Voters approved three ballot proposals on Nov. 6 by wide, double-digit margins.

But that isn't stopping Republican lawmakers in Lansing from trying to alter the measures that legalized marijuana for recreational use, changed the way state and federal legislative district lines are drawn and increased access to voting.

A proposed marijuana bill would ban homegrown pot, doing away with a provision in the ballot proposal, which was approved 56-44 percent, that would allow people over the age of 21 to grow up to 12 plants in their home for personal use.

It would also lower the excise tax on sales of weed from 10 percent to 3 percent and change how the tax revenue is distributed, sending the money to cities and counties where marijuana businesses are located, sheriff's departments, Michigan State Police and a disability fund for first responders. Under the original ballot proposal, the tax revenue would be split among schools, road improvements and the communities and counties that allow marijuana businesses in their towns.

The new bill also gives a politically appointed licensing board the authority over business licenses. Under the ballot proposal, licensing decisions would be handled by the state Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs.

"This is a similar structure to what we see for medical marijuana," said Amber McCann, spokeswoman for Sen. Arlan Meekhof, R-West Olive, who sponsored the bill. "He thinks we should work within the existing framework."

These changes will be the toughest to pass, however, because the bill needs a three-quarters supermajority vote in both the Senate and House of Representatives. Democrats are unlikely to support the changes and even some Republicans are reluctant to sign off on the bill.

The lower amount of revenues generated by the 3 percent excise tax — which would be on top of the state's 6 percent sales tax — could also prove to be a disincentive for communities to let marijuana businesses in.

On the other two ballot proposals, Republicans in the Senate feel the changes can be made with a simple majority, instead of a three-quarters vote, because the tweaks don't substantially change the intent of the proposals.

“It does change some of the language of the proposal, but we feel it’s well within the guidelines of meeting the simple-majority criteria,” said Sen. Mike Kowall, R-White Lake, who sponsored the bills that would change the Promote the Vote ballot proposal, which voters approved 67-33 percent.

His bills would change a provision that allows a person to register to vote up to and on Election Day and push that deadline to 14 days before the election.

“I’m not trying to keep people from voting,” Kowall said. “I’m just trying to prevent chaos for the local clerks.”

His bills also would require a designation of U.S. citizenship on driver's licenses and state identification cards before a person could automatically be registered to vote and would allow a person to opt out of registering to vote when they got their state IDs.

The Promote the Vote ballot proposal includes a provision that automatically registers a person to vote when they get a driver’s license or state ID.

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Todd Cook, spokesman for the Promote the Vote campaign, said he wishes the Legislature would consider making changes next year, rather than in the lame-duck legislative session when hundreds of issues are swirling through the House and Senate in the final weeks of the year.

"We don’t want to overreact, but also want to figure out why they think they need this. We want to be productive and thoughtful and sometimes lame-duck is not the best place to do that," he said. "It’s not helpful for us to go in there with our hair on fire without an initial conversation."

But Republicans want to get the changes through before Gov.-elect Gretchen Whitmer, an East Lansing Democrat, is sworn into office on Jan. 1 and can begin vetoing bills she finds objectionable.

If the bills are not enacted before the end of the legislative session, scheduled for Dec. 20, they die and have to be reintroduced next year.

On the redistricting proposal, introduced by Sen. Phil Pavlov, R-St. Clair, people who wanted to become one of the 13 members of the redistricting commission could be penalized with a fine of up to $500 if they mischaracterize their political affiliation. The randomly selected commission is supposed to be made up of four Republicans, four Democrats and five independents.

McCann said because the bill just sets up the framework for the citizen commission and doesn't significantly change the ballot proposal, only a simple majority is needed to pass the changes.

"The language of the proposal leaves some room to define what the proposal really means," she said.

But Katie Fahey, leader of Voters Not Politicians, which led the anti-gerrymandering campaign that won on Nov. 6 by 61-39 percent, said given the volatile nature of the lame-duck Legislature, she worries that a relatively benign bill will morph into something more onerous.

"Given activities by the Legislature this past week, we expect the bill may only be a shell that lawmakers will use to alter the fair, impartial, independent nature of the commission that was overwhelmingly approved by voters," she said in a statement.

Although committee meetings haven't been scheduled yet, the bills changing the three proposals — SB 1243 on the marijuana bill; SB 1238-1241 for the Promote the Vote changes, and SB 1254 on gerrymandering — are expected to get hearings next week.

Contact Kathleen Gray: 313-223-4430, kgray99@freepress.com or on Twitter @michpoligal.