September 17, 1999

Legislative & Political Week in Review

• They’re baaaaaack! Well, not yet exactly, but the Michigan fall legislative session is slated to begin next week, so let’s take a look at what is likely to emanate from under the capitol dome this fall.
• With elections a mere 14 months away, we can expect partisan politics to cast a shadow over many of the goings-on in Lansing. There is a concern that partisanship may hinder legislators’ ability to deal with real issues in a serious way.
• Growth management is a case in point. Following a growth management conference sponsored by a coalition of chambers of commerce and attended by over twenty legislators from both sides of the aisle, Rep. Jon Jellema (R-Grand Haven) announced that he will introduce a "smart growth" package based on the model adopted in Maryland. Jellema appreciates the model’s incentive-based approach and is apparently unconcerned that its chief proponent, Maryland’s Gov. Parris Glendenning, is a Democrat. Comments by House Speaker Chuck Perricone (R-Kalamazoo Twp.) following the conference, however, leave us wondering if he will allow Jellema’s package to move forward if he can’t find in it a source of partisan advantage.
• Expect legislative fallout from the Detroit teachers’ strike. House and Senate leaders had threatened an early return to Lansing if teachers failed to return to classrooms to take up legislation making penalties against striking teachers more automatic. Currently, penalties go into effect only if a school district superintendent invokes the 1994 strike ban, which Detroit Schools Chief David Adamany refused to do this fall. An amendment to the law is quite likely, given strong support by Governor Engler, Speaker Perricone, and Senate Majority Leader Dan DeGrow (R-Port Huron), but an effort to punish Detroit teachers retroactively will probably be quietly dropped during the debate.
• Additionally, the strike may give a push to efforts to increase the cap on charter schools, currently set at 150. Since support for a voucher initiative on the part of Republican leaders seems to be drying up (more partisan electoral considerations), the legislature is almost certain to throw this bone to proponents of school choice. At this point, the question is not "Will there be more charter schools?" but rather "How many more?" and "Over what period of time?"
• House GOP leaders will introduce "paycheck protection" legislation to limit the use of union dues for political purposes. Republicans note that workers should have more power over where their paycheck goes, while Democrats note with equal fervor that the bill will limit unions’ ability to fight for worker rights. However, this issue is probably more about electoral politics. Republicans want unions to have less money to spend on elections (almost all of which is spent on behalf of Democrats), and Democrats, naturally, want them to have more. Michigan Republicans have apparently missed the lesson of California, where a similar effort backfired terribly: Unions used the issue as an effective organizing tool, arguably playing a key role in the Republicans losing the governor’s mansion.
• It will be interesting to see what, if anything, will come of gun control legislation this fall. Speaker Perricone is giving mixed messages, first promising legislation to "keep guns out of Michigan schools [and] churches," then expressing concerns that Democrats will hijack the bill to "prevent responsible gun ownership by people like you and me." Perricone’s position on the gun control issue isn’t enviable. While public opinion will probably continue to shift in favor of limits (this publication goes to press the morning following the Texas church shooting), gun issues were extremely divisive of the Republican caucus last spring.