A bill making major changes to the state’s worker’s compensation system is headed to the governor after the House concurred Tuesday with changes the Senate made to the legislation last week.

 

The state’s main business groups supported HB 5002, but unions have strongly opposed it.

 

The House approved the bill 60-47, and Governor Rick Snyder’s signature is expected.

 

“It always has to go through the final review, but he definitely agreed with the intent of updating and modernizing the act and making sure we were cost competitive,” press secretary Sara Wurfel said.

 

Republicans say the changes codify existing case law, which sets workers compensation benefits at 80 percent of an injured workers after-tax wages. Their future wage earning capacity would be determined by reasonably available, suitable jobs, but not whether wages from those jobs are actually earned or not.

 

Democrats call this provision “phantom wages,” but proponents say it gets at the heart of the reason behind the bill – providing an incentive for people who can find work to do so, instead of milking the workers’ compensation system.

 

“Our workers’ compensation system needs to be clear so workers and employers can take advantage of it without confusion over coverage,” Rep. Bradford Jacobsen (R-Oxford), the bill sponsor, said in a statement. “Michigan workers hurt on the job should not have to go to court to resolve their claims, and the changes in this bill should cut down on that practice.”

 

Mr. Jacobsen said the changes will not affect those receiving benefits now, nor those with pending claims.

 

Last week, the Senate approved an exemption for police officers and firefighters from the bill, and then rejected attempts by Democrats to extend the exemption to corrections officers, teachers, veterans, hospital workers and skilled trade workers.

 

Rep. Jim Townsend (D-Royal Oak) offered a similar amendment, but it was also rejected along with a number of other Democratic amendments.

 

“If the concept of virtual wages is so flawed … why retain this concept for anyone else?” he said.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In fiscal year 2011, the Office of Advocacy saved small businesses $11.7 billion in first year regulatory costs and $10.7 billion in annually recurring costs by helping federal agencies comply with the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA). Advocacy’s Report on the Regulatory Flexibility Act, FY 2011, released today, documents federal agency compliance with the RFA and Executive Order 13272. These provisions require agencies to review the effects of their proposed regulations on small entities and to examine alternatives that would minimize the small entity impacts while still meeting the regulations’ purposes.

 

“As a former entrepreneur, I can attest that small firms are in a better position to grow, innovate, and create jobs when regulations are less burdensome,” said Chief Counsel for Advocacy Winslow Sargeant. “Federal agencies that work with Advocacy to use the RFA effectively write rules that are better for small entities and the economy while still meeting the statutory goals the regulations were designed to carry out.”

 

In FY 2011, the Office of Advocacy reviewed hundreds of regulations to assess RFA compliance. To solicit the views and comments of small-entity stakeholders, the office convened roundtables on a broad range of issues, from hours of service for truck drivers, to work-related musculo-skeletal injuries, to chemical risk assessments. Other highlights of Advocacy’s efforts include:

• Submitting more than 50 public comment letters to federal agencies on regulatory proposals
• Participating or planning to participate in 13 Environmental Protection Agency small business advocacy review panels 
• Provide training in RFA compliance to regulatory staff at federal agencies including the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

 

The Office of Advocacy bases its cost savings primarily on agency estimates. Cost savings for a given rule as a result of Advocacy’s intervention are captured in the fiscal year in which the agency takes final action on the rule. The full annual report is on the Advocacy website: http://www.sba.gov/advocacy.

 

The Office of Advocacy of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is an independent voice for small business within the federal government.  The presidentially appointed and Senate confirmed Chief Counsel for Advocacy advances the views, concerns, and interests of small business before Congress, the White House, federal agencies, federal courts, and state policymakers. Regional advocates and an office in Washington, D.C., support the Chief Counsel’s efforts. For more information, visit http://www.sba.gov/advocacy, or call (202) 205-6533.

LANSING, Mich. – Michigan must better align the talent of its people with the needs of job providers to ensure success in the new economy, Gov. Rick Snyder said today.

 

The governor released his Special Message to the Legislature on Talent Development during a news conference at Delta College in University Center. It offers strategies to reinvent the way in which we prepare children for fulfilling careers, reshape how Michiganders look for work and redesign the way in which employers obtain the skills they need. “Tomorrow’s opportunities cannot be realized with yesterday’s skills,” Snyder said. “It’s time to develop the next generation of talent. Today’s young employees will have multiple careers in their lifetimes. The skills they attain must be marketable and transferrable. We need to align the aptitudes and career passions of job seekers with the current and evolving needs of employers.”

 

Too few workers have the skills to meet employer demands in the new economy. Thousands of jobs remain unfilled despite Michigan’s 10.6 percent unemployment rate. The state faces significant staffing challenges in areas such as agriculture, nursing, engineering and welding.

 

The governor announced the launch of an online tool that will help ensure the state’s economic development and talent enhancement are occurring in tandem. Pure Michigan Talent Connect is a talent marketplace available at www.MiTalent.org. It eliminates the need for the multiple websites that now exist, many of which are duplicative or incomplete.

 

The site will feature tools that job creators and job seekers need to make better-informed decisions. Users will be able to assess their skills, evaluate the return on investment for an education or training program, browse careers and connect with mentors.

 

The site is being launched in phases for a June 2012 completion. The first phase, now available, features the Career Matchmaker and the Career Investment Calculator. The Career Matchmaker helps individuals determine the industries and locations where their skills are in high demand today and where they are projected to be. The Career Investment Calculator helps those who are pursuing training or retraining to make informed decisions.

