Senator Nancy Cassis :: 15th District

Senate Republican Priorities
and Achievements

Budget: Right-sizing government and Growing Michigan's Economy

The first step to government's economic recovery is an honest acknowledgement of the crisis. Denial is no longer an option, and reliance on tired old solutions and political rhetoric will not change our fortunes. Staying the course is only going to make matters worse and prolong our journey to the road to recovery. (more)

Elimination of MBT Surcharge

Senate Republicans sent a message this year to Michigan job providers to let them know how important they are to re-energizing our state's economy. We encouraged them to keep their businesses here with our recent passage of a bill to eliminate the onerous Michigan Business Tax surcharge. Senate Bill 1 phases out the 21.99 percent MBT surcharge over a two-year period - cutting the surcharge by half to 11 percent in 2009 and eliminating it by 2010. (more)

Workforce Training and Jobs

With our state's unemployment rate nearly 50 percent higher than the rest of the country, we must do everything we can to help put people back to work and facilitate job creation. Michigan has been in a one-state recession for the past six years and our state's economy is undergoing a change that is fundamental and long lasting. As this process plays out, the need to have a trained and capable workforce will grow and remain a top consideration for employers and entrepreneurs deciding where they want to locate. (more)

Health Care Reforms

Currently, Michigan is home to an estimated 1.1 million residents who do not have health insurance, which is equal to 11.5 percent of the state's population. This number is likely to increase unless the economy improves.

Michigan Senate Republicans understand many residents are afraid that they may not be able to afford health insurance. In the last legislative session we tried to address these concerns before they became an issue for the people of Michigan, but unfortunately, the House did not agree. (more)

Eliminate Bureaucracy

Senate Republicans will continue to do everything to make our state a leader in the nation for job growth. One of the most important factors a business considers when deciding where to locate or expand its operations is the time, cost, and ease of compliance associated with a state's regulatory climate.

Senate Republicans will continue our fight to eliminate bureaucracy and make Michigan an inviting place to do business. We will work with job providers to reform the regulatory structure in Michigan and to put pressure on the administration when the actions of a department are costing us precious jobs. (more)

An Agenda for Strong Schools

Senate Republicans firmly believe that the success of our great state will depend almost entirely on whether Michigan has the kind of education system that provides our children and future generations with the skills to succeed in the fiercely competitive and ever-evolving global economy. Literally and figuratively, we simply cannot afford an education model that has grown out of a 20th century industrial and agrarian society. Just as we must diversify our economy, we must challenge ourselves to innovate and to create a diverse and comprehensive approach to educating our children. We are focused and committed to a long-range plan to build strong schools that reflect a dynamic, efficient and high-performance 21st century learning environment. (more)

Protecting Water and Natural Resources

Michigan's natural resources are one of the state's most valuable assets. It is imperative that they be preserved and protected. Senate Republicans will continue our strong leadership role in protecting our water and our environment.

Efforts to conserve Michigan's natural resources are not new for Senate Republicans. For more than five years, we have been leading the way to develop proactive legislation to protect the Great Lakes, promote alternative energy, and expand recycling in Michigan. (more)

Keeping People in Their Homes

Senate Republicans will take action to ensure families are not taxed out of their homes in these tough economic times.

Property values in Michigan have declined steadily over the past two years. Most homeowners have seen the values of their homes drop 15 percent to 25 percent. Property taxes, however, have actually increased over the same period.

We will lead the charge to fix the constitutional provision that allows property taxes to increase while the value of your home decreases. (more)

Making Neighborhoods Safe

Senate Republicans served on a bipartisan workgroup comprised of members of the governor's administration, the House, and the Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center to determine how the state might reduce corrections spending while reinvesting in measures that will make communities safer and stronger. The workgroup produced a bipartisan package of policy options that gives Michigan a real chance to achieve needed cost savings and prevents crime at the same time. (more)

From the Senate Floor

Michigan Senate Republicans Floor Statements

Senator Cropsey refutes false statements by the governor and other democrats that the Senate has not acted on revenue generating legislation for the K12 budget.

