This week may see the end of a law that was abused to try and intimidate citizens of the State of Michigan into doing the will of a politician who was a bit overzealous. I’m being kind in that assessment.

I wrote last week about how the Michigan Senate voted to remove a law that Governor Whitmer had used to lock down the entire state of Michigan last year. She was able to do this until the Michigan State Supreme Court ruled in October that she needed to check in with the legislature every 28 days.

From my previous article (Halfway There — Michigan Senate Approves Bill Limiting Gretchen Whitmer Emergency Powers):

The vote in the GOP-controlled Senate went right along party lines with a 20-15 vote to approve and now heads to the Michigan House of Representatives for their approval. Once (if) the Michigan House members approve the repeal of The Emergency Powers of the Governor Act of 1945, it will be officially off the books.

Whitmer for the remainder of her term — and any Governor after her — will be unable to use this law in the manner she did. The law required that the Governor was to gain the legislature’s approval after 28 days to continue any state of emergency. The Governor instead decided to cancel the previous order then issue a new one for another 28 days.

Unlock Michigan sought to gain enough signatures to put this proposal before the legislature and have them remove it without any input from Whitmer as Mr. Ventimiglia stated above. This is a clear example of what can be done when any politician oversteps their boundaries and the people get involved to put an elected official in check.

According to the official Michigan House of Representatives schedule, the other chamber meets this Wednesday, July 21st. All that has to be done now is for the House to vote as a simple majority in the affirmative for the petition presented to them from Unlock Michigan. The Senate has already approved it and the Governor will have no input and cannot veto the measure.

What a marvelous thing.

Just a couple of notes also on some things I have read both online and from comments sent to me at [email protected].

*This whole process has taken over a year. However, the people over at Unlock Michigan had to organize and plan how to do this. They had to draft language that was acceptable, collect over 500,000 signatures, and fight with the Secretary of State to approve them. Then to get the Board of Canvassers to approve the measure which ended up in court finally being settled by the Michigan State Supreme Court earlier this month. This was not a small undertaking and if it didn’t match your time frame of how quick it should have gone that is too bad. You might not (don’t) understand how the whole process works.

*The Michigan State Supreme Court DID tell the Governor in October of 2020 that she was using The Emergency Powers of the Governor Act of 1945 incorrectly and she needed to stop. She then moved on to misusing the MDHHS to enforce her draconian measures. That does not mean that the petition drive that Unlock Michigan started BEFORE the October ruling should have been dropped once the Supreme Court ruled. They started the process and now we are close to having an archaic law removed from the books, which is good for the citizens of Michigan going forward.

This is a positive step and while the finish line is in sight, the line has not yet been crossed. Contact your state representative and let them know you want them to vote to approve the measure that the Senate approved last Thursday. Once this becomes law, groups like Unlock Michigan may move on to tackle a Governors’s ability to use MDHHS in the manner that Whitmer did after October.

As this fight has shown, the road is long but the end result is worth it.

Locate your duly elected representative by clicking right HERE and let them know what you think of this bill passing.