April 23, 1999

Legislative & Political Week in Review

• It looks as if capital punishment is a dead issue in the legislature after early tallies in the House fell so far short of the necessary two-thirds majority that leadership cleared the voting board and sent the proposed legislation back to the chamber’s Constitutional Law and Ethics Committee. The resounding defeat (unofficial tallies ran roughly 30-70 against) heartened opponents of HJR H; the measure would have placed the question of whether Michigan should amend its constitution to permit the death penalty on the statewide ballot. Proponents of the measure claim to be unembarrassed by the measure’s poor electoral showing in the lower chamber and by its speedy progress to the floor (the measure was introduced only a week ago and scheduled for a full chamber vote one day after being voted out of committee). "It’s an issue Michigan citizens have asked us to raise, and it’s just not going to go away," pledged Rep. Mike Bishop (R-Rochester), chair of the Constitutional Law and Ethics Committee.
• A controversial bill requiring drug testing for welfare recipients went to the governor for his signature. A 23-10 senate vote on HB 4090 establishes pilot programs in three Michigan counties to check persons receiving state aid for possible illegal substance use. Those testing positive will be required to enter treatment programs as a condition for continued eligibility.
• A related measure already passed by the Senate is under consideration in the House this week. SB 141 requires the fingerprinting of welfare recipients. Supporters claim that the measure could save up to $30 million annually in welfare fraud perpetrated by miscreants using false identities to collect multiple benefits checks. Opponents contend that the measures are designed to reduce welfare rolls by humiliating and harassing eligible participants.
• A rare reversal by the Michigan Supreme Court of a civil rights case has some pundits tut-tutting over the appearance of political partisanship on the state’s high bench. Follow closely: In 1995 a Jackson landlord was sued by two unmarried couples who claimed their state civil rights (which guarantee protection from discrimination based on marital status) were violated by the landlord’s refusal to rent to them based on his religious convictions. A circuit court judge dismissed the suits, arguing that marital status only applies to married couples. This ruling was affirmed by the state court of appeals, which at that time included Judges Maura Corrigan and Clifford Taylor. Last December, when the case was appealed to the state supreme court, Taylor was a newly appointed justice, and Justice-elect Corrigan was not yet seated. Taylor recused himself from the high court’s 4-2 vote, rejecting the appeals court ruling. The "supremes" then ruled that nothing in the state Civil Rights Act limits marital status protection to married couples, adding that landlords with religious convictions running counter to state law should not be in the real estate business. Last month, with Justices Corrigan and Taylor both participating in a motion for reconsideration, the high court vacated its earlier ruling and sent the case back to circuit court. Detroit Free Press columnist Brian Dickerson opines that with this "unusual order reversing an important civil rights ruling that a bipartisan majority of justices issued less than four months ago, the newly constituted [GOP-majority] court manages to savage both the rule of law and its own integrity."
• Detroit civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks is in line for a Congressional Gold Medal. Parks’s nomination for the award—the highest civilian honor Congress can bestow—awaits President Clinton’s signature. Parks’s 1957 arrest for failing to give up her seat to a white man on a segregated Alabama bus is widely held to be a turning point of the nation’s civil rights history.