October 10, 1997

Legislative & Political Week in Review

• In the wake of the Durant ruling, which guarantees significant additional funding for many state schools, local systems should be in great fiscal shape, right? Not exactly. Because Senate and House lawmakers have not yet reconciled the two competing repayment plans now before them, the first school aid payments from the state this new fiscal year (which began October 1) will be smaller, not bigger, than anticipated, forcing some districts to borrow money to meet their payroll. Negotiators won’t start meeting for at least a week to hammer out a compromise between a Senate-passed bill that meets Durant costs primarily through bonding and a bipartisan bill passed this week in the House that relies mainly on one-time payments from the Budget Stabilization Fund. Meantime, the first of nine scheduled aid payments—being processed this week, for distribution to districts by October 20—will be short by the more than $250 million in at-risk funds earlier vetoed by the governor as part of a strategy to force resolution of the funding impasse.
• Over the vigorous objections of educators, the House Tourism Committee approved 5–3 legislation requiring state schools to open after Labor Day. The vote moves the measure to the full House floor, where a major collision between business and education interests is guaranteed. On the one side are arguments that a later school start will boost Michigan’s $8.5 billion annual tourism take by an additional $50 million. On the other are school administrators deploring legislative intrusion into the sanctity of local control of education. Moreover, educators observe, the combined pressure for a longer school year and a later opening threaten to push the end of the school year to late June or beyond. This is the first time such legislation has been before the House tourism panel; previous attempts to postpone the start of school year in the state have been referred to—and defeated in—the chamber’s Education Committee.
• The Michigan Chamber of Commerce has added its voice to the pre-primary cacophony in the crowded 12th Senate District race that will fill the seat of the late Doug Carl. Endorsing Carl’s widow, Maria, over other front-runners Rep. David Jaye and former Rep. Sal Rocca, the Chamber’s statement pointedly contends that Mrs. Carl will be "in the mainstream of the Republican caucus, rather than a maverick on traditional business climate issues or a divisive personality destructive to the institution of the Senate." Capitol pundits didn’t need a program to tell them who the chamber thinks is a maverick (Rocca, who often sided with Democrats on economic issues) or divisive (Jaye, who regularly makes headlines with controversial stands—he recently suggested that Mrs. Carl’s candidacy so soon after her husband’s death is unseemly).
• A group of Michigan voters has mounted a challenge to the state’s term limits amendment, seeking to block it from taking effect in 1998 (at which time 65 state lawmakers will be forced to retire). The plaintiffs, constituents of reps. Bob Emerson (D-Flint) and David Gubow (D-Huntington Woods), seek a preliminary injunction in U.S. Eastern District Court to block implementation of term limits, claiming that lifetime term limits violate individuals’ First Amendment rights. The plaintiffs also argue that the local effect of term limits has racial implications. Quoted by Gongwer News Service, plaintiffs’ attorney Robert Sedler said, " . . . impact [of lifetime limits] falls most severely on minorities who have to rely on an experienced incumbent legislator to advance their interests. White, suburban people can be represented by novices because they have power by who they are." In a similar suit brought in California, a lower court ruling striking down term limits there recently was upheld.
• Two bills passed in the Senate make it clear that environmental audits cannot be used to conceal illegal activity. SBs 706 and 707 reiterate that the audit process aims to provide voluntary, confidential evaluation of contaminated sites and specify that confidentiality cannot be invoked to forestall criminal investigations or proceedings. The measures passed unanimously, with broad industry and regulatory agency support.