LANSING – Michigan voters will have to decide on at least three ballot proposals in November, and the chance for more proposals to go before them remains.
While the Board of State Canvassers spent most of their time listening to arguments on whether they should certify the Protect Our Jobs collective bargaining proposal, the board without comment certified two other proposals to the ballot.
Approved was the proposal Michigan Energy, Michigan Jobs, which would call for at least 25 percent electric generation through renewable resources in Michigan by 2025. The state found the proposal had an estimated 419,636 signatures.
Also approved was the proposal Citizens for Affordable Quality Home Care, which supporters have said would help provide resources for residents to find good home health care providers and which critics have charged would most importantly require such workers to be unionized. The state estimated the proposal had 444,884 valid signatures.
Both needed 322,609 signatures.
The two will go on the ballot with the proposal to decide on whether the controversial emergency manager act, PA 4 of 2011, should be approved.
Still to be decided is whether proposals should go on the ballot to require voter approval of any new international border crossings and to require any increases in taxes to be approved by a two-thirds majority of the Legislature or a statewide vote.
The canvassers also refused pleas to actually act on the proposal casino expansion proposal from Citizens for More Michigan Jobs that would add casinos in the state while an appeal goes to the Supreme Court. The Court of Appeals ordered this week the proposal not go on the ballot. While a request was made to certify the proposal while the appeal continued, the canvassers, without comment, did not hear the measure.
