Soflasnapper
04-07-2012, 11:08 AM
Not voters' votes, the LEGISLATORS' votes.
This is a new record level of abuse of power, and just a taste of what to expect with the ALEC influenced GOP legislatures around the country.
The Michigan Constitution says all bills shall take effect 90 days after the end of the session in which they were passed. (This was done under the advice of a blue ribbon committee headed up by George Romney, prior to when he became the governor.)
An allowance is provided that, if the new law should take effect immediately, a separate vote to that end must achieve a 2/3rds majority of those present and voting in the legislature body.
Of some 560 laws passed out of the Michigan House since January 2011, something upwards of 530 have been put into immediate effect, as if they all were emergencies. An odd way to run things, one would think, as it creates uncertainties and problems for the citizenry, to have to know and obey SO MANY NEW LAWS immediately, so one would think it would have to be some genuine urgency involved with these laws (and it would be done in a small percentage of the cases only).
However, the GOP is not getting a 2/3rds vote for these measures-- just CLAIMING they have them, on basically voice votes or having the sides stand for a visual approximation.
Typically, the Democrats oppose the original passage at a greater than 1/3rd of the body level, requiring that some who opposed the bill with their vote nonetheless then turned around to say, sure, put it in effect immediately. The Dems have called BS on this, and have tried to get the GOP in charge of the body to get a real vote, on the record, by a roll call vote. The GOP has refused, preferring to simply continue to roll the state legal system in a cynical way, because they can.
Now it's in the courts, where the GOP answer to the court is, 'you have no jurisdiction, it's a separation of powers issue, and this is how it's always been done.'
Shameful. Shocking. Radical. Anti- and Un-American. Fascistic, even. As Al Jolson used to say, and as BTO confirms, 'you ain't seen nothing yet!'
Link to Rachel Maddow's segment on this (http://video.msnbc.msn.com/the-rachel-maddow-show/46973330#46973330)
This is a new record level of abuse of power, and just a taste of what to expect with the ALEC influenced GOP legislatures around the country.
The Michigan Constitution says all bills shall take effect 90 days after the end of the session in which they were passed. (This was done under the advice of a blue ribbon committee headed up by George Romney, prior to when he became the governor.)
An allowance is provided that, if the new law should take effect immediately, a separate vote to that end must achieve a 2/3rds majority of those present and voting in the legislature body.
Of some 560 laws passed out of the Michigan House since January 2011, something upwards of 530 have been put into immediate effect, as if they all were emergencies. An odd way to run things, one would think, as it creates uncertainties and problems for the citizenry, to have to know and obey SO MANY NEW LAWS immediately, so one would think it would have to be some genuine urgency involved with these laws (and it would be done in a small percentage of the cases only).
However, the GOP is not getting a 2/3rds vote for these measures-- just CLAIMING they have them, on basically voice votes or having the sides stand for a visual approximation.
Typically, the Democrats oppose the original passage at a greater than 1/3rd of the body level, requiring that some who opposed the bill with their vote nonetheless then turned around to say, sure, put it in effect immediately. The Dems have called BS on this, and have tried to get the GOP in charge of the body to get a real vote, on the record, by a roll call vote. The GOP has refused, preferring to simply continue to roll the state legal system in a cynical way, because they can.
Now it's in the courts, where the GOP answer to the court is, 'you have no jurisdiction, it's a separation of powers issue, and this is how it's always been done.'
Shameful. Shocking. Radical. Anti- and Un-American. Fascistic, even. As Al Jolson used to say, and as BTO confirms, 'you ain't seen nothing yet!'
Link to Rachel Maddow's segment on this (http://video.msnbc.msn.com/the-rachel-maddow-show/46973330#46973330)