House Republicans are on the defensive amidst growing opposition to Emergency Manager legislation that would allow the governor to appoint people to take over towns and fire elected officials. In a letter yesterday Republican House Speaker Jase Bolger asked members of the media to help counter recent reports about the legislation.
Last week the Rachel Maddow show highlighted HB4214 provisions that would allow corporations to take over local governments and schools, depose elected officials, and void labor contracts without the consent of local residents.
Bolger said the appointment of an Emergency Manager is a last ditch effort to keep a town from falling into bankruptcy and he said that in the current bill elected officials would only be dismissed if they refused to cooperate with the Emergency Manager.
“The legislation originally would have dismissed local officials and prevented them from serving for 10 years. … the provision was removed from the legislation due to concerns that the unintended consequence might be the will of the voters not being exercised at the ballot box.”
Bolger said that provisions added by the Senate to give elected officials the power to break labor contracts have not received enough attention.
“The legislation contains many provisions designed to avoid the appointment of an emergency manager,” he said, “If necessary to prevent insolvency, however, an EM needs the power to accomplish the task they are hired to perform to protect the taxpayers of the state of Michigan.”
The Emergency Manager bill is sparking opposition not only in Detroit (which is seen as a likely target for takeover) but across the state.
Linda Price of Traverse City has organized a bus to bring people to Lansing to protest the measure on Wednesday.
“[This] is just the first step in a multifaceted war on the wages, benefits, safety, and job security of everyone who works for a living,” she said via e-mail.
The Emergency Manager legislation combined with Snyder’s proposed cuts to local revenue sharing threatens the democratic rights of people in towns that refuse to bust unions, renege on promised pension benefits, or outsource services to low-bid private contractors, she said.
“There is no moral, philosophical, legal or practical justification for Gov. Snyder’s claim that a “budget emergency” gives him the right or the power to order the suspension of electoral democracy in his state.”
The Emergency Manager bill was amended and passed by the Senate last week and sent back to the House which is expected to vote again to approve it this week.
