Michigan Bill Gives Gov. Power to Seize Control of Cities

The Michigan House and Senate have each passed bills expanding the governor's power to appoint Emergency Financial Managers, who could remove top administrators and elected officials, put millage increases on the ballot, lay off employees, slash services, and merge the city or school district with a neighboring government entity. Governor Snyder, a Republican, called for a substantially revised emergency manager process in January, warning that the current law doesn’t allow the state to act pro-actively, providing early intervention long before a city or school district faces financial collapse.

When told that the bill could undermine local control, Gov. Rick Snyder said, "Local control? I'll tell you what, I think that in a lot of these places there is no control."