Yesterday, the Senate Republicans thought they were giving business a helping hand by preemptively shooting the moon at ergonomic standards for Michigan businesses, when in fact there was no reason to pull the wire on that yet.
Buzz Thomas goes, "What the hell, dude."
Mr. President, I agree that we must promote legislation that will bolster our state’s economy and grow business in Michigan. That’s why I rise in opposition to Senate Bill No. 843. We have heard consistently that businesses are concerned that new ergonomic standards will increase their costs, and this is a very legitimate issue for this Legislature to consider. Yet if you look at the composition of the standards commission that is considering new rules, they include representatives from the business community as well as those from organized labor, the general public, and academia. It is doubtful those in the business community will issue regulations that are ultimately harmful to the community that they serve and their own interests. Rather, it is in their best interest to encourage economics rules which will reduce injuries, increase productivity, and improve quality as a number of our major manufacturers across the state of Michigan have already done.
This legislation would put the state at odds with the federal OSHA requirements that MIOSHA standards be as effective as the federal standards and that MIOSHA promulgate rules that are substantially similar to OSHA’s within six months of a federal standards effective date. Should OSHA ultimately implement a workplace ergonomics rule in the future, this bill would prevent the state from meeting its obligations to match that new federal standard.
Quite simply, this is a bill in search of a problem. Why? Because there are no rules to completely reject at this point. There are only recommendations of a workgroup. There are no formal rules. We, in fact, have an administrative rules process in place. Members of this Legislature, the Majority Leader, and the Senator from Troy all worked on this. I served in the Administrative Rules Committee with them in 2003, where we extended the legislative opportunity to reject to any rules that were promulgated by the boards appointed by the executive branch.
So this is, in fact, an inappropriate intrusion into the administrative rules process that members of this Senate, whether they be in the House and in the Senate now, fought very vigorously to protect. I, as someone who has been a member of the Administrative Rules Committee process for a number of years, want to stand up and support that tradition that exists within the legislative body. If you, too, support that, I believe you should vote “no” as well. Again, this is a bill in search of problem and will not improve the business climate and will likely meet the same fate that it did in the last legislative session should it make it to the Governor’s desk, and that is a ready veto.
Sanborn replied with the usual Republican waxing of the goal posts - unions, trial lawyers, taxes, the governor, the government - all those favorite Republican bogeymen that supposedly are the barriers to our success. Watch Alan dance around the maypole yet one more time.
High taxes, excessive regulation, contentious collective bargaining process, and many, many more things—these all make Michigan less competitive, less attractive. California passed this. Our rules would be even more egregious because with just one complaint, you could have MIOSHA in there going through making things more difficult for you. This is something being driven by the Granholm administration. Union bosses would like to see it go through. The trial attorneys would love to use this for a way to start more and more lawsuits.
I mean, safe working places are important to us all, but by following the federal standards, the federal guidelines which you could voluntarily submit to, you could address the problem within the workplace. I urge you to support the bills. You say that perhaps there is not a draft in place; they’re up to now, on the DLEG website, draft No. 15. It proves the age-old adage: If you want to see something get screwed up, let government get involved in it.
And yes, Senator Thomas, I would rather fight than switch.
Sanborn really needs to get a grip on himself.
Repetitive stress injury costs business up to $20 billion dollars a year nationwide. (and that's an old figure) Helping business reduce the costs that come with lost productivity due to preventable injury, not to mention higher insurance rates and workman's compensation claims, is a goal that the Legislature should work on. These solo flights that might relieve Republican tension momentarily, but only build up to an unsatisfying conclusion for the rest of us, are wasting our time. Again.
In other words Senator Sanborn, stop pulling our chain and do something useful with yourself before we end up paying for your mental repetitive stress injury that will occur if you keep popping your top at every little thing that seeks to improve this state for business and workers alike. Wanker.