Michigan voters this week rejected a law authorizing the state to take over financially troubled cities and school districts.

Public Act 4, signed into law last year, gave state officials the power to appoint emergency managers charged with saving troubled local governments. The managers enjoyed broad powers allowing them to dictate labor contracts for city employees, dissolve local agencies and authorize academic changes in school districts, among other things.

Organized labor favored the law’s repeal, claiming it trampled on the democratic rights of Americans. Republican Governor Rick Snyder argued that the state needed the emergency managers to prevent cities and school districts from falling into bankruptcy.

Michigan has seven local governments currently operating under emergency managers, including Ecorse, Benton Harbor, Flint and Pontiac, as well as school districts in Highland Park, Muskegon Heights and Detroit.

Public Act 4 replaced Public Act 72, which was adopted under former Democratic Governor Jennifer Granholm and was considered a less effective emergency manager statute. With the suspension of Public Act 4, Public Act 72 now is in effect again.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

To Learn More:

Michigan's Toughened Emergency Manager Law Rejected (by Paul Egan, Detroit Free Press)

Michigan Voters Kill Emergency Manager Law, Reject All Proposals (by Jennifer Chambers and Darren A. Nichols, Detroit News)

Snyder: Voter Confusion Helped Defeat Emergency Manager Law (by Paul Egan, Detroit Free Press)

Repeal of Emergency Manager Law Kept off Michigan Ballot because of Wrong Font Size (by Matt Bewig, AllGov)

Unelected Czar of Benton Harbor, Michigan, Rejects City Council’s Resolution Honoring Constitution (by Noel Brinkerhoff and David Wallechinsky, AllGov)