April 3, 2012 at 1:00 am
Ruling halts unionizing ban for grad student lab aides
Lansing— Implementation of a new law barring university graduate student research assistants from unionizing could be delayed by a year after a judge ruled Monday the House of Representatives violated the constitution in final passage of the bill.
Ingham County Circuit Court Judge Clinton Canady III said the Republican-run House violated the state constitution by not recognizing repeated requests by Democrats for roll call votes on whether the bill should immediately take effect upon signature of Gov. Rick Snyder.
Canady issued a temporary restraining order Monday compelling House Republicans in the majority party to hold recorded roll call votes when at least 22 Democrats request one until a lawsuit is settled.
Canady's order means the "phony" immediate effect votes on the three recently passed bills are overturned and the laws can't go into effect until late March or early April of next year, said Michael Hodge, attorney for House Democrats.
In a rare move, the University of Michigan Board of Regents voted Monday to file an amicus brief supporting House Democrats in their lawsuit against the GOP House majority.
The Regents' 5-3 decision and judge's order were lauded by Democrats as short-term victories in ongoing struggles with Republican lawmakers over union rights.
"We're celebrating that the courts are recognizing the way this was done was completely anti-democratic," said James Henderson, a statistics graduate assistant seeking to unionize at U-M.
Attorney General Bill Schuette, representing the House's majority party, will ask the Michigan Court of Appeals to immediately consider an appeal later this week, said spokeswoman Joy Yearout.
Last week, House Democrats sued the Republicans because Speaker Jase Bolger or Speaker Pro Tem John Walsh, R-Livonia, would not recognize their requests for recorded roll call votes on whether bills should immediately take effect.
The state constitution states that a roll call "shall" be conducted whenever requested by one-fifth of the House members, but Republicans have repeatedly not recognized roll call motions from the Democrats.
"I don't see how the House rules can circumvent the constitution that says they'd be entitled to a roll call vote," Canady told lawyers representing the feuding legislators.
"Each citizen has a right to know — upon the appropriate request being made by members of the Legislature — how people vote on issues such as these."
Michael Murphy, an assistant attorney general representing the House Republican leaders, warned the judge that his order could make him the "referee forever" between the two "squabbling siblings."
In an emergency board meeting Monday, U-M Regents Olivia Maynard, Andrea Fischer Newman and Andrew Richner voted against wading into the matter.
"We're weighing in on a political spat," Richner said. "It's not appropriate for us to get involved."
Others disagreed.
"The university is an institution that is about speech, it's about protecting the rights of the minority to be heard," Regent Laurence Deitch said.
Since taking control of the House in January 2011, GOP leaders have continued the decades-long tradition of having members stand on immediate effect decisions.
Democrats acknowledge they also used a rising vote when they were in charge.
"The whole point of this has been this is trampling of the constitution, and it's time for this process to stop," said House Minority Floor Leader Kate Segal, D-Battle Creek.
The Democrats' lawsuit could delay implementation of two other recently passed bills: prohibiting public school employers from collecting union dues and requiring the state Board of Canvassers to approve petitions amending the constitution before they are circulated for signatures.
From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120403/POLITICS02/204030357#ixzz1qx3qvr8K
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