Legislation has been introduced in Lansing to abolish the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, but would that be a good idea?

State Representatives Steve Carra and Jay DeBoyer, who introduced the legislation, say the agency is wasteful and and ineffective. They point to a study by the by the Mackinac Center, which found the MEDC has a job creation success rate of 9%, despite the billions it’s awarded to businesses expanding in Michigan.

However, state Representative Joey Andrews tells us losing the MEDC would put Michigan at a competitive disadvantage. He says it provides businesses interested in moving to the state a one-stop shop for the support they need.

“I think there’s work we can do there, but this idea that we should eliminate it seems to have come up this year after some disagreements politically, largely from the Republicans, about how grants have been distributed and that sort of thing,” Andrews said. “Some of the criticism is fair. There needs to be some work done, but to wholly eliminate the MEDC, like I said, I think it just puts us at a huge disadvantage. So we would have to replace it with something virtually similar.”

Andrews says the MEDC has also been helpful to Southwest Michigan communities, providing grants to small businesses for improvement projects.

The legislation introduced on Wednesday would amend the Michigan Strategic Fund Act to abolish the MEDC. Another bill would amend the Urban Cooperation Act to prohibit the Michigan Strategic Fund from contracting with local governments for the purpose of economic development.

Carra and DeBoyer say the MEDC has a record of failure that includes projects that amount to “taxpayer-funded corporate giveaways.”