Public Policy
  Analysis, opinion & ideas from Steve Harry

Directory

About/Contact

Revenge of the Democrats

April 11, 2023

For the first time in 40 years, Democrats have the majority in Michigan's House of Representatives and Senate. On top of that, they own the governorship. They have the power to get some stuff done, and high on their list is enriching unions and giving them more power to influence elections.

First, they repealed right to work, which means private sector employees can be forced to pay union dues, even if they are not a union member. Then they proposed giving union members a refundable tax credit for the union dues they pay. (See Democrats want taxpayers to fund unions.) Now Democrats want to

• give unions a way to circumvent contribution limits

• allow private sector employers to deduct union dues from paychecks

• allow unions dues to be used to fund unlimited independent expenditures advocating for or against a candidate or ballot question

• allow public bodies to deduct union dues from the paychecks of government employees.

These latest changes were proposed in House Bill 4234, introduced May 9. It was described in a March 10 story in Capitol Confidential, the conservative Mackinac Center for Pubic Policy's online "news source". This is what Capitol Confidential said about it:

House Bill 4234 amends the Michigan Campaign Finance Act. Although the bill is 18 pages long, the significant changes take up just a few pages and are clearly marked. Here is the entire bill. Eventually, the House Fiscal Agency will do an analysis of the bill, but in the meantime, here is my analysis:

Multiple committees. Apparently, at some time in the past a corporation or a union tried to circumvent contribution limits by forming multiple PACs (political action committees), each separately subject to the limits. In response, the Act was modified to say that all contributions made by the multiple committees established by one corporation or union would be considered to be those of a single committee. The amendment removes unions from this limitation, leaving their contributions limited only by the number of committees they willing to create. See the actual change here.

 

Private sector employer payroll deduction. The Act prohibits corporations from making direct contributions to PACs; they can only do so through their own PAC. Corporations often encourage employees to contribute to the corporation's PAC through payroll deduction. The union would like the corporation to collect employee contributions to their PAC also, but the current Act prohibits this, considering the administrative costs an in-kind, direct contribution. The amendment removes the prohibition, allowing corporations to collect contributions for a union PAC through payroll deduction. See the actual change here.

 

But why would an employer consent to deducting union PAC contributions from their employees, you ask? My guess is that it would be one of the union's collective bargaining demands.

 

Funding independent expenditures. Although corporations and labor organizations are prohibited from contributing directly to candidate campaign committees - they may only do so through a PAC - they may make "an independent expenditure in any amount advocating for the election or defeat of a candidate, or the qualification, passage, or defeat of a ballot question. .  ." But it cannot do so if it "solicits or receives contributions in excess of $500.00 for the purpose of making the independent expenditure. . ." The amendment removes labor organizations from this limitation. See the actual change here.

Corporations are in the business of making money. They have cash on hand from profits which they can use to make "independent expenditures". Unions, on the other hand, have to get their money from members, but the current Act does not allow them to collect more $500 that way if it is going to be used for (unlimited) independent expenditures. The amendment takes away that $500 limitation. It is unclear to me what the union would call the contributions they collect. Would they just be union dues?

 

Public sector payroll deduction. The current Act prohibits a public body from collecting PAC contributions through payroll deduction. The amendment removes this prohibition. This means that if you are public employee and a union member, your employer can deduct PAC contributions from your paycheck. If you are a union member and the governor is a Democrat, you can count on it. (The right to work repeal does not apply to government workers; they still are not required to join the union.) See the actual change here.

I don't know the history, but some of these changes are likely reversals of measures enacted by the Republicans when they were in power. Republicans wanted to limit unions' ability to raise money and support Democratic candidates. Democrats want to keep the money flowing.

Send comments, questions, and tips to stevenrharry@gmail.com or call or text me at 517-730-2638. If you'd like to be notified by email when I post a new story, let me know.

Previous stories