A Michigan circuit court judge has ordered in favor of state house Democrats, who are suing their Republican compatriots in an attempt to force them to stop "circumventing the constitution."
In a shocking story broken nationally by Rachel Maddow, the GOP-led state congress has been misusing an emergency exemption in the state's constitution as means of forcing bills through.
According to Maddow, the state constitution requires bills be implemented 90 days after the end of the session in which they were passed—which for the state is a full calendar year. An emergency provision allows for the passage of bills immediately in the case of a 2/3 majority. This is intended for emergencies like natural disasters or other things that are out of the ordinary.
Instead, the House of Representatives has been passing everything that comes their way under the emergency provision, including removal of health benefits for domestic partners of government employees and the appointment of emergency managers for a number of cities and school districts throughout Michigan.
According to Maddow, the slow process written into the constitution was on purpose—it gives dissenters the chance to make a case against it before it goes into effect.
The most shocking part of Maddow's story is not the misuse of the provision for non-emergency bills, however; the most shocking part is the reason the democrats are suing in the first place: The Republicans do not have a 2/3 majority, so they cannot be legitimately using the provision in the first place. Furthermore, they are ignoring the Democrats cry for Roll Call and effectively rendering the Democrats votes null and void.
An Ingham County judge has sided with the Democrats and says that the Republicans must allow roll calls when requested by 22 members, a decision Attorney General Bill Schuette immediately requested be overturned.
A video shown of the house proceedings on Rachel Maddow's show, however, shows that it might be more difficult than just getting a judge to tell them they have to have a roll call. When asked for a vote on immediate effect, the head of the house called the vote in favor in less than 3 seconds. A vote is conducted by having those in favor stand—an act that is not likely to be counted in that short of a time.
What's worse is that the majority of residents aren't aware of this provision and how it is being misused, although many residents have taken issue with several of the bills that have been passed since Governor Rick Snyder and the GOP-led congress were elected this year.
Michigan's representatives have made no comment regarding Maddow's story.
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Comments: 95
actually I was referring to this
Seriously, now you see how it felt in the US Senate.
It seems that if anything the President has set the model of how he thinks governement should operate.
Haahahaaahahaaha!!!!!
Wow...
Anyway, according to the Judge, violation of those strictures has been pretty much the order of the day since the last election, and has to stop. Further, the Judge appears to have declared all laws enacted under these violations invalid. Appeal has already been undertaken by the Republican Attorney General.
It sais:
“No act shall take effect until the expiration of 90 days from the end of the session at which it was passed, but the legislature may give immediate effect to acts by a two-thirds vote of the members elected to and serving in each house.â€
Nowhere is the word “Emergency†used or defined. Both Sarah and Maddow are perpetrating this “Emergency†concept that is not in the constitution. Yes you can argue that was the intent of the amendment, but that is not what was written and thus I expect that an appeal would overturn this ruling.
At the end, I offered that the Judge, in fact, ruled the GOP majority acted wrongly (which everybody seemed to be justifying by saying someone else did something wrong). I would bolster that by saying that he noted that since the GOP don't have a 2/3 majority in the House, and no Democrat admits to having voted for any immediacy provision since the election, there can't BE a 2/3 majority voting for immediacy in both houses. Declarations that there WAS such a majority are therefore void. Whether he ruled that all laws given immediacy are also void... I'm not sure. He may have ruled that actions taken before the "end of session plus 90 days" are what are void... not the legislation itself. As I said, an appeal for an emergency reversal has already been filed. That may be the only time the word "Emergency" actually came up in this whole kerfluffle.
Feel better now?
So out of those 450 laws that had immediacy attached how many of those had the democrats requested a role call and were denied? Maddow seems to have left that little number out of her reporting. My bet is that it is a small number and the judge will delay those laws for an appropriate period. Of those laws, where and what are the actual damages caused by early implementation? That was left out of her reporting too.
RF, you would think that if I were wrong, that a judge would hold up more laws. Where are they? The count is 3 and holding! 3 out of 450 or was it 544, it does not matter much, it is a small %..
As generally understood, the person accusing is understood to share some quality with the target of their accusation. An alternative interpretation, recognised by some, but not all, sources is that the pot is sooty (being placed on a fire), while the kettle is clean and shiny (being placed on coals only), and hence when the pot accuses the kettle of being black, it is the pot’s own sooty reflection that it sees: the pot accuses the kettle of a fault that only the pot has, rather than one that they share.
The lefties are liars.
As far as calling liberals liars, I will resort to your level and say - it takes one to know one.
Governor Rick Snyder is facing a recall right now. I signed a petition myself.
Be careful who you vote for in November. If you vote Republican, you will get what Michigan has now.
I am a teacher here in Michigan and my benefits were cut in half this year. Thanks, Governor Snyder. Thanks, legislators.
Broad Generalization
Ad Hominem
There is so much wrong with your argument that I could continue the list all day.
Collective bargaining is about workers rights. Surely you believe that we the people who guard your streets, teach your children and plow your roads have rights.
America is not a dictatorship yet even though the right seems to be taking us in that direction.
Even though I’m just a lowly average American citizen, I’m not so naïve as to not know that after reviewing the above links you’re presently splitting your sides laughing that I think the above represents real MONEY. Compared to what you’re used to seeing the amounts of money are a joke. Here is the part that is NOT so obvious, virtually no company or corporation wants HR3149 passed (because they think they own “the people” and their privacy).Goods and services are difficult to be sold as the purchasing power of the people comes down.Payday cash advances are going to be a safer way of getting credit in Utah with a brand new law that is going to be put into place for payday loan lenders. The new law requires that lenders in the state register. If they are not registered with the state, they cannot collect interest or the principal on the loan that they give out. Individuals in Utah can get payday loans and know that the lender is secure now. Find out more at: Payday Loans.