Sweeping mandates on paid leave and energy, coupled with the elimination of independent contractor flexibility and an unleashing of 1,800 new regulatory schemes, pose major threat to Michigan’s economic and population growth.
- Michigan’s path to growth is at risk, as some in the Michigan Legislature rush to enact dangerous economic proposals.
The alarming pace of anti-growth policy proposals now before the legislature brought key business leaders together today to announce a new, long-term economic growth coalition called Great Lakes Growth (GLG).
- GLG creates a unified and clear voice for Michigan’s job providers and workers to make Michigan a flourishing state with a growing economy and population.
- “State legislative leaders have proposed a litany of tax-increasing, cost-raising, job-killing, economic proposals that must be altered or stopped,” said Josh Lunger, Vice President of Government Affairs for the Grand Rapids Chamber. “Michigan’s economy and population will not grow with expensive one-size-fits-all government mandates on job providers. These bills will hurt the very people they claim to help – especially small businesses and Michiganders living paycheck-to-paycheck.”
The GLG Coalition is led by Michigan’s leading pro-growth business organizations and supported by countless additional groups, businesses and individuals under four specific issue-based coalitions.
- GLG’s founding members include the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, Michigan Manufacturers Association, Detroit Regional Chamber and Grand Rapids Chamber.
Initial Focus Areas: GLG has identified four economic proposals that are so dangerous to Michigan’s economic growth potential that formal coalitions have been formed to stop them:
Limited Workplace Mandates
United Against Workplace Mandates Coalition
Michigan employers compete worldwide for talent and strive to provide leading edge, competitive benefits. The so-called family and medical paid leave program amount to a new $1 to $1.5 billion-plus annual payroll tax on every worker and business. This policy would create a massive new state bureaucracy, putting the government in charge of paid-time off (PTO claims) and hurting those it claims to help, especially small businesses and Michiganders living paycheck-to-paycheck.
Affordable Energy
Coalition for Clean, Affordable and Reliable Energy
A clean energy future is vitally important, but we must be realistic in how we get there, balancing clean energy goals with the need for safe, reliable and affordable energy. Unrealistic mandates increase costs and risk power shortages hurting our small businesses, families and economy, reversing progress we’ve achieved in recent years.
Career Freedom
Michigan residents are hard-working and determined. Workers should have the freedom provided by our evolving, modern gig economy to shape the careers and income that best helps them pursue their dreams. But the ability of workers to choose independent contractor work is threatened by pending legislation.
Local Economic Regulations
MI Employment Certainty Coalition
Employees and employers alike are looking for certainty. Yet pending legislation would create more uncertainty by unleashing Michigan’s 1,800 local units of government to enact their own laws governing workplaces across Michigan. Creating a complex web of regulations governing private employers’ relations with their employees will create confusion and a bureaucratic, red-tape nightmare for job providers – and employees.
Sign Up and Learn More
To learn more about the principles of the Great Lakes Growth Coalition and how Michigan can be a prosperous state, visit www.greatlakesgrowth.com today.
