AI-generated media regarding elections to have an attached disclaimer or watermark denoting it as a product of artificial intelligence.

Despite those improvements, Benson said she still has concerns about false or misleading information being spread about Michigan’s elections in the coming weeks, whether by foreign actors or people who just don’t understand the technology they’re using.

“A strong economy requires a strong democracy, and a strong democracy requires citizens to have clarity and to cut through the noise confidence in our elections and certainty, as well about the sanctity and integrity of the process,” she said. “Business leaders, as you all know, can play a critical role in ensuring that clarity and confidence and certainty is felt by not just by those within your purview and your employees and customers, but citizens all around the state of Michigan.”