Recent Blogs from Senate Republicans

The leaves have all fallen from the trees, the temperatures are dropping and soon the snow will be flying it must be time for one of my favorite holidays: Thanksgiving. (read)

Cuts to film incentive program could help balance state budget

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

From the Michigan Messenger

As lawmakers continue to negotiate next year’s budget, some are urging changes to the state’s film credit program. According to the Michigan Senate Fiscal Agency, the program is expected to cost the state $150 million in the next year while providing unclear job benefits.

Lawmakers must agree on a budget by the end of Wednesday or the state will shut down. Drastic cuts in everything from education to prisons seem likely as they try to close a $2.8 billion budget gap.

Michigan’s film incentive program, enacted last spring, is among the most generous of such state programs. It offers reimbursement of up to 42 percent of production costs associated with a film.

Supporters of the program say that it will help develop a new industry in a state that desperately needs one.

At the quarterly meeting of the Michigan Film Board held during the Traverse City Film Festival in August, Michigan Film Office Director Janet Lockwood told a crowd of film enthusiasts. “The program continues to bring in millions of dollars and hundreds of jobs. Everyone knows that.”

Lockwood said that 75 companies have applied to shoot in Michigan this year.

But Republican State Sen. Nancy Cassis of Novi argues that the state cannot afford to solicit these companies by offering to subsidize their productions. Cassis has been among the most vocal advocates of reforming Michigan’s film program. Earlier this year she introduced legislation to cap the amount the state spends on movies and require more detailed financial disclosure by the state film office.

“We are prepared to pass an all-cuts budget with no tax increases,” Cassis said in a telephone interview on Tuesday. “If the issue of increasing taxes should come up, we are prepared to show them where the savings are. The biggest savings is eliminating this so-called tax credit which eliminates all the tax liabilities and sends them a check from our general fund. … We could save up to $350 million by just looking at refundable credits, the biggest of which is the film credits.”

Cassis said that the state should focus on reducing the tax burden for small businesses which she said create at least 70 percent of the jobs in Michigan.

Cassis said that as lawmakers face tough decisions on balancing the budget, more are willing to re-examine the film program.

“Are you going to prefer a billionaire Hollywood producer or kids in schools, revenue sharing and assuring that seniors are protected under Medicaid? When did Hollywood producers become a core function of government?”

Cassis said that recent allegations of corruption and fraud in the Louisiana and Iowa film offices show that Michigan’s program should be reformulated so that it is more transparent.

“I think the public is owed access to information on how this money is used,” she said.

According to Senate Fiscal Agency economic analyst David Zin, the statute that created Michigan’s film program is written in a way that makes it hard to know how public money is spent on filming.

The Michigan Film Office reported that 2300 film industry related jobs were created in the course of 2008 productions, Zin said, but the office is not required to note how long these jobs lasted.

The average production job lasts 23 days, Zin said. If each of these jobs lasted 23 days, the work created is equivalent to around 216 full-time positions.

“That may actually overstate the amount [of jobs created],” Zin said, because it assumed every hire works the whole 23 days — an extra or makeup artist may have worked less.”

These jobs are heavily subsidized by taxpayers, Zin said. “The credit ended up picking up 90 percent of the wages of these Michigan jobs.”

Other concerns about the program include: Michigan’s film incentive does not require that jobs be filled by Michigan residents and the program is uncapped, meaning that there is no limit to the amount of money the state could spend reimbursing filmmakers.

A recent study of Wisconsin’s film program, conducted by the state’s Commerce Deptartment found that film incentives were 20 times less effective at creating jobs than other state economic development programs.

The Commerce Department warned: “It takes 365 Wisconsin residents working for one year, to generate enough income tax revenue to subsidize one Hollywood director who comes to Wisconsin to work for two months.”

Filmmaker Michael Moore, whose Michigan-made film “Capitalism: A Love Story” opens nationwide this weekend, told Michigan Messenger recently that he is not sure yet whether his production will apply for the film credits.

“I am under pressure from the studio to do this,” he said.

Moore said that he had personally trained a dozen people in film related work during the 18-month-long production of his current film and said he was unaware of recent criticism of the state’s film incentive program.

“If it’s not good for Michigan,” he said, “Michigan shouldn’t do it.”