September 22, 1994

Legislative Week in Review

• Faster than a speeding bullet, state legislators adjourned for their preelection recess days earlier than originally planned after passing new penalties for gun-toting teens. The House and Senate are scheduled to return on November 10. Roundup will resume publication on November 18, appearing weekly through the lame-duck session that statutorily ends in December.
• Both parties pushed hard on the crime "hot button" Wednesday, sending the governor a measure that would automatically expel students carrying guns or knives at school. Rape and arson committed on school grounds are also punished with expulsion under House amendments to SB 966, which Gov. John Engler has pledged to sign. Students through grade six would face mandatory 90-day expulsions for any of these infractions. Older students would be barred from school for six months, with the option to petition for reinstatement after 150 days. Extensive House debate failed to gather support for amendments requiring alternative education programs in lieu of expulsion. Narrow exceptions to expulsion exist for students who can prove they either unknowingly possessed the weapon or were unaware of its danger. A 78-23 House vote on the amended bill sent the measure back to the Senate, where unanimous concurrence sent it to the governor.
• Construction of guard towers at the state’s high-security prisons won Senate approval on a 31-2 vote this week. Opponents of SB 1219 argued that without additional personnel to staff them, the towers are less useful than additional fencing. The House has not taken up the measure. In a related move, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved a budget transfer to pay for tower construction at two state prisons. These funds had already been approved by the lower chamber, whose Appropriations Committee members declined this week to authorize an additional $10 million to expand the project.
• Senate changes to a measure implementing portions of federal "Motor Voter" legislation parked the bill in conference committee when the House unanimously rejected Senate changes. HB 5531 enacts the national Voter Registration Act intended to ease the registration process. Several states have challenged provisions of the federal law.

Political News

• There will be three, the backdrops will be blue, and no props are allowed. With these and other ground rules hammered out in an eight-page agreement, the dates and sites for gubernatorial debates were finally disclosed. The no-prop ban presumably extends to the nickel—that five-cent piece used to such good effect by then-candidate Engler in the 1990 gubernatorial race to signify the paltriness of property tax reductions proposed by his opponent. Governor Engler will defend his claim to the title against challenger Howard Wolpe in rhetorical matches set for September 26 in Grand Rapids, October 9 in Southfield, and October 18 in East Lansing. Hectored, say some, into picking up the gauntlet tossed by candidate Debbie Stabenow, Lt. Gov. Connie Binsfeld has agreed to a debate on October 13.
• Congressional dean John Dingell told President Clinton this week that health care reform is a dead issue in this legislative session awaiting a "decent burial." The 20-term Trenton Democrat, who chairs the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee, has introduced health care reform legislation each session since 1955. In a letter to Clinton, U.S. Rep. Dingell concluded "with sadness" that the insurance industry and other interest groups spent "tens of millions of dollars aimed at poisoning any chance of action." Dingell’s letter was excerpted in the Detroit News.
• Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick’s election campaign is now focussed on the House, where she seeks a ninth term in the 9th District. A recount on her write-in campaign for the 3d Senate District primary race last week certified Henry Stallings II the winner by an 8,000-vote margin.