Hospitals & Politics | Proposals

Political News by McLaren’s Government Relations Team

Welcome! It is all election over here in Lansing and that has made the policy movement rather slow recently. The legislature only met for a total of three days in September and there are little expectations for them to come back before the November election.

INSIDE
Michigan Statewide Ballot Proposals
Proposal 22-1
Term Limit Reform & Financial Disclosure
Proposal 22-2
Promote the Vote 2022
Proposal 22-3
Reproductive Freedom for All
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As of September, all three statewide ballot proposals are polling with over 50 percent of the vote. There are numerous sources that explain the three proposals and as always, I would encourage all to read the specific language of each proposal before voting. This article is not legal advice. 

Please consult with an attorney if you have specific questions as it relates to these proposals. With that being said, this article provides an overview of each proposal. Due to the nature of elections, this article provides a highlight of the proposals. It is not suggesting support or opposition for any of the proposals. That is for you, the voter, to decide.
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​As the year goes on, some articles will be specifically focused on one piece of policy or one concept of political hospital news. If you would like to see anything specific in these newsletters, please do

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Proposal 22-1: Term Limit Reform

Currently, the Michigan Legislature has constitutional term limits which includes three, two-year terms for 6 years maximum in the Michigan House of Representatives and two, four-year terms for 8 years maximum in the Michigan Senate. Therefore, one individual member can serve a total of 14 years in the Michigan Legislature. 
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Section one, Article 12 allows the Michigan Legislature to pass a constitutional amendment with 2/3 majority vote for an issue to be put before the electors. Proposal 22-1 was done utilizing that measure in May 2022 through House Joint Resolution R. Proposal 22-1 would lower the total time limit to serve from 14 years to 12 years.  However, members would be able to serve all 12 years in one chamber, or a combination of both.

Further, the proposal adds a financial disclosure report from members of the House, Senate, Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, and the Attorney General. The report shall consist of the sources of unearned income, assets, earned income, liabilities, positions held previously, agreements for future arrangements after serving, gifts received by lobbyists, travel payments and reimbursements, and payments made by a lobbyist to a charity. This information will be made available to the public. Currently, there is no law that requires Michigan elected officials to report their current income that is derived from locations other than the salary to serve. While Michigan lobbyists have reporting requirements, this will also require the elected official to report certain information that lobbyists are also required to report. 

This proposal would take effect January 2023 and also requires the legislature to make laws enacting the financial disclosure statements. If the legislature fails to enact legislation by December 31, 2023, a resident of Michigan may impose legal action against the legislature and the Governor to enforce the requirements.

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Proposal 22-2: Promote the Vote

Promote the Vote voting as a fundamental right to our Michigan Constitution. It makes numerous changes in our Constitution such as ensuring a signed statement may still be utilized to provide identity if no ID is available, military or oversea ballots shall be counted if postmarked on election day and received within six days, postage will be funded by the State for absentee applications, donations could fund elections, and only election officials could conduct post-election audits. Additionally, this proposal would require nine days of early in-person voting and require canvass boards to certify elections based on official record of votes.
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Currently, Michigan’s law requires some of these but the proposal would instill the above as part of the Constitution. MSU provided a great overview of current law v. proposal 22-2 that may be of some interest to you.  The footnoted article goes through each of the state v. proposal 22-2 concepts. Here are some of the highlights of that section. First, state law allows early voting through absentee ballots. This proposal would require 9-days of in-person voting, with allowing election officials to add days if they deem fit. Michigan law doesn’t allow donations to be used for elections; however, this proposal would allow local units to accept those charitable donations. Michigan law also doesn’t require ballot boxes; but this proposal would require them for every municipality. Michigan law doesn’t pay for postage on returning absentee ballots but this proposal would require the State to fund them. Michigan’s Constitution currently does require a ballot to be sent to Military/oversea individuals 45 days before the election; however, this proposal would go beyond to ensure it is counted if postmarked on the day of the election and received within 6 days. Lastly, the law is codified through this proposal that allows individuals to use a signed affidavit if they do not have their ID. More details may be found within the article of the footnote number 3.

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Proposal 22-3: Reproductive Freedom for All

Probably the most discussed proposal this November is Proposal 22-3. After the US Supreme Court Case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the Constitutional right to an abortion is no longer found under the right to privacy. Therefore, it is up to the states to determine how best to legislate, if at all, abortion. Although, courts have temporarily prohibited its enforcement, Michigan has a law creating a misdemeanor to those that provide abortions. The Michigan Penal Code, MCL 750.14, prohibits abortions “unless the same shall have been necessary to preserve the life of” the woman. This law was passed in 1931 and after Roe v. Wade, it became unconstitutional. However, without the preliminary injunction, this law would currently be in effect. There have been concerns due to the vagueness of the law as to whether physicians would be willing to continue to perform abortions. Further, many individuals have expressed displeasure with the current law because it does not provide exemptions for incest or rape. Proposal 22-3 seeks to add reproductive freedom for all in the Michigan Constitution. 

Proposal 22-3 creates a new section in the Michigan Constitution in Article 1, Section 28 known as “Right to Productive Freedom”. The section specifies “[e]very individual has a fundamental right to reproductive freedom, which entails the right to make and effectuate decisions about all matters relating to pregnancy, including but not limited to prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, contraception, sterilization, abortion care, miscarriage management, and infertility care.” Id. The section continues to specify the state cannot come in on any of these matters unless there is a “compelling state interest achieved by the least restrictive means”. In addition to that statement, the state can regulate abortion care but only for “abortion care after fetal viability”, which is determined by professional judgement of a healthcare professional in that specific case and in no case, is the state able to prohibit abortion if a healthcare professional determines it’s “medically indicated to protect the life or physical or mental health of the pregnant individual.” Id.  Further, it protects prosecution of an individual or a person helping the individual. See id.

There are numerous proponents for and against this proposal. As with all proposals, we encourage you to read the individual language on not only the ballot, but that of which will be written in our Constitution. This article is not intended to sway you one way or the other, but rather, provide an overview of each proposal. As stated above, this article is not legal advice. The proposals may be found on the Board of Canvassers website at www.Michigan.Gov/Sos/Elections/BSC . The ballot language is under the “Petitions” section. Further, to find exact language as it will appear on the constitution, pull up the exact petition language. For example, to find Promote the Vote, pull up the “Promote the Vote 2022 Petition” link. 

Happy Election Season.