About nine months before an Auditor General's report questioned the accuracy of job projections in tax incentives handed to companies by the state, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy did its own study highlighting the problem.

On Aug. 31, 2009, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy's Michael LaFaive and James Hohman reviewed data from 219 credits from 1995 to 2004 involving the Michigan Economic Growth Authority.

The MEGA agreements are tax incentives designed to induce businesses to locate in Michigan. In return for the tax incentives, the businesses pledge to create new jobs.

The Mackinac Center found company projections of jobs seldom matched the real-life jobs created. In fact, their investigation of MEGA deals found that of the 61,043 jobs projected in news releases, companies only created 17,971 jobs. The Mackinac Center study states that for every 1,000 jobs companies projected they would create, about 294 jobs were actually created, on average — about 29 percent.

That report was vindicated by the Auditor General report that was released April 23. The report looked at company projections from 2005 through 2007 and concluded that about 28 percent of projected jobs came to fruition.

The Auditor General report stated 184,951 new jobs were projected while 52,286 were actually created.

"It confirms the fears we had," Hohman said. "The fear was they weren't really paying attention and that the jobs weren't real and the state was still giving out credits."

The Mackinac Center's analysis of MEGA's jobs impact didn't include the "retention credit jobs" which are defined as jobs that already existed but that were supposedly threatened if the state did not approve the tax credit.

Hohman said at the time of the Mackinac Center report, the Michigan Economic Development Corp., which administers MEGA, reporting figures included only one retention credit.

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Recent Michigan Capitol Confidential coverage of state economic development planning:

Lawmaker Says 'Willful Neglect' Is the Rule at Embattled State Agency

Analysis of Michigan Film Subsidies: Two Years, $117m — and No Film Job Growth

State Websites Give History a Rewrite

SENATE BILL 974
Impose licensure on interior designers
Introduced by state Sen. Patricia Birkholz, R-Saugatuck

The bill would impose licensure and regulation on interior designers, with annual license fees, at least six years of education and/or professional experience prerequisites, testing requirements to standards established by a board of incumbent designers, and more.

HOUSE BILL 5535
Authorize restaurant smoking ban tax credit
Introduced by state Rep. Pete Lund, R-Shelby Twp.

The bill would authorize a Michigan business tax credit for restaurants that choose to ban smoking. The credit would last for five years and would be based on the decline in the restaurant's gross receipts following the smoking ban.

HOUSE BILL 4100
Close restaurants that don't comply with all state regulations
Introduced by state Rep. Paul Scott, R-Grand Blanc

The bill would prohibit the owner of a bar or restaurant from conducting business if he or she does not comply with all "state or local laws, ordinances, codes, rules, or regulations," including a law proposed by House Bill 4099 that prohibits him or her from choosing to allow smoking in his or her establishment.

HOUSE BILL 5880
Digital billboard moratorium and ban
Introduced by state Rep. Rebekah Warren, D-Ann Arbor

The bill would ban electronic digital billboards except in cities with more than 35,000 people and impose a two-year moratorium on any new or converted digital billboards.

SENATE BILL 488
Mandate "comparable worth" compensation
Introduced by state Sen. Gretchen Whitmer, D-East Lansing

The bill would establish a government "commission on pay equity" to "develop definitions, models, and guidelines for employers and employees on pay equity." See also House Bill 4625, which would prohibit paying a person a wage or salary that is less than an amount established under a proposed statutory interpretation of comparable wages. The commission would include the directors of the Department of Civil Rights and the MEDC, and representatives from the Michigan Women's Commission, the National Organization of Women, and the Michigan Women's Studies Association, the AFL-CIO, the UAW, the Michigan Chamber of Commerce and the Small Business Association.

SENATE BILL 1038
Impose licensure and regulations on PEOs
Introduced by state Sen. Jason Allen, R-Traverse City

The bill would require and establish regulations for professional employer organizations to operate under the state unemployment insurance system law. PEOs are companies that "lease" employees to other firms on a long-term basis but remain the employer of record for purposes of paying payroll taxes.

HOUSE BILL 5562
Mandate full-service pump at gas stations
Introduced by state Rep. Coleman Young Jr., D-Detroit

The bill would mandate that every gas station have at least one full-service pump where an employee pumps gasoline.

HOUSE BILL 5750
Prohibit broadcast personality "non-compete" agreements
Introduced by state Rep. Fred Miller, D-Mount Clemens

The bill would establish in statute that a broadcasting industry contract provision that requires an employee to refrain from obtaining employment within a specified geographic area for a specified time after leaving the station is presumed to be unreasonable. A former employee would be allowed to sue a broadcaster for damages and costs if the station tried to enforce this provision.