A new emergency manager bill advances to the House floor after a partisan vote passed the legislation through the House Local, Intergovernmental and Regional Affairs Committee.
The Detroit Free Press has more:
The 9-6 vote came after the bill was first introduced about 7 p.m. Wednesday, resulting in cries from opponents that the bill was being rushed through the legislative process despite voters soundly repealing an emergency manager law on Nov. 6. “To rush this through is disrespectful to the voters of Michigan,” said Nick Ciamataro, a former legislator from Roseville. The new law, which could be used to force an emergency manager appointment on the city of Detroit, would give communities in a financial emergency four options: an emergency manager, mediation, a consent agreement or Chapter 9 bankruptcy.
In a referendum last month, Michigan voters removed Public Act 4, the controversial emergency manager law passesd in 2011.
That left the state operating under the weaker, emergency financial manager law from 1990, Public Act 72. An Ingham County Circuit Court judge upheld the law in a ruling yesterday.
The House could vote on the new legislation as early as Thursday afternoon.
- Jordan Wyant, Michigan Radio Newsroom
