What could Michigan do with an extra $231 million? Nearly a quarter of a million dollars would fill a LOT of potholes. At $42,887 per mile, you could pave over 5,386 miles of new road. At an average cost of $10,209 per child, you could educate 22,627 kids. But instead, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services is going to flush it down the drain.

This column originally appeared in the Detroit News.

Earlier this month, lawmakers in Connecticut took to social media to congratulate themselves on passage of a bill setting up a new licensure requirement for men and women who apply eyelash extensions at beauty salons. Those kooky East Coast liberals. 

It was a comical example of big government run wild, but the reality is, in Michigan, onerous, arbitrary and costly licensure requirements are no laughing matter. 

We’re the state where a license to work as an auto mechanic costs $6 for a standard test, but a makeup artist is forced to graduate from a 400-hour course, pass practical and written exams, and pay the state $200.