Bill Text: MI HJRT | 2011-2012 | 96th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Legislature; legislators; part-time legislature, reduction of legislative salaries and benefits, limitation of number of committees legislators may serve on, limitation of number of bills legislators may request, elimination of term limits, and requirement that all budgets to be presented to the governor before June 1; provide for. Amends secs. 12, 13, 16, 22 & 31, art. IV & sec. 15, art. V & repeals sec. 54, art. IV of the state constitution.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-04-13 - Printed Joint Resolution Filed 04/13/2011 [HJRT Detail]

Download: Michigan-2011-HJRT-Introduced.html

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HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION T

 

April 12, 2011, Introduced by Rep. LeBlanc and referred to the Committee on Government Operations.

 

     A joint resolution proposing an amendment to the state

 

constitution of 1963, by amending sections 12, 13, 16, 22, and 31

 

of article IV and section 15 of article V and repealing section 54

 

of article IV, to limit the legislative session, to reduce salaries

 

of members of the legislature, to impose limits on the number of

 

legislative committees individuals can serve on, to limit the

 

number of bills members of the legislature may request, to provide

 

that certain state budget bills be presented to the governor by a

 

certain date, to repeal term limits, and to limit the governor's

 

ability to call for extraordinary sessions.

 

     Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the

 

state of Michigan, That the following amendment to the state

 

constitution of 1963, to limit the legislative session, to reduce

 

salaries of members of the legislature, to impose limits on the

 

number of legislative committees individuals can serve on, to limit

 

the number of bills members of the legislature may request, to

 

provide that certain state budget bills be presented to the

 

governor by a certain date, to repeal term limits, and to limit the

 

governor's ability to call for extraordinary sessions, is proposed,

 

agreed to, and submitted to the people of the state:

 

ARTICLE IV

 

     Sec. 12. The state officers compensation commission is created

 

which subject to this section shall determine the salaries and

 

expense allowances of the members of the legislature, the governor,

 

the lieutenant governor, the attorney general, the secretary of

 

state, and the justices of the supreme court. The commission shall

 

consist of 7 members appointed by the governor whose qualifications

 

may be determined by law. Subject to the legislature's ability to

 

amend the commission's determinations as provided in this section,

 

the commission shall determine the salaries and expense allowances

 

of the members of the legislature, the governor, the lieutenant

 

governor, the attorney general, the secretary of state, and the

 

justices of the supreme court which determinations shall be the

 

salaries and expense allowances only if the legislature by

 

concurrent resolution adopted by a majority of the members elected

 

to and serving in each house of the legislature approve them. The

 

senate and house of representatives shall alternate on which house

 

of the legislature shall originate the concurrent resolution, with

 

the senate originating the first concurrent resolution.

 

     The concurrent resolution may amend the salary and expense

 

determinations of the state officers compensation commission to

 

reduce the salary and expense determinations by the same proportion

 

for members of the legislature, the governor, the lieutenant

 

governor, the attorney general, the secretary of state, and the

 

justices of the supreme court. The legislature shall not amend the

 

salary and expense determinations to reduce them to below the

 

salary and expense level that members of the legislature, the

 

governor, the lieutenant governor, the attorney general, the

 

secretary of state, and the justices of the supreme court receive

 

on the date the salary and expense determinations are made. If the

 

salary and expense determinations are approved or amended as

 

provided in this section, the salary and expense determinations

 

shall become effective for the legislative session immediately

 

following the next general election. The commission shall meet each

 

2 years for no more than 15 session days. The legislature shall

 

implement this section by law. Beginning in 2013, the salary of a

 

member of the legislature shall be $35,000.00 adjusted annually to

 

reflect the change in the consumer price index. The speaker of the

 

house of representatives, the majority leader of the senate, the

 

minority leaders of the house of representatives and the senate,

 

the majority and minority floor leaders of the house of

 

representatives and the senate, the speaker pro tempore of the

 

house of representatives and the senate, and the appropriations

 

chair of the house of representatives and the senate may receive a

 

supplemental salary of up to 34% of a member's base salary.

