The deadline is here for ballot campaigns to submit petition signatures to get their questions in front of voters this fall. There could be half a dozen or more questions on the November ballot.
Two of the questions deal with collective bargaining rights. One would require two-thirds super-majorities for the Legislature to approve a tax increase. And one would forbid state resources – including employee time – from helping build a new international bridge in Detroit.
There are also efforts to allow eight privately owned non-tribal casinos across the state, and to put renewable energy targets in the state constitution. A petition to outlaw a gas drilling process called “fracking” could also file today.
The petition signatures still need to be vetted and approved by state elections officials before they make the ballot. There is also a proposed referendum on the state’s emergency manager law. That measure faces a legal challenge to the size of the type used on the petition. The challenge failed in the state Court of Appeals, but now the case is before the Michigan Supreme Court.