You mean after all that, they didn’t even bother to have their new law checked against existing legislation? Ha, ha! Boy, the Kochs really should be more careful about the quality ofthe people they buy:
Lansing – Less than 24 hours after Governor Snyder signed his damaging “Right to Work” legislation into law, analysis shows that the flawed legislation may not even have the result the Governor claimed it would, raising serious questions about whether the Republican leadership even read the language of the bills before voting it through and signing it into law.
“It’s become increasingly clear that the Governor presented the legislature with bills written by out-of-state extremists who had no understanding of Michigan’s constitution or how our laws apply to Michigan workers,” said Senate Democratic Leader Gretchen Whitmer. “This is what happens when the Governor does an 11th hour about face in a lame duck session showing utter contempt for our people by cutting out all public input, scrutiny and debate. That isn’t leadership, it’s epic incompetence .”
Someone needs to tell ALEC to get better lawyers!
Reports today show that HB 4003, which the Governor said would provide “Right to Work” type policies for public employees in Michigan, could not be implemented as intended as the Michigan Constitution gives clear authority to the Civil Service Commission over conditions of employment for the state’s workforce. Experts have suggested today only a vote of the Civil Service Commission could enact Right to Work policies for state workers.
“The public was not given an opportunity to read these bills, legislators were not given an opportunity to read these bills, and we now know that the Governor himself either didn’t read or didn’t understand these bills himself,” said Senator Bert Johnson (D – Detroit). “This process has been a complete affront to democracy from the start and was nothing more than a political gift to the Koch Brothers and ALEC who bought and paid for this legislation.”
A series of questions have been raised in recent days over the legality of the “Right to Work” legislation as well as the process in which it passed. A lawsuit has already been filed against the Michigan House of Representatives for violating the Open Meetings Act as these bills were passed while the public was illegally locked out of the State Capitol and additional legal challenges are expected in the coming days.
I took a look at their Open Meetings Act, and Democrats look like they have solid grounds to sue and overturn the new law. See, under open meetings or “sunshine” laws, politicians aren’t allowed to meet in secret to plan these little legislative coups, and since the Democrats had no idea what was coming, looks like a de facto violation to me,
This is either Epic FAIL or Epic Farce. Probably both.
What a bunch of doofusses!!
Could Snyder try to do some rewrites and just repass the bill with language including the gov. workers?
Oh, this is a hoot! This couldn’t happen to a more deserving bunch of bought and owned politicians.
(At least this is making me smile.)
However, the “may not” in the headline bears remembering. And the Koch Bros can hire top lawyers as needed to defend their victories.
States rights advocates constantly remind us that they can’t possibly tolerate policies pushed down by the federal government because the locals know their own needs so much better.
It gives me the biggest grin to see some central private policy advocates come out with “one size fits all” legislation that – uh – totally forgets about local applications.
Tee hee.