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Legislative Consultants: Government Affairs- March 15, 2012 SNYDER PUSHES FOR CONSENT AGREEMENT IN MOTOWN
Gov. Rick Snyder this week rolled out his proposed financial consent agreement with the City of Detroit in an attempt to avoid appointing an Emergency Manager (EM). The plan would create a powerful nine-member advisory board charged with overseeing financial operations, spending or debt restructuring. Detroit Mayor Dave Bing would have EM powers but the powers to charge or terminate collective bargaining agreements would need the approval of the Financial Advisory Board. Board members would need at least 10 years of experience with municipal finance transactions, labor matters or high-profile/bankruptcy environments. The board would be subject to the Open Meetings Act. The proposal met with great disapproval by members of Detroit City Council as well as a majority of the House and Senate Democrat members of the Legislature. The Detroit Financial Review Team is looking over the proposed consent agreement and must make a recommendation to the Governor by March 28. Meanwhile, Rep. John Olumba (D-Detroit) announced sponsorship of what he called the Detroit Structured Reinvestment and Restructuring Omnibus (DSRRO) - a 50-bill package of "ideas" targeting social welfare reform, education reform, local government reform, commerce and labor reform, judiciary reform and senior citizen support. And he said there are more bill ideas on the way. CHAMBERS EXCHANGE COERCED ABORTION/AUTISM BILLS
A three-bill package of legislation (SBs 0414,0415 and 0981) that would allow insurance carriers or third-party administrators to get reimbursements from the state for any autism related claims has passed the Senate with only some Republicans posting "no" votes. The bills create a $50,000 cap and requires the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA) to create and implement an autism coverage incentive program through which the carriers could seek reimbursement. The measures now go to the House. Women would be prevented from being coerced into having abortions, provide for civil action by a woman against anyone who coerced her or tried to coerce her, and require an oral screening for coercion or domestic violence of a female seeking an abortion under a series of bills (BBs 4798,4799,5134,5181, and 5182) that passed the House but did not win Immediate Effect. The package now goes to the Senate. GSRAs CAN'T UNIONIZE
Graduate student research assistants (GSRAs) at the University of Michigan (U-M) and other state universities cannot unionize. Gov. Rick Snyder signed into law legislation (HB 4246) that prevents the organization of GSRAs before the Michigan Employment Relations Commission (MERC) was to meet to discuss organization efforts at the U-M. The legislation was fast-tracked through the Republican-led House and Senate in the last three weeks. UNIONS TAKE ON RTW-PLUS
In what appears to be a major counterattack against a plethora of laws enacted by the Republican-led Legislature and Gov. Rick Snyder, the Protect Our Jobs coalition (comprised of state labor unions) has launched a statewide petition drive to place before the voters a constitutional amendment that would ban Right to Work (RTW) legislation as well as a host of other anti-labor bills. In addition to the RTW ban, the omnibus constitutional amendment would also ban more than 80 bills perceived to be anti-labor now pending in the Legislature - which could include the Emergency Manager (EM) law (P.A. 4) The Stand Up For Democracy coalition has turned 226,637 petition signatures into the Secretary of State to put the law on hold and place a ballot referendum in November. Also included is SB 0971 that bans graduate student research employee unions. The House, on a 62-45 party-line vote last week approved the ban that would affect the University of Michigan and other state universities. The constitutional amendment would also place the right to collective bargaining in the state -Constitution. There are reports that labor unions are committed to spending $10-to-$15 million on signature collection and voter education to get the measure passed. SNYDER CALLS FOR COMPREHENSIVE ATTACK ON CRIME
In a special message to the Legislature on Public Safety, Gov. Rick Snyder called for a comprehensive system of "smart justice" that recognizes the connection between enforcement, prevention and economic opportunity. Many of the proposals are geared to the cities of Flint, Detroit, Saginaw and Pontiac which rank among the nation's top 10 most violent cities. Among them are a proposed "Secure Cities Partnership" agreement between the state and the four cities in which those cities would participate in local, state and federal law enforcement teams and receive some $46 million more in state resources - including the hiring of 180 more state troopers to beefup law enforcement in the four cities. PANEL TAKES ON SCHOOL UNION DUES COLLECTION
The collection of union dues in public school districts would be banned under legislation (HB 4929) reported from the Senate Reforms, Restructuring and Reinventing Committee. The measure, which was sent to the full Senate, would, in addition to banning public school districts from collection union dues for their unionized employees, would also require audits of public school unions and require those unions to file the audits with the state. The measure appropriates $100,000 to cover the cost of the data collection thereby making the bill exempt from public referendum. HOUSE MAKES COMMITTEE CHANGES
House Speaker Jase Bolger (R-Marshall) announced committee changes following the swearing in of new House members Reps. Joe Graves (R-Argentine Twp.) and Tim Greimel (D-Pontiac). Rep. Lisa Posthumus Lyons (R-Alto) will chair the House Education Committee replacing Rep. Tom McMillan (R-Rochester Hills) who had been chairing the committee since the recall of Rep. Paul Scott last November. Graves and Greimel were added to the House Health Policy Committee and to the House Military and Veterans Affairs and Homeland Security Committee. Graves won the 51 st House District special election to fill the seat left open by recalled Scott. Greimel won the 29th House District special election to fill the seat left open by the departure of former Rep. Tim Melton who resigned. LOTTERY WINNERS COULD BE LOSERS.
On a 26-10 vote, without debate the Senate has passed legislation (SBs 0711 and 0712) that would limit food stamps for lottery winners. The measures would require the Department of Human Services (DHS) to apply an asset test for those applying for food stamps and require the Lottery Bureau to provide DHS the name of a prizewinner and amount of the prize to they can be cross-checked with those receiving state assistance. The bills now go to the House. SENATE PASSES PRISON PRIVATIZATION
The Baldwin prison facility, which has been closed since 2005, could reopen as a private prison as long as there is at least 10-percent savings under legislation (SBs 0877 and 0878) passed by the Senate on a 21-17 vote. Under the bill, any contract would be for an initial five year period with the option of two-year renewals. The GEO Group, then Wackenbut Corrections Corp., ran the facility from 1998 until 2005 when the contract was terminated by the state. Similar legislation (HB 5174) passed the House last month. |
