GOP pushes bill to cut ballot initiatives
LANSING, Mich. — Michigan Republicans moved Wednesday to curtail ballot initiatives by advancing a measure limiting how many signatures could come from any one region of the state, the latest proposal assailed by critics as an unconstitutional, lameduck power grab from incoming Democratic officeholders or voters.
The House Elections and Ethics Committee passed the bill 6-3 along party lines on a day when hundreds of protesters again demonstrated at the Capitol. The new legislation could clear the Republican-led House before moving to the GOP-controlled Senate.
Republican lawmakers are trying to make it harder to mount ballot drives after voters last month legalized marijuana for recreational use, overhauled the process of redrawing district lines that the GOP dominated in recent decades and expanded voting options.
The move also comes a week after they maneuvered to significantly scale back minimum wage and paid sick time laws that began as ballot initiatives. At the behest of the business lobby, the Legislature preemptively adopted the wage and leave measures before the election, rather than let them go to a public vote, so it would be easier to change them after — an unprecedented strategy that is sure to spark lawsuits if Republican Gov. Rick Snyder signs the bills. GOP legislators also have advanced Wisconsin-like bills that would strip or dilute the powers of Democrats taking over the governor, attorney general and secretary of state offices.
Wisconsin’s Republican Gov. Scott Walker is likely to sign legislation trimming the power of his successor after making a few, unspecified partial vetoes. The bills will be automatically delivered to him on Dec. 20 if he does not call for them sooner, and once he has them Walker has six days to take action. The Wisconsin and Michigan actions have prompted criticism that the GOP Legislatures are ignoring the gains made by Democrats in the November election.
The Michigan bill to tighten requirements for ballot initiatives drew opposition from across the political spectrum.
“I think this bill is remarkably undemocratic,” said Erica Peresman, a volunteer from the Detroit suburb of Birmingham who helped collect signatures for the initiative to expand voting options.
“It’s about putting up obstacles on top of the very significant signature requirement and petition rules that already exist to make it more expensive, more difficult and more burdensome for citizens like me to participate in the democratic process,” she said.
The legislation would affect ballot committees initiating constitutional amendments, bills and referendums by capping the number of signatures that could come from an individual congressional district at 10 percent.