MCFYP Committee Supporting Proposed State Senate Legislation To Amend Youth Employment Standards Act
by Mike Gallagher for the CMF NewsWire
Posted 3/30/10
Michigan Community Foundations’ Youth Project (MCFYP) committee members are endorsing a proposed state Senate bill that calls for exempting minors working as unpaid volunteers for tax-exempt organizations from having to obtain a work permit.
Michigan Senate Bill 860, if passed, would amend the Youth Employment Standards Act regarding the required permits. Passage of the amendment would not, however, exempt minors from the act’s other provisions.
State Senator Jason Allen (R-District 37) is the sponsor of the bill which was introduced September 23, 2009. It was then sent to the Commerce and Tourism Committee for review and is now under discussion.
According to Allen and other legislative leaders, the bill has gained bipartisan support.
Co-sponsors of the bill include fellow senators: Jim Barcia (D-District 21), Roger Kahn (R-District 32), Mark Jansen (R-District 28), John Pappageorge (R-District 13), Wayne Kuipers (R-District 39) and Gilda Jacobs (D-District 14).
“What we found was that many people – both minors and adults – did not realize that the state had a work permit requirement for minors volunteering in the nonprofit field…and I felt it was a burdensome restriction,” says Allen, explaining his support of the measure.
Changing the existing permit law was one of the first efforts undertaken by the Michigan Nonprofit Caucus, formed in April 2009 through a collaborative effort between the Michigan Nonprofit Association, the Council of Michigan Foundations (CMF) and Michigan Association of United Ways.
The Nonprofit Caucus is a bipartisan forum through which lawmakers can lead and collaborate on legislative and regulatory issues impacting charities and foundations in Michigan.
Jansen, co-chair of the caucus and a co-sponsor of Senate Bill 860, says while researching the issue of minors volunteering at nonprofits, he learned the requirement was not so much being ignored as a case of the public not really knowing the restriction was part of Michigan law.
“It apparently wasn’t being enforced…and I think this new legislation is a better way to handle the issue to allow unpaid minors working at established nonprofits to forego getting permits to work there,” says Jansen. “It takes a level of administrative hassle out of the process.”
Mike Goorhouse, CMF’s program associate for youth and community foundations, says, “When we found out that this issue was the first one that the then-newly created Michigan Nonprofit Caucus was taking up, we knew it needed to succeed.
“I felt at that time that we needed to make the MCFYP Committee aware this was going on in the state legislature and that the Nonprofit Caucus was behind it,” says Goorhouse. “The MCFYP Committee decided to take an affirmative position because it aligns so closely with our program to encourage youth philanthropy.
“Dustin Moretz, a MCFYP Committee member who is affiliated with the Jackson Community Foundation YAC, says he supported endorsing the legislative effort as a way of promoting youth philanthropy in the state.
“Youth volunteers are not working at these nonprofits for money,” says Moretz. “We are giving our time and our talents to help out in each of our areas where we live.”
Joining her colleague in supporting the state legislative effort to change the law is Madelynne Wager, a MCFYP Committee member from the Greenville Area Community Foundation YAC.
“I’m in support of this because any impediment we can avoid to get more youth working in philanthropy is a positive step,” says Wager. “Kids need to get out and volunteer and dedicate themselves to a cause…and this change will make it easier for them to do just that.”
Rob Collier, CMF’s president and CEO, says he is grateful that the Michigan Nonprofit Caucus is the spark that generated interest with state legislators and led to them introducing – and supporting – Senate Bill 860.
“This is just the sort of effort that we hoped the Nonprofit Caucus would lead,” says Collier. “A big thank you goes to Senators Allen and Jansen and the other bi-partisan supporters for their work on this issue. The MCFYP Committee’s support is a tremendous plus. It shows their dedication to moving youth philanthropy forward.”
