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Campaign to ban prevailing wage headed to court

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A partisan split on a state election board has stalled a petition drive to outlaw prevailing wage rules in Michigan.

The petition drive takes aim at rules adopted by the state and many local governments. Those rules require contractors to pay union-scale wages on publicly funded projects.

The elections panel deadlocked on whether to let the campaign move forward. Two Republicans voted yes. Two Democrats voting no.    

Jeff Wiggins is with the petition campaign. He says this isn’t over.

“We’re going to court.”

“Unfortunately, two of the commissioners today went outside the what the law asked them to do, and they came to the wrong decision.”

“This is a clear violation of the constitutional rights of the people who signed these petitions. 380 thousand Michigan citizens want to repeal prevailing wage.”

Any action by the board requires bipartisan support. The board’s two Democrats say there are questions about whether many petition circulators provided legal residential addresses as required by state law.

 The Republican-controlled Legislature would almost certainly have approved the initiative.

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