Michiganders Strike Final Blow to Whitmer’s Emergency Powers Michiganders Strike Final Blow to Whitmer's Emergency Powers - Michigan Rising Action

Michiganders Strike Final Blow to Whitmer’s Emergency Powers

Michiganders Strike Final Blow to Whitmer’s Emergency Powers

July 21, 2021

Lansing, Mich., July 21, 2021 – Today, House Republicans voted to approve the citizen driven Unlock Michigan initiative, which seeks to strip Governor Gretchen Whitmer and future Governors of the overreaching emergency powers from 1945. With today’s veto proof vote and the Senate’s last week, the legislature has officially revoked these emergency powers.

“Today’s vote is a resounding victory for the people of Michigan, who over the past year, suffered needlessly under Governor Whitmer’s abuse of the 1945 Emergency Powers which she used to impose some of the most restrictive COVID rules in the nation,” said Eric Ventimiglia, executive director for Michigan Rising Action. Ventimiglia continued, “Thanks to the work of Republicans in the legislature and hundreds of thousands of Michiganders who took part in the Unlock Michigan initiative, Michigan will never again allow Whitmer or future governors to wield unilateral and unchecked power over the people of our state.”

The repeal of the 1945 Emergency Powers of the Governor Act turns the page on a dark period in Michigan’s history, which saw the Governor seize unprecedented power in the name of public health. After nearly a year of tireless work, every day Michigan citizens collected enough signatures in the “Unlock Michigan” initiative to force the veto proof vote in the legislature repealing the law.

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