2003 Senate Bill 824 (Senate Roll Call 553)
Substitute offered by Sen. Mark Schauer (D) on November 12, 2003, to replace the previous version of the bill with one which does not include the MEGA board members nominated by the Senate Majority Leader and the Speaker of the House, the requirement for Senate approval of MEGA board appointments, or the provision which eliminates MEGA's power to impose administrative rules on participating businesses. The substitute would basically just extend the sunset on MEGA. The substitute failed in the Senate (16 to 22) on November 12, 2003. [History, Amendments & Comments]
The vote was 16 in favor, 22 opposed, and 0 not voting
(Senate Roll Call 553 at Senate Journal 96)
[Comment on this vote | View others' comments]
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Not Voting
Undecided
The following legislators supported the substitute:
| Barcia (D) | Basham (D) | Bernero (D) | Brater (D) | Cherry (D) | Clark-Coleman (D) |
| Clarke (D) | Emerson (D) | Jacobs (D) | Leland (D) | Olshove (D) | Prusi (D) |
| Schauer (D) | Scott (D) | Switalski (D) | Thomas (D) |
The following legislators opposed the substitute:
The following legislators did not vote on the substitute:
Most Recent Comments
1) Yeah, right! [by Anonymous Citizen on March 4, 2004]A lot of good programs such as this one did for the soon-to-be former AB Electrolux employees.
Government should NOT be in the business of picking the winners and losers in the private sector.
This program should be abolished and the monies already budgeted towards it rolled back into the general fund where they can do more good.
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Win! Win! Win! Sign up for your MEGA credit here. Get rich!
If you are a corporation wanting to expand in Michigan, you may already be a winner!
Just fill out forms showing that you might have gone to another state, and MEDC will make sure you get MEGA tax credits and property tax abatements. Just pretend that the MEDC is responsible for bringing or keeping you here, and the endless wallets of Michigan taxpayers can be yours!!!
You can promise new jobs and not deliver! KMart and Aspen Bay did. We don't care -- it's not like it's our $37,000,000! We only take little amounts from all Michigan taxpayers, and they never notice!
But hurry and sign up today. We were going to expire, but now we are only wasting, er, investing in companies through 2009. Get yours now before it's all gone.
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Despite the very articulate response by Senator Schauer, he (and judging by the rest of the recent vote, the rest of the Michigan Senate) still fails to grasp the inherent problem with programs such as these: It is not a function of government to, in effect, assume a role of central planners in Michigan’s economy.
This bill is putting Michigan on a slippery slope, which according to history will only ruin the state’s economy in the long term.
This bill should be voted down when it comes back from the House for final ratification, the agencies covered under this bill should be closed and their budgets returned to the General Fund so that they cannot be used to implement another similar program.
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