 

Beginning in 2013, expense allowances for members of the

 

legislature shall be 50% of what those expense allowances were in

 

2009. An individual who first becomes a member of the legislature

 

after 2012 shall not receive any state-paid retirement or insurance

 

benefits based on his or her legislative service.

 

     Sec. 13. Except when the legislature is called to convene on

 

extraordinary occasions, the legislature shall only meet as

 

provided in this section. The legislature shall meet at the seat of

 

government on the second Wednesday in January of each year at

 

twelve o'clock noon. Each regular session shall adjourn without

 

day, on a day determined by concurrent resolution, at twelve

 

o'clock noon. Any business, bill or joint resolution pending at the

 

final adjournment of a regular session held in an odd numbered year

 

shall carry over with the same status to the next regular session.

 

In 2013 and every year after 2013, the legislature shall only meet

 

for not more than thirty-one calendar days beginning on the second

 

Wednesday in January of each year and for not more than thirty-one

 

calendar days beginning on the second Wednesday in May of each

 

year. The legislature may meet for not more than five additional

 

days each year for reconsidering bills that the governor vetoed.

 

Legislative committee hearings may be held when the legislature is

 

not in session.

 

     Sec. 16. Each house, except as otherwise provided in this

 

constitution, shall choose its own officers and determine the rules

 

of its proceedings, but shall not adopt any rule that will prevent

 

a majority of the members elected thereto and serving therein from

 

discharging a committee from the further consideration of any

 

measure. Each house shall be the sole judge of the qualifications,

 

elections and returns of its members, and may, with the concurrence

 

of two-thirds of all the members elected thereto and serving

 

therein, expel a member. The reasons for such expulsion shall be

 

entered in the journal, with the votes and names of the members

 

voting upon the question. No member shall be expelled a second time

 

for the same cause.

 

     A legislator shall not serve on more than four legislative

 

committees during the same legislative session.

 

     Sec. 22. (1) All legislation shall be by bill and may

 

originate in either house.

 

     (2) Except as otherwise provided in this section, a member of

 

the legislature shall not request more than two bills per month

 

from the legislative service bureau.

 

     (3) The limitation on bill requests in subsection (2) does not

 

apply to requests submitted by the majority leader of the senate or

 

the speaker of the house of representatives or to requests for

 

general appropriation bills.

 

     Sec. 31. The general appropriation bills for the succeeding

 

fiscal period covering items set forth in the budget shall be

 

passed or rejected in either house of the legislature before that

 

house passes any appropriation bill for items not in the budget

 

except bills supplementing appropriations for the current fiscal

 

year's operation. Any bill requiring an appropriation to carry out

 

its purpose shall be considered an appropriation bill. One of the

 

general appropriation bills as passed by the legislature shall

 

contain an itemized statement of estimated revenue by major source

 

in each operating fund for the ensuing fiscal period, the total of

 

which shall not be less than the total of all appropriations made

 

from each fund in the general appropriation bills as passed. The

 

legislature shall present all general appropriation bills for the

 

succeeding fiscal period to the governor on or before June 1 of

 

each year.

 

     Sec. 54. No person shall be elected to the office of state

 

representative more than three times. No person shall be elected to

 

the office of state senate more than two times. Any person

 

appointed or elected to fill a vacancy in the house of

 

representatives or the state senate for a period greater than one

 

half of a term of such office, shall be considered to have been

 

elected to serve one time in that office for purposes of this

 

section. This limitation on the number of times a person shall be

 

elected to office shall apply to terms of office beginning on or

 

after January 1, 1993.

 

     This section shall be self-executing. Legislation may be

 

enacted to facilitate operation of this section, but no law shall

 

limit or restrict the application of this section. If any part of

 

this section is held to be invalid or unconstitutional, the

 

remaining parts of this section shall not be affected but will

 

remain in full force and effect.

 

ARTICLE V

 

     Sec. 15. The governor may convene the legislature on

 

extraordinary occasions for no more than five days per year.

 

     Resolved further, That the foregoing amendment shall be

 

submitted to the people of the state at the next general election

 

in the manner provided by law.