Vote4Biz

The Detroit Regional Chamber, applauds the Michigan House of Representatives for approving significant cuts to the Michigan Department of Corrections Budget. The chamber advocates for putting permanent steps in place to reduce the prison population by reforming and depoliticizing parole, creating a sentencing commission to study our sentencing structure and taking steps to decrease recidivism.

“The bill is a start but does not go far enough to cut administrative costs, further cuts should come not just in the form of right-sizing the prison population, but also maximizing taxpayers investment,” said Sarah Hubbard, vice president of government relations for the Detroit Regional Chamber. “A ten percent reduction in costs for line items outside of prisons could result in an over $80 million in savings.”

This past Fall, the Detroit Regional Chamber’s Board of Directors unanimously approved recommendations to the Corrections budget totaling hundreds of millions of dollars and taking the governor up on her commitment to provide relief from the 22% Michigan Business Tax surcharge in exchange for Corrections Reform; these recommendations are outlined on the chamber’s Web site.

Crain’s Detroit Business higlighted some of the work of the Chamber on Corrections reform.  The Chamber signed a letter with 14 statewide organizations in support of refroming our prison system.  The Chamber has gone even further in advocating for seven specific reforms here.

You can ask the Legislature to take action on this and other issues by visiting www.vote4biz.com.

In 2008, the Board of Directors of the Detroit Regional Chamber adopted
a policy statement in support of broad structural reforms to the
Michigan Department of Corrections. Recommendations by the Chamber
would result in annual savings of up to $800 million resulting in enough
revenue to eliminate the surcharge on the Michigan Business Tax. Since
the 1970’s, the portion of Michigan’s General Fund budget dedicated to
corrections has increased from 5% to 20%. Now, 1 in 3 state employees
are employees of the Department of Corrections.

Significant reform of the Department of Corrections requires “Right
Sizing Michigan’s Prison Population,” bringing it in line with our
neighboring states. This requires reform of the parole board, review of
our sentencing structure, implementation of successful prisoner re-entry
programs and limiting returns to prison for technical violates of
parole. Significant reform also requires “Maximizing our Current
Investment,” particularly in the administrative aspects of the
Department. It must include opening food service to competition from
the private sector, partnering with public and private entities to
provide non-security related services, and reductions in administrative
costs.

The full proposal by the Chamber can be viewed here:
http://www.detroitchamber.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=716:reforming-michigans-corrections-system&catid=13:policy-and-legislation