Signatures turned in to suspend Emergency Manager Law
Posted: Mar 1, 2012 2:04 AM EDT | Updated: Nov 5, 2014 7:39 PM EDT
BENTON HARBOR, Mich. – 220,000 signatures were turned into the Michigan Secretary of State’s office in Lansing to put the controversial Emergency Manager Law on November’s ballot.
Several Public Act 4 opposition groups had been collecting signatures for nearly a year. The State has two months to verify 162,000 of those signatures to bring the law to a vote.
“It was just a great thing to be a part of,” said Mary Alice Adams, a Benton Harbor City Commissioner who rallied in Lansing Wednesday.
City Commissioners haven’t had power over any decisions in Benton Harbor since Public Act 4 went into effect March, 2011.
According to Governor Snyder’s office, the law would revert to Public Act 72, a lesser form of emergency management. Snyder has backed the law as a way to help financially struggling communities.
Harris would not make any comment about the signatures Wednesday at a public hearing in Benton Harbor.