Michigan GOP Lawmakers Look to Repeal Governor’s Emergency Powers as Legislative Tensions Rise

In Lansing, political negotiations are tense as legislators head toward their annual summer break. Republicans in the state Legislature are attempting to strip the governor of some of her emergency powers. Moreover, lawmakers and the governor have agreed to an historic K-12 school budget that will close a lot of the gaps in disparate school funding in Michigan. 

“Michigan’s petition process is a mess … Michigan’s courts of rule have determined time and time again, it does not matter if you lie and trick people into signing your petition … Under our statutes, if you sign it, it counts.” –Zach Gorchow, Gongwer News Service

Listen: Zach Gorchow discusses the latest in state government and politics.

Guest

Zach Gorchow is the executive editor and publisher of Gongwer News Service – Michigan.

Gorchow says Republicans are attempting to repeal Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s emergency powers using an initiative petition, which allows a group of people to gather signatures from 340,000 registered voters. “If you can do that for a statute, it sends it to the Legislature and the Legislature can decide whether to enact it or not … we’re likely going to see the first step in that process today with a vote in the Senate and I expect that to pass,” he says.

The petition process, however, is riddled with issues. Gorchow says the process itself is often used by conservatives as a mechanism to circumvent a Democratic governor. He adds that some petition signatures are ill-gotten. “Michigan’s petition process is a mess,” he says, “Michigan’s courts of rule have determined time and time again, it does not matter if you lie and trick people into signing your petition … Under our statutes, if you sign it, it counts.”

Web story written by Molly Ryan