Republicans Consider Backup Emergency Manager Plan
LANSING (AP) - Michigan Republicans said Thursday they're exploring possible backup plans in case a new state law related to emergency managers running troubled cities and schools is suspended next year.
The state's revised law granting new powers to emergency managers was signed by Republican Gov. Rick Snyder in March. Opponents are gathering voter signatures to try and force an election aimed at repealing the law.
If enough signatures are collected to make the ballot, the law could be suspended while waiting for the November election.
Republicans say that could cause problems in places with emergency managers such as Flint, Pontiac, Benton Harbor and the Detroit public school district. It also may have implications for the city of Detroit, where a preliminary financial review that could result in an emergency manager has begun. A preliminary review by law can take up to 30 days, but Treasurer Andy Dillon plans to expedite that process.
One possible option that might be considered by the Snyder administration and Republicans that control the Legislature might be a temporary emergency manager law that would fill in for the suspended measure. The temporary law would expire when voters decide the fate of Public Act 4, the state's latest emergency manager law.
It wasn't clear Thursday how such an interim law might work, and Republicans stressed that's only one of the possible scenarios under discussion.
"We are concerned about the chaos that could ensue if the emergency manager law is suspended and so should every citizen of Michigan," Republican House Speaker Jase Bolger said in a statement. "The fiscal collapse of a city in Michigan isn't just a hypothetical scenario without implications. Cities in emergency financial distress face the prospect of not being able to cover payroll checks and not providing basic services like police and fire." Snyder spokeswoman Sara Wurfel said that contingency plans are being researched in case the law is suspended.
"But we cannot and will not predetermine the answer of what needs to happen in response to a hypothetical event," Wurfel said.
The Snyder administration expects that if the state law passed in March is suspended, the emergency manager law would revert to its previous form. That would keep emergency managers in place. But they would not have the new powers granted to them in the revised law, such as the ability to strip local officials of power and toss out union contracts.
A petition drive aimed at giving Michigan voters a chance to weigh in on that new law is moving forward. Opponents say they are close to collecting the roughly 161,000 voter signatures needed to make the November ballot. If enough signatures are submitted and verified, the new law could be suspended early next year until the election is held.
Greg Bowens, a spokesman for the coalition seeking to repeal the emergency manager law through the ballot drive, said it would be "outrageous" for lawmakers to pass a temporary law to replace one that has been suspended through a voter-driven effort.
Bolger said discussions would continue with the Snyder administration and the Senate and they would "take appropriate action if and when necessary."
"If enough signatures are turned in to show that it is clear citizens want to vote on the emergency manager law via referendum, we will not subvert their will," Bolger said. Bolger said that potential solutions pursued by the House would not include an appropriation of money to prevent a referendum.
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