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Sen. Clarke
(D-Detroit) Files Suit on Charter Bill
Gongwer News Service, October 6, 2003
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A lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of legislation that
would allow up to 15 charter high schools in Detroit was filed
Monday in Wayne Circuit Court.
Sen. Hansen Clarke (D-Detroit) was joined by Sen. Martha Scott
(D-Highland Park) as he announced the lawsuit that asks the
court to declare PA 179, SB 393, is not a law. The lawsuit also
asks for a restraining order to prevent any state official or
university official from taking action that would charter a new
high school in Detroit.
The constitution permits each house to set its own rules, Mr.
Clarke said, adding "Senate rules permit the Senate to call back
the bill, and the Senate did that and the House concurred."
Last week, Attorney General Mike Cox ruled that SB 393 had not
been recalled properly from Governor Jennifer Granholm and
should be given a public act number. Secretary of State Terri
Land did assign PA 179 to the bill on Friday.
Mr. Cox ruled that because both houses had not requested the
bill's return within a 14 day-period, and because Ms. Granholm
had not vetoed the measure within that 14 days, the bill should
become law.
The Senate had requested return of the bill before the 14 days
had passed, but the House acceded to the request the day after
the 14 days period had expired.
Sage Eastman, spokesperson for Mr. Cox, said the attorney
general's office had no concerns about the lawsuit.
"This has been clear since day one, the constitution has been
clear, the opinions from past 25 years from previous attorney
generals is clear," he said. "SB 393 is law and is now PA 179."
But Mr. Clarke, who is the plaintiff in the case and so far the
attorney of record, said, "We don't enact law by accident or
mistake." The Senate, the House, and the governor did not want
the bill to become law, Mr. Clarke said.
That the measure has a public act number and is law could add to
public cynicism about government, Mr. Clarke said.
In the case, Clarke v. Land, Mr. Clarke said the constitution
"does not preclude the return of a bill from the governor to the
Legislature upon the request of either house."
He also argued that, "Past custom and practice by Michigan's
legislature and executive branches permitted the return of a
bill from the governor upon the request of one house of the
Legislature prior to approval or disapproval of the bill and
before the bill has otherwise become law. If such practice is
now found retrospectively improper, all bills and related court
cases since the founding of the state (potentially over 160
years of legislative and judicial activity) must not be reviewed
to determine whether such bills became law without the knowledge
of the executive, legislative or judicial branches of Michigan's
government."
While the Michigan Federation of Teachers has indicated it would
also file suit against the bill, the suit does not involve the
teachers union, Mr. Clarke said.
Efforts to contact the MFT officials for comment on whether they
would pursue a suit were unsuccessful.
The case was assigned to Judge Daphne Means Curtis, but no
hearing dates have yet been set.
Last week after Mr. Cox declared the bill should be given a
public act number, officials in Ms. Granholm's office said they
would not consider the bill a law until a court ruled otherwise.
The procedural mish-mash got under way when Ms. Granholm and
Republican legislative leaders agreed to a charter school
proposal that required the bill be recalled so Ms. Granholm did
not have to veto it. The agreement then fell apart.
The bill was designed to allow Belleville philanthropist Bob
Thompson to use $200 million to finance the schools, but he
shocked officials by saying the contention over his proposal had
led him to decide not to move forward.
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