LANSING – The early major components of Governor Rick Snyder’s legislative agenda for 2015 are passing a new energy policy for the state and addressing the persistent troubles of K-12 education in Detroit.
Snyder, in an interview with Gongwer News Service, said he has “a pretty good idea” of what he will propose on the state’s current renewable energy standard, which peaks in 2015 at 10 percent of electricity generated from renewable sources, and the marketplace, which now caps competing energy providers to 10 percent of the market.
He declined to offer details, saying he would do so through a special message during the first half of 2015. He noted the considerable work his administration did in 2013 to review the state’s energy law and that moving on the issue in 2014 would have been problematic with the election.
“We’re going to reactivate that and really try to get something done in the first half of ’15 to have a long-term energy policy, based on adaptability as the key premise, but then reliability, affordability and environmentally responsible being some of the key pillars,” he said.
Adaptability surrounds the uncertainty Snyder said exists on federal energy policy. For example, there are currently big subsidies on electric and hybrid vehicles and wind energy. The state, in reforming its energy policy, will need to be flexible to accommodate any changes in federal policy.
“As we try to set what would be our goal for first of all clean energy, which would include renewables and natural gas in relationship to coal, we can probably figure that out, but it becomes more difficult to say what’s the balance between natural gas and renewables to some degree because these incentives, these subsidies make a big difference in how financially viable they are,” he said.
The other major legislative goal for the first half of 2015 is to see if community leaders in Detroit spearheading a discussion on how to improve K-12 education in the city can come up with a recommendation.
The Skillman Foundation recently began assembling a group to review how to improve education in the city in the context of a continued troubled situation in the Detroit Public Schools, inconsistency in the city’s charter schools and the Education Achievement Authority, which is in charge of the city’s lowest-performing public schools and enjoys little support outside of Snyder.
“I think there has been some good, general discussion going on to say let’s look at education in Detroit as kind of a total picture and say what could be done. The next part is a little more challenging because what I’m doing in this particular case is I’m not trying to drive the discussion from the governor’s office,” he said. “To be open, I’m not going to give you specific points that have to happen. I want to make sure it’s coming up from the grassroots and it’s a community conversation.”
Snyder said his hope is the community effort can produce “good, solid, actionable items by the end of the first half of the year.” If that happens and if the plan requires legislative action, that would give the Legislature and the administration a chance to complete it in the first half of the year, Snyder said.
At this point, Snyder said it is not his intention for whatever plan emerges to be the same answer throughout the state for struggling schools.
“But I want to look at whatever we do, that it would be equally applicable or potentially a good model to use in other parts of the state,” he said. “I don’t view this as an exclusive Detroit answer although other communities may have different concerns and different things they want to express that we should always be open-minded to.”
ELLIOTT-LARSEN: Snyder has never explicitly called for the Legislature to broaden the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act’s protections against discrimination to people based on sexual orientation and gender identity, but he did urge the Legislature to have a conversation on the topic.
That “conversation” ended in acrimony and inaction after House Speaker Jase Bolger was unwilling to hold a vote on a bill (HB 5959 ) that would have expanded the protections only based on sexual orientation nor a bill that protected both sexual orientation and gender identity (HB 5804 ). Democrats opposed the more limited bill and recoiled at Mr. Bolger’s insistence the more limited bill be paired with separate legislation protecting people’s religious freedoms (HB 5958 ).
“I think they started having conversation. What I would say is to the degree it stopped, I’m going to encourage a continuing discussion on Elliott-Larsen,” he said.
Asked if he was satisfied with what transpired in the Legislature, Snyder said, “I wouldn’t be encouraging more discussion if I was satisfied.”
As to the religious freedom bill, Snyder said Bolger initially proposed it as a package with expanding Elliott-Larsen. Snyder said he has not taken a position on the bill, which is pending in the Senate.
“On its own, I have a different degree of review I would say, on looking at it just as a separate item,” he said.
The Michigan Catholic Conference has made passage of the bill a major priority and held a conference call Monday with legal experts who said Democratic criticism of the bill that would amount to a license to discriminate is simply wrong. Similar laws in other states have served to allow a Native American boy to wear his hair long despite a school district policy barring boys from wearing long hair or to allow Jewish and Muslim firefighters to wear beards, they said.
E-CIGARETTES: One piece of legislation Snyder appears to have thwarted with a veto threat are bills that would have prohibited the sale of e-cigarettes to minors. Snyder and health care groups had blasted the bills because they would have treated e-cigarettes as a different product than tobacco and been exempt from other tobacco regulations, like tobacco taxes and the workplace smoking ban.
SB 667 , SB 668 and HB 4997 , passed in identical form by the House and Senate, were ordered enrolled six months ago, yet never formally presented to Snyder. There was talk of some type of compromise on the tax question, yet that appears never to have gotten traction.
The House and Senate could still send the bills to Snyder, but with Thursday the last scheduled voting day of the term, Snyder could veto them without any fear of an override or, depending on when the Legislature adjourns sine die, simply do nothing and let the bills fall to a pocket veto.
It seems more likely they will die in legislative purgatory and never be sent to Snyder, who has been outspokenly opposed to the bills.
“Nicotine is the primary ingredient in these things,” he said of why he has taken a tough line on the issue. “I want to make sure we’re erring on the side of health and being responsible for the protection of our citizens, so that’s why I’ve drawn the line pretty strongly that in my book, I call them a tobacco product, until someone proves otherwise.”
AUTO INSURANCE: Another major legislative topic in 2016 will likely be auto insurance, Snyder said.
The governor said he was open to legislation that lacks a cap on the current unlimited medical benefit for persons who suffer catastrophic injuries in vehicle crashes. A bill to install a cap died on the House floor.
“I think it’s a discussion we should be having because you’re going to most likely see that cost continuing to increase,” he said. “And if you sort of take the cap out of the equation, I think it’s pretty hard to say why wouldn’t we be able to do some reforms that better manage costs.”
Additionally, the state needs to make auto insurance more affordable in urban areas, especially Detroit, Snyder said.
“It’s a huge issue in the city of Detroit and some other communities about why is auto insurance so expensive,” he said. “I believe it is a detriment, making it more challenging for people that want to move into the city.”
WASTE TO ENERGY BILL: Environmentalists have mounted a major public relations push to stop a bill (HB 5205 ) that would allow waste-to-energy facilities to count their efforts toward meeting the renewable energy standard. Snyder said he has no position on the bill yet. “That’s part of the challenge of lame duck, just the volume of things coming in,” he said.
ON THE PRESIDENTIAL SPECULATION: Politico published a story last week that almost read like a campaign consultant white paper making the case for Snyder to run for president.
Snyder has not ruled it out, but longtime Snyder-watchers will recall he refused to douse vice presidential speculation in 2012 and later admitted he did so because the attention gave the state some positive buzz in the national media. He all but said the same in a recent interview with The Associated Press on the presidential buzz.
The other longtime factor that should give anyone pause about Snyder running for president is that first lady Sue Snyder has made it clear she does not support the idea.
Asked at the end of the interview if Snyder has told him he could run for president, Snyder began laughing.
“You want to get a response out of the first lady, that’s a good way to get her started pretty quickly,” he said. “I would prefer you not have your mics going because it might be more colorful than typically I would be.”
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