Today, Governor Gretchen Whitmer filed an amicus brief with the Michigan Supreme Court opposing the Legislature’s “adopt and amend” maneuver, which stymied two petition drives to increase Michigan’s minimum wage and require employers to provide sick time, on the grounds that the Legislature’s actions violated the Michigan Constitution.
“Michiganders turned out in historic numbers to get minimum wage and paid sick leave on the ballot, and we need to respect their wishes,” Whitmer said. “Every person should be able to trust that their elected officials have their best interests in mind, which is why we must end the unconstitutional games that the Legislature has been playing with voters. Today’s filing gets us one step closer to restoring the public’s trust in state government.”
In 2018, hundreds of thousands of registered voters in Michigan signed petitions to place two proposals on the ballot. The two proposals, Michigan One Fair Wage and MI Time To Care, would have raised Michigan’s minimum wage and required employers to provide workers with one hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours worked, respectively.
However, rather than allowing voters to weigh in on the proposals, the Republican-controlled Legislature enacted the proposals into law to keep them off the ballot and then, soon thereafter, amended them significantly to weaken their requirements.
The amicus brief concurs with Attorney General Dana Nessel’s position that this “adopt and amend” maneuver is unconstitutional because it removes the people’s power to propose and enact statutes through public initiative.
The full brief can be viewed here:
