February 23, 1995

Legislative Week in Review

• Democrats’ denial of immediate effect to Governor Engler’s tax cut bills raised the specter of early adjournment as a hardball legislative tactic this week. The minority party in both chambers has withheld votes needed to make changes in the intangibles tax effective at once. Without this action, the tax-cutting package wouldn’t become effective until next year—90 days after the chamber’s sine die adjournment at the end of the calendar year. If Republicans carry out their threatened vote to adjourn the legislature immediately (an action requiring only a simple majority), the bills would become effective in three months. Constitutionally, the governor can recall the legislature to a special session to consider specific items, such as the budget.
• Meantime, the ongoing debate—both partisan and internecine—has other proposed tax cuts affecting the Single Business Tax, personal income tax exemptions, and college expense deductions headed for conference committees to iron out differences.
• Michigan drivers could put routine motor vehicle transactions like license renewals on their charge cards under terms of SB 188 passed unanimously by the Senate this week. The bill allows the secretary of state’s office to determine what transactions could be covered with plastic.
• Aspiring judges would need to present five years’ experience as an attorney under a measure passing the upper chamber unopposed this week. SJR D would require a constitutional amendment supported by popular vote to add the experience clause to the existing caveat that those running for or appointed to judicial posts be under age 70.

Political News

• Women in the news this week included Lieutenant Governor Connie Binsfeld, who returned Tuesday from recent heart surgery to preside over the Senate and to dismiss speculation that she might not serve out her term. Smiling and trimmer, Ms. Binsfeld eschewed the shortcut to the chamber from her adjacent office, electing instead the longer route down the Senate’s center aisle to return to the podium she had vacated during her convalescence.
• Secretary of State Candice Miller also retained her high profile, winning Senate Appropriations Committee approval of fund transfers earmarked for controversial raises for her top aides, and in unrelated, widely reported action, threatening to bring charges against 18 candidates, 5 of them elected incumbents, for failing to file campaign finance reports mandated by statute.
• Count him in, says U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, squelching whispers of his potential legislative retirement. In affirming his intention to seek a fourth term, the Southfield Democrat made it plain he was in no hurry to crank up election rhetoric: "The campaign will not start, God willing, until next year," he told the Detroit Free Press. "The public is not ready for a two-year campaign." Ready or not, here come potential GOP rivals, including talk-radio host Ronna Romney, who postulated that Levin is a "dinosaur . . . too liberal for Michigan."
• The good news is that student scores on the state’s standardized Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) tests are rising. But the majority of secondary school students failed to get satisfactory scores in math and reading for the fourth consecutive year. Still, the percentage of 10th-graders passing the math test almost doubled since 1991, climbing to 35.6 percent from 18.7.
• U.S. Canadian Ambassador Jim Blanchard entertained fellow former-governor, President Bill Clinton, this week during the president’s Ottawa summit meetings. Clinton was scheduled to stay overnight in the 32-room ambassadorial residence’s "Kelley Bedroom," named for the president’s late mother who was Ambassador Blanchard’s first overnight guest.
• According to Associated Press reports, Michigan cigarette users gave new meaning to the old cliché of sneaking a smoke: State investigators say tobacco smuggling is costing millions in lost revenues. Last year’s cigarette tax hike made Michigan’s levy tops in the nation, and improper import of more than $50 worth of smokes is now a five-year felony. Despite the legal risks, some state retailer estimate that smuggling has reduced their retail sales by up to 40 percent, although Treasury Department officials report that revenues are about in line with estimates.