EMERGENCY MANAGER ACT (PA 4 OF 2011)
This act replaces PA 72 of 1990 which allowed the governor to appoint an Emergency Financial Manager for communities or school districts in financial distress. PA 4 of 2011 eliminates financial concerns as the basis for the governor appointing a Manager, broadens the reasons the governor can appoint a Manager and increases the scope of the Manager's power. Under PA 4, even a public entity which is current with financial obligations but experiences a credit rating downgrade to BB, is at risk for takeover by the State of Michigan.
To justify PA 4, Governor Rick Snyder has created financial crisis across the state by reducing revenue sharing payments to cities, towns and counties by the millions of dollars and making catastrophic cuts to education.
Under PA 4 of 2011, Emergency Managers can:
- fire elected officials without due process
- dissolve or merge entire cities, counties and school districts without a popular vote
- break binding contracts and eliminate collective bargaining rights for up to five years
- add to local debt
- seize and sell public assets
- outsource vital public services
These actions are tantamount to the dissolution of democracy in Michigan and are unconstitutional on many levels.
- PA 4 forces local governments to bear the costs of hiring the EM, a violation of the Headlee Amendment to the Michigan constitution. The citizens of Benton Harbor, with an annual income of about $10,000, are forced to pay the $11,000 monthly salary of their emergency manager
- The EM is immune from civil prosecution, a violation of the right of Michigan citizens to elect a local, representative government
- the EM serves at the pleasure of the state treasurer - an appointed position of the executive branch - which violates the fundamental principle of the American democratic system of the separation of powers
What You Can Do About PA 4
- sign the petition to place PA 4 on the November 2012 ballot
- help gather signatures from family, friends, neighbors, co-workers - get involved!
- 161,305 signatures, or five-percent of the total votes cast for governor, must be gathered and submitted in order to place the referendum on the ballot. In the meantime, once the necessary signatures are collected, PA 4 cannot be invoked until Michigan's citizens decide its fate in the general election.
