The union that no longer represents home-based caregivers filed its 2012 financial disclosure reports with the federal government, but $12,000 that was used to keep the scheme alive for an extra 17 months is not included on the report.

SEIU Healthcare Michigan, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union, filed its LM-2 report with the U.S. Department of Labor and details how it spent some of the money it received. What's missing is a line item that specifies that the SEIU gave $12,000 to the Michigan Quality Community Care Council (MQC3).

That's significant because the MQC3, the dummy employer used by the union to keep its forced unionization of home-based caregivers alive, had been previously defunded by the state government and thus would have been unable to keep facilitating the union's scheme.

From 2006 until March 31, 2013, the SEIU took more than $34 million from home-based caregivers in Michigan in a unionization scheme orchestrated when Jennifer Granholm was governor. By way of a mail-in election, the SEIU said it got enough votes to unionize tens of thousands of people, most of whom were taking care of family and friends in their own homes.

After the MQC3 was defunded, it was believed the scheme would end on Oct. 1, 2011. Instead, the MQC3 continued to exist, operating out of the home of its executive director Susan Steinke. At the time, Steinke could only work five hours a month to stay eligible for unemployment.

According to MQC3 email records obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, the MQC3 received $12,000 from the SEIU in early 2012. Due to that payment, the MQC3 survived several more months, which allowed the union to keep receiving the dues. By midsummer 2012 other funding for MQC3 apparently had been lined up.

Michigan Capitol Confidential viewed the SEIU Healthcare Michigan LM-2 report to try to find out how the union had categorized the $12,000 payment. The report includes $76,811 in unidentified disbursements under the heading of "contributions, gifts and grants." It's possible the payment was part of that unspecified total.

The report itemized $78,997 with the payees named. There was no itemization for another $16,009 in disbursements.

It is possible the $12,000 paid to keep MQC3 going came from another SEIU affiliate or SEIU international headquarters in Washington, D.C.

SEIU Healthcare Michigan's LM-2 report listed $18,929,050 in receipts for 2012. Of that, $11,307,314 came from dues and fees. The report shows that the union spent more than the total of its receipts. Its disbursements totaled $20,376,849.

The forced unionization officially, and finally, ended April 1.

Zac Altefogt, communications director of SEIU Healthcare Michigan, did not respond to a request for comment.

*Readers note: Initially it was believed the $12,000 payment was made in late 2011 and should therefore have been in the union's 2011 LM-2 report. Further examination and additional information obtained through a FOIA request showed that was inaccurate. The payment was made in early 2012 and subject to the union's 2012 disclosure requirements.

The State of Michigan was admitted into the union in 1837 and for most of the time since then, landscape architects were able to work without having to jump through a bunch of hoops with the government.

That changed a few years ago, but a bill in the State House would repeal some of those requirements.

In 1980, Michigan began requiring landscape architects register with the state. In 2008, House Bill 5025 was passed, establishing a committee(s) that mandates requirements to work. The state now requires seven years of education or work experience, university-level courses, and classes that are approved by the trade group, American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA). For permission to work, citizens also need five references, three of which must be licensed architects themselves.

These requirements came because of a lobbying effort, said Rep. Ken Yonker, R-Caledonia. He recently introduced House Bill 4686, which would repeal the licensing law.

"We want to eliminate some of the licensing for the non life-threatening industries to undo some of the regulatory burden in the state," Rep. Yonker said.

These types of licensing requirements hurt small businesses, said Lee McGrath, a legislative counsel with the Institute for Justice, a public interest law firm.

"Occupational licensing laws hurt entrepreneurs and employees by reducing jobs and opportunity by imposing arbitrary and unnecessary requirements," he said. "In these troubled economic times, the best way to help put people back to work is to eliminate arbitrary barriers to entry into honest livelihoods."

The Institute for Justice released a study last year that looked at licensing mandates around the nation. The report found that a lot of requirements were "irrational" and "a war against work."

The Michigan chapter of the ASLA, which approves the current classes prospective landscape architects take, is against the changes. The group says that repealing licensure for landscape architects will make Michigan the only state to have done so.

In talking points arguing against deregulation, the group said:

"Landscape architects compete and collaborate with other design professions, such as architects and civil engineers. Without licensure, we simply cannot compete and our businesses cannot function. Licensure levels the playing field for Michigan landscape architects by eliminating this competitive disadvantage on a regional and national basis, even within our own profession."

They also think Michigan graduates will leave to seek work in other states without the mandate.

Rep. Yonker said they are working with some of the industries to try to shift away from state licensing to standards from the private associations, calling the current rules a "barrier to entry."

"If they feel that their industry needs to be monitored for quality, then let them do it and pay for it," Yonker said. "Why should taxpayers do it?"

Michigan requires many non-dangerous areas of work to have a special license. Some examples are painters, barbers, floor sanders, and a variety of low-level carpenters.

The landscape architecture bill is one of a slate of bipartisan legislation that would get rid of some of the licensing mandates in the state. Michigan Capitol Confidential will be covering some of these bills over the next few weeks.