March 27, 1998

Legislative & Political Week in Review

• Rallying from last week’s standoff over tougher welfare rules, the Senate mustered just enough votes needed (20-17) to mandate drug tests for people receiving state assistance. Republicans George McManus (Traverse City) and Walter North (St. Ignace) joined all Senate Democrats in opposing SB 944, derided by critics as an unwarranted invasion of privacy; supporters laud the measure, saying that it and several strictures passed earlier this month bring accountability and responsibility to the state’s welfare system.
• Earlier this week the Senate had put its imprimatur on a measure requiring welfare recipients to be fingerprinted. Senate Bill 957 squeaked to 20-17 passage with amendments stipulating that only a thumb print would be taken and even that may be purged from state records upon request of former cash-assistance recipients who can prove they had received no payments for three years. That was not enough to quell complaints from the measure’s opponents, who argued unsuccessfully that the bill demeans the dignity of those on public assistance.
• Leaving no opposing votes in its wake, a bill to curb reckless jet ski jockeys surged through the House 101-0. Personal water craft safety regulations had similarly smooth sailing through the Senate, where the chamber voted 37-0 to make the new rules effective by Memorial Day weekend this year. Differences between the two versions—which impose a minimum age of 16 for operators and limit the hours the craft may be operated (9 A.M. to one hour before sunset) on all state lakes—will be worked out next week.
• Speaking of lakes, thanks to Michigan’s U.S. senators, Champlain is less Great than it was only weeks ago, when New England solons slipped in language giving the Vermont pond Great Lakes status in competing for National Sea Grant research funds. On a voice vote, the Senate stripped Champlain of its short-lived status but permits Vermont universities to compete for research funding on problems that their lake has in common with the real Great Lakes.
• A transportation funding bill before the U.S. House would route more than $870 million annually to the state over the next six years. Michigan is a "donor" state (that is, we send more money in federal gasoline taxes to Washington than we have been receiving back in highway funding), but U.S. Rep. Vernon Ehlers, a member of the House Transportation Committee, says that under the pending legislation Michigan would receive "very close to its fair share."
• A reluctant warrior announced this week that he will not, after all, wage an electoral battle for the 30th District state Senate seat. Acknowledging long and strong encouragement from Senate leadership to challenge incumbent Sen. Glenn Steil (R-Grand Rapids), term-limited Rep. Tom Mathieu (D-Grand Rapids) told Gongwer News Service, "I never saw the Senate as a place I aspired to be." Mathieu’s 24-year House tenure makes him one of the state’s longest-serving sitting legislators. He speculates that future plans could include a campaign for Grand Rapids mayor or Kent County commissioner.
• Following up on a Detroit Free Press investigative report last week, the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission is looking into allegations that Wayne County circuit judges appoint too many relatives and friends to represent indigents charged with criminal offenses. In a number of instances, the favored attorneys accumulated more than $25,000 for the several cases they were assigned. The state Code of Judicial Conduct proscribes actions that would give the appearance of impropriety or erode public confidence in the judiciary. The chief judge of the Wayne County Circuit Court proposes limiting to eight the number of cases that may be assigned to any one attorney, and he is reported to be considering whether judges should be barred from assigning cases to family members or "romantic partners."