Two Petitions for the State Canvassers

The board of State Canvassers meets in Lansing today and is expected to formally approve signatures gathered for a petition initiative that would ask voters to amend the current minimum wage law by increasing it to $10.10 per hour by 2017. Another question remains however. Some say the legislature’s recent approval of a bill throwing out the current wage law and replacing it with a $9.25 per hour rate with inflationary increases, will render the $10.10 ballot proposal as invalid. Reports have said that issue may have to be resolved in court. The board this week is also expected to approve an initiative petition filed by the group “Citizens for Professional Wildlife Management.” Their proposal would put the decision on game species in Michigan in the hands of the governor-appointed Natural Resources Commission. If approved, the measure could stop an effort to ban wolf hunting in the Upper Peninsula, and would also be immune from repeal by voters since it includes a small appropriation. Neither proposal would have to go to the ballot if the legislature approves them within 40 days.