DETROIT – With Friday’s 4-3 ruling by the Michigan Supreme Court that Public Act 4, the state’s controversial Emergency Manager law, would be up for a repeal vote on the November ballot, opponents of the law trumpeted it as a victory for democracy. In cities already under some form of emergency management, confusion has started to reign.
“We respect the Michigan Supreme Court’s opinion, protecting the constitutional right of citizens to use the petition process,” Detroit Mayor Dave Bing said in a statement. Detroit is currently under a consent agreement with the state of Michigan, and certain elements of Public Act 4 apply.
“However, the Financial Stability Agreement remains in effect and is still a critical tool to help fiscally stabilize the city. The city is bound by the FSA to continue to restructure city government and to continue to execute the imposition of new labor terms.”
Detroit is one of a number of Michigan cities that has been under one form of emergency management. The city’s beleaguered public school system has been under an emergency manager since 2009 under the previous EFM law, Public Act 72, which was first signed into law in 1990.
“The bottom line is that there’s a very important word in the state’s emergency manager law, and that’s ‘emergency,’” Sara Wurfel, a spokeswoman for Gov. Rick Snyder, told the Detroit News. “None of this would be necessary unless these communities and schools weren’t facing crises or the most dire of circumstances.”
Other cities that have a form of emergency management in place include Flint, Pontiac, Highland Park, and Benton Harbor – all of which are majority black. The emergency manager law has come under heavy fire from African-American residents who feel that the law is a racially motivated attempt to disenfranchise voters and take away their rights.
“We are ecstatic that the high court in Michigan upheld democracy on today,” said Rev. Alexander Bullock, a Detroit pastor and head of the Michigan Chapter of Rainbow-PUSH. “After months of collecting signatures and legal fights that were mere stall tactics, we are thrilled that the people’s right to decide has been protected in Michigan.
“In a season where voting rights are being trumped around the country, the Michigan Supreme Court has sent a resounding message to those in Michigan and around the country that justice is blind and should not be swayed by partisan politics. All the citizens wanted is the right to decide if emergency managers should be allowed to come into their cities and school districts and trump the rights of their duly elected officials.”
P.A. 4 was originally passed by the state’s majority Republican legislature and signed by Gov. Rick Snyder. Ironically, it was a Republican judge, Mary Beth Kelly, who cast Friday’s deciding vote.
After the ruling, chaos ensued, as many opposed to emergency managers thought that this ruling rendered all current appointments null and void. Some opponents demanded immediate resignations.
“Because P.A. 4 is stayed, any and all decisions made under P.A. 4 are stayed,” said Robert Davis, a member of the Highland Park School Board, which is also under an emergency manager. Davis is currently awaiting trial on federal embezzlement charges. He is accused of stealing $125,000 from the school district and diverting it into a phony non-profit organization between 2004 and 2010.
“The board is now back in charge,” Davis said to the Detroit News, also threatening legal action if the current emergency manager does not resign. “It’s important for us to undo what the EM just did by chartering our district.”
Keith Johnson, the president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers, also believed the ruling meant Public Act 4 was suspended, along with the provision that suspends collective bargaining for five years.
“[DPS Emergency Manager Roy Roberts] no longer has authority to abrogate collective bargaining and he will have to negotiate with us,” Johnson said. Other board members, as well as some Detroit City Council members, thought that the suspension of the law took immediate effect, but that is not the case.
State treasurer Andy Dillion and Michigan Attorney General Bill Schutte said that once the law’s repeal is officially placed on the ballot, the previous emergency financial manager law, P.A. 72, would then take effect. The state’s school superintendent, Keith Flanagan, has already confirmed that the current EFMs in Detroit and Highland Park will be reinstated.
“It has been the opinion of myself and the governor that the mere suspension of Public Act 4 reverts to Public Act 72,” Dillon said. He also said any emergency managers appointed under Public Act 4 would be re-appointed under P.A. 72.
The ruling will have little impact on the current consent agreement in Detroit as it is largely not apart of P.A. 4. The parts that fell under P.A. 4 will be frozen, but the bulk of the agreement is unaffected.
“The court’s decision is not expected to affect the bond issue we need to maintain the city’s cash flow, and the city must complete the bond issue to fund city operations,” Bing said. “The bottom line is the city’s fiscal challenges remain, and Public Act 4 was one tool to help us. Without Public Act 4, we will continue to execute our fiscal restructuring plan.”
The biggest challenge to the repeal could come at the ballot box where the state has been plagued by low voter turnout for years. Since 1996, only twice – in 2002 and 2010 – has primary turnout topped 20 percent. Detroit’s average turnout ranges between 10 and 15 percent.
While the battle cry against P.A. 4 has been that its repeal would preserve the right to vote in officials, many choose not to vote at all, while others know little about the candidates or initiatives they are voting for. Voter apathy could spell doom for those who are for the repeal of P.A. 4.
“Today we celebrate a partial victory, but our full victory is in our vote,” Bullock said on Friday. “Now we will begin the work of voter education and mobilization.”
Follow Jay Scott Smith on Twitter @JayScottSmith