The average state employee compensation package costs approximately $93,039. Inflation-adjusted wages and benefits have increased 25 percent since fiscal 1999. The figures include the value of all benefits from state-paid retirement contributions to dry cleaning allowances.

The largest cost increases came from retirement benefits (which increased from $309 million in fiscal 1999 to $772 million in fiscal 2008) and health insurance (which increased from $273 million in fiscal 1999 to $554 million in fiscal 2008).

The wages and benefits of Michigan's over 50,000 state employees cost taxpayers $4.7 billion in fiscal 2008. This is up from $3.2 billion in fiscal 1999, despite the state now employing 15 percent fewer workers.

Deborah VanDyk of the Hudsonville Tea Party mentioned during her April 15 tea party speech in Hudsonville that some religious organizations such as the Amish and Muslims may not have to participate in the individual mandate for health care.

It's been one of the less reported controversies involving the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that was passed recently by the U.S. House and Senate.

An outrageous claim? Snopes.com, the website that researches urban legends, lists the claim that certain religions can opt out of the individual mandate as "undetermined."

The debate centers on the "religious conscience exception" that never specifies any particular religion but states there is an exemption for someone who certifies they are a member of a recognized religious sect.

Michael Tanner, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and a health care reform expert, said the clause was put in for the Amish, who generally don't participate in government programs such as Social Security, Medicaid or Medicare.

Tanner said it is much like the consciousness objections to war in that the burden of proof is on the person making the claim.

"You can't just walk in and say, 'Oh, by the way, I don't believe in war,'" Tanner said.

Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, disputed the idea Muslims would be able to opt out of the individual mandate.

"I've never heard anyone (Muslim) ever not participate in health care," Hooper said. "I've never heard of a Muslim saying they object to Medicare or Medicaid in all the years I've been doing this."

The Snopes.com article states that it's "a tougher call" to say if Muslims would qualify for the exemption. The article states that Islam does "have a tradition of barring conventional insurance products because they invoke an element of uncertainty, gambling and the charging of interest, which are prohibited by the Koran."

But Hooper said Snopes.com is mistaking health insurance for life insurance. Hooper said, in general, Muslims may object to life insurance that accumulates interest.

"But it has nothing to do with health insurance," Hooper said.

Matt Lehrich, a White House spokesman for President Barack Obama, didn't respond to an e-mail requesting comment.

Two Michigan Senate committees on April 20 addressed the growing controversy of the stealth unionization of the state's home day care owners and providers, as well as the mechanism by which it happened. One committee took the legislative route, and the other asked probing questions of a Department of Human Services representative.

On a 2 to 1 vote, the Senate Committee on Families and Human Services approved Senate Bills 1173 and 1179 to effectively see to it that private-sector business owners cannot be categorized as government employees and unionized. These measures now head to the full Senate for consideration.

In the meantime, the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Human Services took no legislative action. The committee instead focused its discussion on the Michigan Home Based Child Care Council (MHBCCC). The council is the state entity which acts as the "employer" in the unionization of Michigan's 40,000-plus home-based day care providers the union Child Care Providers-Together Michigan (CCPTM). Union dues come from a portion of state subsidy payments made to day care providers on behalf of low-income parents. The MHBCCC has come under intense scrutiny since last fall, when the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation filed a lawsuit on behalf of three day care owners who do not wish to continue having dues diverted from their subsidy payments to a union. Even if these providers choose to decline union membership, they would still have "service fees" withheld.

Even though the MHBCCC was listed on the official meeting agenda, no representative from the council showed up. This latest no-show is at least the third legislative hearing at which the Michigan Home Based Child Care Council was a main topic of discussion but failed to appear, even after legislators last fall attempted to strip state funding for the council.

It turns out that Lisa Brewer-Walraven, director of early childhood education and care at the Department of Human Services, who was already on-hand to talk about other DHS business, is an MHBCCC board member. Committee Chairperson Bill Hardiman, R-Kentwood, took the opportunity to question Brewer-Walraven about her knowledge of the MHBCCC, its purported benefit to the state's day care owners and providers, and its creation through an interlocal agreement between the DHS and Mott Community College.

At first, Brewer-Walraven seemed reluctant to answer Hardiman's question about who initiated the process of forming the interlocal agreement. She replied, "It was initiated, again, because of the number of home-based child care providers that we have in Michigan and wanting to continue to bring efforts to improve the quality of care provided." (See video below.)

Hardiman continued to press Brewer-Walraven who finally nodded her head to his question, "So DHS approached Mott Community College because of their long-standing reputation of providing training for child care?"

After the hearing, Brewer-Walraven confirmed her answer to the Mackinac Center, stating that the DHS did approach Mott Community College about the formation of the interlocal agreement that created the MHBCCC. She would not go into further detail, however, citing the Center's pending lawsuit against the DHS, which is now before the Michigan Supreme Court.