Honigman Capitol Report

Bureau of Elections Recommends Certifying Abortion Ballot Proposal

The Bureau of Elections has issued a staff report recommending the Reproductive Freedom for All proposal for certification. The bureau drew a 513 signature sample and found 416 of the signatures to be valid. Based on the results of the random sample, the bureau estimated that approximately 596,379 signatures are valid which is 146,228 more than the minimum requirement for certification.

The staff report did not make recommendations regarding the challenge from opponents regarding missing spaces in the language, stating that courts have found the board’s duty is limited to determining whether the form of the petition substantially complies with requirements and whether there are sufficient signatures.

Tudor Dixon Picks Lieutenant Governor Candidate

Dixon announced her choice of former state representative Shane Hernandez for lieutenant governor last week. Mr. Hernandez was chair of the House Appropriations Committee during two terms from 2017-20 before losing the Republican primary for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2020.

In other gubernatorial race updates, Dixon and Whitmer have agreed to two televised debates to be held in October. The first debate is scheduled for October 13th at 7pm and the second for October 25th at 7pm.

Court of Appeals Rules 2019 No-Fault Amendments Not Retroactive

In a 2-1 majority, the Court of Appeals ruled that Michigan’s no-fault insurance reform laws are not retroactive in Andary v. USAA Casualty Insurance Company (Docket No. 356487). The court held that the Legislature did not demonstrate intent for the changes to apply retroactively and that even if the Legislature had demonstrated intent, the new limits in the amendment would violate the Contracts Clause of the Michigan Constitution. Judges Douglas Shapiro and Sima Patel penned the majority opinion with Judge Jane Markey dissenting.

MSHDA Allocates American Rescue Plan Funds

The MSDHA Board has begun allocating American Rescue Plan Funds for housing and Covid-19 relief. The funds will be used to develop affordable rental housing, buy and renovate structures and many other programs related to the housing industry. The Board was also given authority to issue grants and run the $50 million Missing Middle Program which addresses housing concerns. The Missing Middle program will start taking applications September 19 from both nonprofit developers and for-profit partnerships looking to build or renovate properties for sale that would be used to house workers.

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)

Our Government Relations group subscribes to a subscription service, which provides copies of all Freedom of Information (FOIA) requests submitted to state departments and agencies. Through this service, Honigman has access to weekly updates for each state department and agency, and we can perform searches using key words, client names, etc. to locate relevant FOIA Requests. Our Government Relations paralegal, Andrea Nelson, performs a review and search weekly on the requests to identify client impacts and important information. If you would like to receive copies of FOIA requests for any specific government agency or if you would like to add a search term, feel free to send your requests to Andrea Nelson at anelson@honigman.com.