CLOSUP publications

Over the past twenty years, few cities have experienced as much fiscal stress as Flint, Michigan. After decades of economic decline, two periods of state receivership, the water crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic, the City of Flint is trying to shore...

Every decade the decennial US census is followed by a tumultuous process of redrawing state voting maps. This process gives states an opportunity to update their voting districts to account for shifting population distributions. In many states, this...

This report presents the views of Michigan’s local government leaders regarding their jurisdiction’s online presence, including whether their local government has an official website and what it provides, the use of  teleconferencing for official...

While transportation electrification is critically important for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, light-duty electric vehicle adoption by individuals is still very low in the United States. Although state-level programs and city-level programs in...

The Michigan Public Policy Survey (MPPS) is an ongoing research program that surveys the top elected and appointed officials in every local government jurisdiction in Michigan. This report aims at understanding how the gender demographics of these...

This report is the second in a series on recycling issues in Michigan communities. It presents the views of Michigan’s local government leaders on challenges their jurisdictions face and opportunities to introduce, expand, or improve recycling...

This report presents the views of Michigan’s local government leaders regarding a variety of recycling issues and policies in their jurisdictions, including what types of recycling services are offered in communities across the state, changes to...

This report presents the opinions of Michigan’s local government leaders regarding the state of public discourse in their communities, including how constructive or divisive it is among residents, between residents and elected officials, and among...

As market forces and policy interventions continue to facilitate a renewable energy transition, U.S. states are increasing their shares of renewable energy technologies. In recent years, Midwest states, such as Michigan – which have historically...

Like many other states, Illinois is moving toward decarbonizing its energy sector. A major part of this effort is shifting to renewable electricity  generation. As the nation’s third-largest net electricity supplier, Illinois’ energy sector...

This report presents Michigan local government leaders’ assessments of their jurisdictions’ fiscal conditions and the actions they plan to take in the coming year given their financial situations. The findings are based on responses from 13...

This report presents local government leaders’ views regarding the functioning of democracy in their jurisdictions, the State of Michigan, and the United States as a whole, as well as their confidence in elections in their own jurisdiction, across...

This report presents local government leaders’ views on the continuing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in Michigan in 2021, including overall impacts on local communities, evaluations of governmental coordination and resource provision, and...

This report presents local government leaders’ views on COVID-19’s impact on local economic conditions, as well as reports of whether or not their local governments took action to help local businesses  during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic...

This report presents the opinions of Michigan’s local government leaders during the spring of 2021 regarding COVID-19 vaccines, including information on local government actions to support the rollout of vaccines in local communities, and adoption...

This report presents the opinions of Michigan's local government leaders regarding the direction in which the state is headed, as well as their evaluations of the job performance of Governor Gretchen Whitmer and the Michigan Legislature. These...

This case study takes an in-depth look at the fiscal health stress of two tourist cities (City X and City Y) using a wide range of financial and demographic factors as well as findings from the Michigan Public Policy Survey. This case study...

XBRL, an open data standard, can improve access and analysis of public financial data for local governments in Michigan. Key benefits of creating an XBRL program for local governments include enhanced public transparency, easier data access for...

In this memo, we examine the existing ways states have crafted legislation on property taxes for utility-scale solar developments and find two main categories of existing legislation—”exemption or abatement,” and “exemption and replacement.” We...

Many US States have adopted policies known as renewable portfolio standards (RPS) to address climate change by mandating the production of electricity from renewable energy sources. In 2020, Virginia became one of the few states to implement an RPS...

In the face of the urgent and growing climate crisis, policy experts on climate and the economy have pushed for national and other governments to implement a tax on carbon. The Biden administration is considering adopting such a policy (Green,...

Carbon taxes have been suggested by economists as the most cost-effective means to curb greenhouse gases emissions, but many people fear that such a tax would be inequitable. A content analysis of newspapers local to British Columbia and Alberta,...

This study inventories the current property tax treatments for utility-scale wind developments across all 50 states. This inventory was created entirely with publicly available information from a variety of web-based sources and is accurate as of...

As solar development increases, states face new challenges in regulating and taxing solar facilities. To better understand an important piece of the current regulatory landscape for solar, this study inventories property tax treatment for...

Waste is a growing issue in the United States that can be potentially aided with Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) methods. This paper analyzes the current inventory of all EPR policies across the US. The analysis consists of the bill author’s...