 

Once completed, Pure Michigan Talent Connect will let Michiganders create an electronic talent portfolio early in their educational careers, driving everything form curriculum choices to career paths. It is developed by the Michigan Economic Development Corp. and the Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget.

The governor’s special message also cites the need to:

• Do a better job of connecting Michigan veterans with career opportunities. Despite their skills and transferrable technical expertise, there was an unemployment rate of 29.4 percent among Michigan’s Afghanistan and Iraq veterans in 2010. The national average was 11.5 percent. The governor is directing the Workforce Development Agency, Michigan Works! and the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs to create a seamless delivery system for veteran benefits and employment services. The governor also is challenging more businesses to reach out to veterans. He is asking the Detroit Regional Chamber to partner with the state to promote the benefits of hiring veterans.
• Focus on producing talent in areas where the state has a high occupational demand. State support for post-secondary education should concentrate on areas that enhance Michigan’s economic development strategy and encourage students to stay in the state. A recent Center for Michigan report concludes that the state graduated 20 percent too few computer and math professionals, 14 percent too few health care professionals and 3 percent too few engineers in 2009-10.
• Address the critical need for computer programming talent. The MEDC is creating a program called Shifting Code that generates a supply of high-demand programmers while giving small businesses the technology assistance they need. The initiative launches in January 2012 with pilots in Ann Arbor, Detroit and Kalamazoo.
• Bring greater flexibility to the nation’s immigration laws so foreign investment and job growth is not impaired. For example, Snyder will petition the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to renew, modify and make permanent the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Regional Center program, which is set to expire in September 2012. The program gives international investors the chance to live here by investing in Michigan’s economy and creating jobs. He also is directing the MEDC and Michigan Department of Civil Rights to implement a Cultural Ambassadors program that leverages Michigan’s natural, technological and human resources to integrate new talent into our communities.

 

Other initiatives include promoting mentorship by asking the Michigan Jaycees to continue its leadership through a collaboration with the state Community Service Commission’s Mentor Michigan program; redesigning Michigan’s Jobs, Education and Training (JET) program to include meaningful performance measures; modernizing the Michigan Works! program; urging greater flexibility in the federal Work Investment Act; creating a Governor’s Talent Investment Board that will bring citizen involvement and oversight to Michigan’s talent enhancement effort; asking legislative partners to enact a work-sharing law that lets Michigan retain more of its talent; and asking lawmakers to allow the Unemployment Insurance Agency to let displaced Michiganders pursue entrepreneurship through self-employment assistance.

 

The entire Special Message on Talent Development is at www.michigan.gov/snyder.
 

October 6, 2011 – Beer Keg Tags will be required on all beer kegs starting November 1, 2011. The legislation which was passed into law last year requires that the tags be placed on all beer kegs that hold 4 gallons or more. The tags will be provided free of charge to licensees. Order forms are available on the Michigan Liquor Control Commission (MLCC) website.

 

MLCC Chairman Andy Deloney said, “We fit as many tags in one booklet as possible to make it more efficient for licensees when ordering tags from us. There are 50 tags per booklet and the form is concise and quick.” 

 

Licensees selling kegs of beer for off premises consumption capable of holding 4 gallons or more must do the following:

• Require the purchaser to provide a valid form of identification confirming the purchaser to be at least 21 year of age. If purchaser is not at least 21 years of age do not proceed. Such identification shall contain a photograph, signature of the subject’s date of birth. (College or university identification is not valid identification.)
• Fill out a Keg Registration/Receipt making sure the information is correct.
• List type of ID, ID number and date of birth on the bottom of Registration Card.
• After you have filled out the Keg Registration Card, have the purchaser fill out and sign the Card. You may sell up to 4 kegs to the purchaser using the small sequential tags located to the right of the Card. Purchaser must initial designated area on each sequential tag used. If more than 4 kegs are sold you must use a new card.
• Peel the registrations tags (yellow keg sticker) from the book and attach it to the side of the keg near the top. Keg surfaces must be dry. It is best to apply the registration tags (yellow tag sticker) while the keg is in the cooler.
• Keg retailers shall maintain complete and accurate records of all keg registrations of the sale of kegs at the licensed establishment for a period of one year. Moreover, such records regarding keg sales shall, during reasonable hours, be open to inspection by the Commission, MLCC Investigators or other law enforcement officers.
• To order additional Keg Registration Card Books, please visit our website at www.michigan.gov/lcc  and fill out the LCC-3005 form located under Executive Services. 

 

According MCL 436.2030, the retailer will not return the keg deposit to the purchaser of beer if the tag is not attached to the keg upon its return. The individual signing the receipt does so with the understanding that he/she agrees not to damage the keg and not to remove or alter the attached identification tag. The individual signing the receipt does so with the understanding that he/she is subject to liability of serving the beer to any minor. A person not licensed as a retailer or wholesaler by the Michigan Liquor Control Commission and who removes the keg identification tag, allows the removal of the keg, and/or provides false information in the purchase of the beer keg is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for not more than 93 days or a fine of not more than $500, or both.  

 

For more information about the MLCC, please visit www.michigan.gov/lcc. Follow us on Twitter www.twitter.com/MILiquorControl, “Like” us on Facebook.

 

For more information about LARA, please visit www.michigan.gov/lara.  Follow us on Twitter www.twitter.com/michiganLARA, “Like” us on Facebook or find us on YouTube www.youtube.com/michiganLARA.