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2011 Senate Bill 849: Revise Court of Appeals districts

Public Act 40 of 2012

  1. Introduced by Sen. Joe Hune (R) on November 10, 2011, to establish new state Court of Appeals districts. The bill as introduced does not specify the new districts, but these can be added later in the process. See also House Bill 5160, which does spell out the new districts.
    • Referred to the Senate Redistricting Committee on November 10, 2011.
    • Amendment offered by Sen. Gretchen Whitmer (D) on December 8, 2011, to tie-bar the bill to House Bill 5161, meaning this bill cannot become law unless that one does also. HB 5161 would reduce the number of judges on the Michigan Court of Appeals from 28 to 24. The amendment failed 10 to 24 in the Senate on December 8, 2011.
      Who Voted "Yes" and Who Voted "No"

    • Moved to reconsider by Sen. Arlan Meekhof (R) on December 8, 2011, the vote by which the amendment was not adopted. The motion passed by voice vote in the Senate on December 8, 2011.
    • Moved to reconsider in the Senate on December 8, 2011, to reconsider the Whitmer amendment. The motion failed 10 to 25 in the Senate on December 8, 2011.
      Who Voted "Yes" and Who Voted "No"

  2. Passed 26 to 9 in the Senate on December 8, 2011, to establish new state Court of Appeals districts. The bill as passed does not specify the new districts, but these can be added later in the process. See also House Bill 5160, which does spell out the new districts.
    Who Voted "Yes" and Who Voted "No"

  3. Received in the House on December 8, 2011.
    • Referred to the House Redistricting and Elections Committee on December 8, 2011.
    • Substitute offered by Rep. Pete Lund (R) on February 21, 2012, to replace the previous version of the bill with one that does reduce judges and revise districts. The substitute passed by voice vote in the House on February 21, 2012.
  4. Passed 106 to 0 in the House on February 21, 2012, to establish new state Court of Appeals districts (of which there are four), and reduce the number of appeals court judges from 28 to 24.
    Who Voted "Yes" and Who Voted "No"

  5. Received in the Senate on February 22, 2012.
  6. Passed 37 to 1 in the Senate on February 22, 2012, to establish new state Court of Appeals districts (of which there are four), and reduce the number of appeals court judges from 28 to 24.
    Who Voted "Yes" and Who Voted "No"

  7. Signed by Gov. Rick Snyder on March 6, 2012.

Comments

Re: 2011 Senate Bill 849 (Revise Court of Appeals districts )  by Admin003 on December 8, 2011 

Senator Whitmer’s statement, in which Senators Hunter and Gregory concurred, is as follows:
What we have before us is a golden opportunity to make government smaller and to do something that really adheres to the philosophy of fiscal responsibility and justice. This is a great opportunity before us.
I was at the reconciliation breakfast this morning, and Senator Connie Mack spoke a lot about doing the right thing and putting our partisan differences aside. I thought it was a great message. Our Governor spoke, our Attorney General spoke, and it was a great way to start the morning. I think this really is an opportunity to make government smaller, make it more efficient, and to do a lot of the things that we promised on the campaign trail.
What I have before you is an amendment that tie-bars this court of appeals bill to another bill that cuts the court of appeals to 24 judges. This adheres with Governor Snyder’s remarks that we should have a court of appeals that is the size of 24 judges, as well as Chief Justice Robert Young’s remarks to the same and endorsing the SCAO report.
I just have a couple quotes from the Chief Justice that I thought really shed some light on the need to do this for the state budget, but also in a manner that won’t harm our citizens who are seeking relief through our court system. Justice Young said the Supreme Court unanimously endorses these recommendations. His quote is: “The Court has historically not taken a position either way on the report’s findings, so the Court’s unanimous endorsement is recognition of the superior quality of the JRR.” He supports Governor Snyder’s recommendations. Further, as reported in MIRS, Justice Young said, “Increasing the size of government is easy. It turns out it takes political courage to reduce it. Now we need the stars in the Legislature to make this a reality.”
This is our opportunity to achieve the goals that the Governor has outlined for us and what the Supreme Court Chief Justice and the Court has unanimously endorsed as well. This represents a savings of $800,000 a year, and it says that we are not going to bend to the will of one partisan interest group, but we are going to make good decisions for the people of Michigan on policy. We should be driven by policy and doing the right thing. I ask for your support of this amendment.



2011 Senate Bill 849 (Revise Court of Appeals districts )  by admin on December 8, 2011 
Introduced in the Senate on November 10, 2011

The vote was 26 in favor, 9 opposed and 3 not voting

(Senate Roll Call 767 at Senate Journal 0)

Click here to view bill details.