Michigan Association of Fire Fighters

The Michigan Legislature has rejected a Governor-issued executive order for the first time in 42 years.The Republican-led Legislature passed HCR 1, rejecting Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s Executive Order 2019-2, which would have reorganized the Department of Environmental Quality and abolished three oversight panels created by the Legislature. Attorney General Dana Nessel continues her efforts to withdraw the state from federal cases. In recent weeks, she has withdrawn the state from more than a dozen federal cases. The latest are four cases involving civil rights and two involving transparency. After Gov. Whitmer’s call in the State of the State address for “hands free” legislation, Representative Mari Manoogian (D-Birmingham) has introduced HB 4181 to prohibit drivers from using a mobile electronic device while driving unless it is in a “voice-operated or hands-free mode” and the driver doesn’t have to use his or her hands to operate it. Making 9-1-1 calls are exempted. The sale of a former state prison in Ionia for construction of a $35 million private immigration detention center has been scrapped by the governor. A judge has denied an agreement reached between Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and the League of Women Voters. The League of Women Voters brought a lawsuit against the Secretary of State prior to Secretary Benson’s Administration over the Republican-drawn redistricted maps after the most recent census. Writing on behalf of the three-judge panel, U.S. District Judge Eric Clay said Secretary Benson “lacks the authority to enter into the proposed consent decree” which would have seen 11 of Michigan’s 110 House districts redrawn for the 2020 election. Click here for the February 2019 Karoub Report for more details on these and other legislative issues.