Despite qualifying to appear on your November ballot, it appears that you will not be voting this fall on issues regarding paid sick leave or the minimum wage. Michigan’s lawmakers have decided to cast the votes instead, taking it out of your hands and while some factions are delighted, others are livid in their response.
One of the state’s leading small business organizations, the National Federation of Independent Business, or simply the NFIB, has applauded the Michigan Legislature for adopting paid sick leave and minimum wage ballot proposals to keep them off the November statewide ballot.
Not nearly as happy, however, is Ron Bieber, President of the Michigan AFL-CIO. Bieber released the following statement in reaction to the state legislature passing those citizens initiatives rather than allowing the measures to go to the ballot:
“Lansing Republicans have repeatedly refused to address the issues of minimum wage and paid sick time. Now these same Republicans are publicly conspiring to stick a knife in the heart of these proposals with an unconstitutional ‘adopt and amend’ strategy. If their intent was good, I would applaud today’s actions. But Republican leadership has openly discussed their desire to gut the substance of these voter initiatives in lame duck to please corporate special interests. What these Republicans are doing is disrespectful to the citizens who signed petitions and to the working families who stand to benefit from these changes. The voters should reject these rotten tactics. We need legislators who want working people to succeed, not legislators who are manipulating the rules to benefit corporations and the wealthiest one percent.”
At the NFIB, State Director Charlie Owens contends, “Out of state groups wanted these proposals to go to the ballot and spent millions of dollars in funds from their hidden donors to mislead the public into believing that the cost would come out of the pockets of ‘rich corporate business owners.'” Instead, he argues, “The sad truth for Michigan is that the real costs and consequences of these extreme proposals would have fallen on small business and struggling families that faced losing their jobs.”
Meanwhile, The Michigan League for Public Policy issued the following statement from the organization’s President & CEO Gilda Z. Jacobs:
“Passage of an increase to the minimum wage and earned paid leave for all workers should be something to celebrate, as we and our partners have worked hard for years to see this day. But sadly, this legislative action was not based on the merits of these public policies or the thousands and thousands of workers who will benefit from them. From the mouths of the Senate Republicans themselves, this move is part of a plan to adopt the proposals—keeping them off the ballot in November—and then amend them later to change their intent and impact. It’s ironic that elected officials whose livelihoods depend on our democratic process would willfully strip power from the voters on these important issues. The fact that they’re not even pretending to do it for the good of the people they serve only adds insult to injury. We will be watching these bills and our lawmakers closely come Lame Duck, and will push for a gubernatorial veto of any efforts to water these policies down.”
Back at the NFIB Owens says that when his members were asked if the legislature should stop the mandated minimum wage and paid leave proposals from going to a statewide ballot, 79-percent of them said yes, while another 88-percent agreed that the legislature should make changes to the proposals to lessen their impact on small business.
Owens says, “Any pretense by supporters of these proposals that they were a legitimate Michigan citizen ‘grassroots’ movement for reform is laughable,” adding, “Both proposals were bought and paid for by out of state groups funded by organizations that refused to disclose their donors to the public. The signatures were gathered by paid professional firms that misrepresented the negative costs and impacts of these proposals to obtain signatures.”
Michigan’s Constitution gives lawmakers 40 session days to enact or reject any law proposed by initiative petition. Owens said that lawmakers fulfilled their elected duty to act to prevent outside special interests from imposing their will on Michigan citizens.
Owns concludes, “If these proposals were allowed to go to the ballot, and they succeeded in passing, a three-fourths super-majority of both legislative chambers would be required to make any changes to the law,” and argues, “This is an impossible requirement to meet and Michigan would have been stuck with the most stringent paid sick leave and minimum wage employer mandate in the country.”
Owens said that, by adopting the proposals, lawmakers now will now be able to craft practical and sound solutions that will work better for citizens and small business, rather than the “all or nothing” extreme mandate sought by outside special interest groups.
