SILENCED! Back in 2012 when Republican Jase Bolger was still the Michigan House Speaker, his colleagues began passing bill after bill with “immediate effect”. Immediate effect allows a bill to became law as soon as the governor signs it rather than having to wait the statuatory 90 days. However, in order to pass a bill with immediate effect, there must […]

I was speaking with a Democratic state legislator today and they raised an interesting point. If the House passes the bill to hike the state minimum wage that was passed by the Senate last week, unless both chambers give the bill “immediate effect”, it won’t become law until 90 days after the end of the current legislative session which ends […]

The state is bleeding money because Senate Republicans refused to give Medicaid expansion immediate effect. The Michigan Republican senators who voted against giving Medicaid expansion immediate effect have lost the right to call themselves “fiscal conservatives.” Fiscal cons is more like it, because they only care about Michigan’s financial well-being when it suits their political ideology. Now, courtesy of the […]

There’s no reason for a delay that will cost Michigan and its citizens millions of dollars. The Michigan Senate passing Medicaid expansion last week was, in the immortal words of Vice President Joe Biden, a BFD. There was plenty of cause for celebration, but there’s still more to do before it’s actually implemented. The way it stands, because the Senate […]

This is what happens when you vote Republican

Today, the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled against Democratic legislators and dismissed a case around unconstitutional use by the GOP of the “immediate effect” rule. As has been widely reported, including by Rachel Maddow (video and my previous coverage HERE), Republicans in the House have been implementing “immediate effect” on newly passed bills without a roll call vote. A ridiculous number of bills have been passed with less than two-thirds of the legislators voting for it. However, they go ahead and call for a voice vote and then instantly gavel it as passed, even though they need two-thirds of the lawmakers’ votes for that to happen.

Today, the three members of the Court of Appeals that heard the case voted to send the case back to the lower court with an order that they dismiss it. Their justification is that they can’t tell the Legislature what to do and House rules allow for a voice vote.

Freedom or burden?

[Note: The Big Picture is a new feature at Eclectablog featuring the remarkable photography of Anne C. Savage.]

For 42 years Michigan has had a mandatory helmet law but today Gov. Rick Snyder repealed the law for riders 21 years or older. It was passed with immediate effect.

What are your opinions and experiences with this? Tell us in the comments.

The Michigan Republican House caucus won a round in court yesterday. The court allowed three bills passed in an illegal and unconstitutional use of “immediate effect” to remain on the books. The Court of Appeals has halted a lower court’s injunction ordering House Republicans to grant requests from Democrats to hold recorded roll call votes on whether to put new […]

Wrong is wrong, illegal is illegal I have been writing about how Michigan House Republicans have been refusing to acknowledge Democrats’ request to have a roll call vote on whether or not to make a bill take “immediate effect” rather than wait until 90 days after the end of the legislative session. Our state constitution says that they can do […]

It’s much, much worse in Michigan than we even realized

Last night, Rachel Maddow broke a huge story that has been happening since Republicans took over in Michigan in 2011 and has gone completely under the radar. Since January 2011, 566 bills have been signed into law. Of those, 546 of them, 96.5% were passed under “immediate effect”. Here’s the video from last night’s show that will blow your mind. Pay particular attention to around 12:30 where they show it in action. It’s astonishing.

This is new in Michigan governance. This is not the way that Michigan was set up. This is not the way it was supposed to be…Michigan Republicans are using what is supposed to be an emergency provision for everything, even for the most contentious and partisan and divisive things that they want to do…