Legislative loose ends: Bills on teaching race, paying student teachers, creating dyslexia programs were still winding their way through the Michigan statehouse when lawmakers adjourned for the summer.
In approving the state’s education budget early Friday morning, the GOP legislature and Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer also added investment in school safety measures and the teacher pension system, thanks to unexpectedly high state revenues this year.
Gov. Whitmer and GOP leaders are shelving tax cut talks to finish the budget. But any tax relief will have to wait, as cuts are shelved despite a $9 billion surplus.
Hospitals are sending mixed signals, or no signal at all, on whether they will perform abortions. Some local prosecutors say they can now charge abortion doctors, which state leaders deny. The result, for now, is legal chaos.
Michigan was poised to outlaw most abortions after Roe fell, but a judge recently suspended the state’s 1931 abortion ban. While that case is sorted out, clinics expect more out-of-state patients at Michigan clinics to get the procedure.
Questions and answers after ruling: Abortion is still legal and being performed, but that could change soon as the courts adjudicate a 1931 ban that predated Roe v. Wade.
The fate of abortion access will be left to states under a new U.S. Supreme Court ruling. Michigan has a 1931 law that makes abortion a felony that is being litigated in the court system.
The package, signed Thursday by Gov. Whitmer, contains a range of changes to child care law, from minor procedural fixes to major changes in the state’s method of supporting private providers.
Barbara Listing of Right to Life and Renee Chelian, an abortion-rights advocate, have battled for more than four decades over abortion access. But they agree that a rejection of Roe v. Wade may change Michigan abortion policy in unexpected ways.
State government can’t do much about gas prices except freeze taxes. Both parties agree it’s a good idea. For months, plans have gone nowhere but negotiations are ongoing.
Our state has a phenomenal opportunity to help Michigan students succeed by helping them be prepared not only to earn a living, but also to manage the living they earn.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer argued the latest GOP tax cut plan was sent to her with “constitutional defects,” but once again said she is willing to negotiate an election-year tax relief package.
Republican gubernatorial hopeful Ryan Kelley caps another wild week in Michigan politics by arguing his arrest amounts to a “political witch hunt.” James Craig, meanwhile, says he’ll run a write-in campaign after he and four others got booted from the ballot over forged signatures.
Rep. Julie Alexander’s bill would have given students up to $1,500 to spend on tutoring and other education expenses. Democrats call it a voucher program. Where does tutoring stand in Michigan now?
Seeking to intervene in a high-stakes suit over an old abortion ban, the GOP-led Legislature contends a recent injunction is a “blatant conflict of interest” and should be set aside.
