The Michigan Supreme Court will hear arguments on Wednesday on a request for an advisory opinion. The issue revolves around how the state Legislature handled two measures that were headed for the ballot last year.
The two measures were to raise the minimum wage and to require employers to offer earned sick time. The state Legislature adopted the two proposals that were headed for the ballot, then made major changes to them all in one session.
The question is whether they could adopt and then amend ballot proposals in the same session.
Danielle Atkinson was the chair of MI Time to Care – the group behind the earned sick time proposal.
She said they would not have been as upset if changes to the measure were made after a new Legislature started the this year.
"What’s the most egregious about this is that the people that were able to amend the law, some of them were voted out of office. They had no level of accountability; they are not responsible to anybody," said Atkinson. “We went into it in good faith. We collected the signatures, we played by the rules, we did everything we were supposed to by the rules only to have the Legislature at the last part of the game, change the rules.”
Spokespeople for Republicans in the state Legislature said they could not comment.
The court has not said whether it will issue an advisory opinion on the matter. Only that it will hear arguments.
