May 19, 1995

Legislative & Political News in Review

• All dressed up but no place to vote . . . yet. Within hours of his landslide special election victory in the 109th state House district, Mike Prusi (D-Ishpeming) was on a plane bound for the state capitol ready to assume the duties of his new job. "Not so fast," said House Republicans. Despite being sworn into office Wednesday by Supreme Court Justice Michael Cavanaugh, Prusi won’t be able to cast votes on legislation until the State Board of Canvassers certifies his election—May 25th at the earliest. Unofficially, Prusi won with 72 percent of the vote. Prusi is replacing U.P. legend, the late Dominic Jacobetti, who garnered 70 percent of the vote last November 8th. Jacobetti died three weeks later of a heart attack, and the seat has been vacant since. Prusi’s election is significant in that it raises the number of votes necessary to pass legislation in the House from 55—the magic number for the last five months—to 56.
• Emerging from the House by a 60-42 margin was HB 4682, which supporters believe will help curtail insurance fraud. Provisions in the bill make it a felony to file bogus insurance claims. Various licensed professionals—medical, legal, and others—who receive compensation from insurance companies would be directly affected. Opponents believe that the bill would concentrate too much arbitrary power—with little consumer access—in the hands of insurance companies and law enforcement agencies.
• The M.E.T. board met to discuss the future of the college tuition funding program halted in 1991. With the addition of a $70 million court-won windfall, the fund’s assets now total $619.2 million—enough to assure the financial integrity of the fund for all of its 55,000 current enrollees. State Treasurer Doug Roberts, however, expressed his philosophical concern about whether the state should be in the business of guaranteeing the fiscal soundness of such a fund should the board decide to reopen enrollment in the program. Suggestions advanced at the meeting ranged from requiring future participants to sign affidavits acknowledging the potential financial risk to charging approximately $15,000 per newborn enrollee and segregating the new monies in a pool separate from that of original contract holders.
• An unemployment insurance clean-up bill—designed to mend an error in legislation (P.A. 25) enacted last March—passed the House overwhelmingly but isn’t going to the Senate just yet. The legislative "fix" (HB 4746) would prohibit employers of construction workers from claiming a seasonal designation. P.A. 25 allows some companies to be considered seasonal employers, thereby releasing them from responsibility for paying unemployment benefits to their employees in the "off-season." The language of HB 4746 was drafted as an amendment to the original legislation but was inadvertently left out of the final version of that bill. HB 4746 is eligible for reconsideration as a result of Democratic maneuvering to put political heat on GOP House members in marginal districts—most notably Reps. Sandra Hill (R-Montrose) and James Ryan (R-Redford).
• Citing current state budget pressures and the setting of unwise precedent, Governor Engler has petitioned the Michigan Supreme Court to reexamine its recent ruling that the state is constitutionally bound to pre-fund health care benefits for school personnel. Engler argues that pre-funding provisions possibly could be applied to all state employees—a potential budget buster—and that the court inadequately considered the long-held legal presumption that acts of the legislature and governor are constitutional.

Correction: In our May 12 Roundup we incorrectly referred to Rep. Curtis Hertel as House Speaker. He is Minority Leader.