April 22, 1994

Legislative Week in Review

• The pitched political battle over teachers’ collective bargaining power persisted this week as Senate Republicans mustered the minimum 19 votes needed to pass HB 5128. The measure toughens current antistrike statutes and curtails teachers’ rights to bargain on working conditions. With the gallery packed with mostly booing spectators and the chamber lobby so crowded with concerned teachers that yellow police barrier tape was hung to provide passage to the floor for members, onlookers saw Republican Sen. David Honigman (West Bloomfield) in the chamber for the first time in weeks. Although recovering from stomach surgery, Honigman’s vote was necessary, so a hospital bed was installed nearby to which the convalescing senator could repair following the 19-18 vote. All Senate Democrats as well as Republicans Jon Cisky (Saginaw) and Fred Dillingham (Fowlerville) opposed the measure.
• In a related but surprise partisan move, Senate Republicans substituted a bill on political action committees (HB 5416), transforming it into a measure that blocks using union dues for political contributions and prevents automatic deductions from being used as contributions. Since unions comprise four of the state’s ten biggest political action committees, the measure is seen as severely hampering pro-union Democratic candidates. The measure passed 20-15. Summarizing Senate activity on the two bills, the Lansing State Journal wrote, "The bills culminated two weeks of Republican efforts to muscle through a political wish-list before next Tuesday’s special elections. If Democrats win the three empty House seats, Republicans will lose their 55-52 edge." While they still had that edge, House Republicans approved the Senate’s substitute to HB 5416 by a 54-42 vote in their wee-hours session.
• Senate Bill 3, the controversial bingo ban that outlaws use of the game for political fund-raising won House passage in a marathon session running through Thursday night into Friday morning. The action, on a 55-40 vote, reflected earlier Democratic complaints that the bill was being rushed through the legislature to take advantage of the existing House GOP majority. Last year 76 of 81 political fund-raising bingo games were operated by Democrats.
• On a less contentious topic, the upper chamber passed handily two measures aimed at keeping violent offenders incarcerated. Dubbed "truth-in-sentencing" bills, SBs 40–41 mandate that people convicted of serious or violent crimes serve their sentences in secure facilities, and the bills also eliminate the practice of reducing sentences by the amount of a prisoner’s "good time." Instead, the new bills substitute "bad time"—additional prison time added for misbehavior.

Political News

• A three-judge federal panel convened proceedings this week in a case alleging that the 1992 reapportionment of Michigan legislative districts misrepresents African-American voters in Detroit and Oakland County. A suit filed by the NAACP and the American Civil Liberties Union claims the revised legislative apportionment violates the federal Voting Rights Act by packing too many black voters into urban districts. The state Democratic and Republican parties are siding with the attorney general in the case and arguing against plaintiffs’ claims that two additional House districts and one more Senate district should be redrawn as majority-minority districts. The judges have raised the possibility that every legislative district—not just those in metropolitan Detroit—could be affected by the case’s outcome. Closing arguments will be heard June 7.
• More entrants have been added to the long and growing list of aspirants to Congress. In the 13th District, Democratic congressional chief of staff David Geiss hopes to ascend to the seat being vacated by his boss, incumbent U.S. Rep. William Ford. Opposing Geiss in the August primary will be first-term state Rep. Lynn Rivers (D-Ann Arbor). In the 8th District, Brighton businessman Dick Chrysler will be on the Republican ballot for U.S. Rep. Bob Carr’s seat. A former gubernatorial candidate, Chrysler lost a 1992 run against Carr. Democratic former state agriculture department director Robert Mitchell (Okemos) is also in the 8th District race.
• Detroit has a few days to prepare for President Bill Clinton’s visit Monday. Clinton will visit with emergency medical technicians and participate in some still-unscheduled activities promoting his health care reform plan.