Feb. 13: AG Dana Nessel may review Michigan minimum wage, sick leave law

Dec. 14: Snyder signs bills that weaken Michigan minimum wage, sick leave law

The ballot committee behind Michigan’s new paid sick leave law will launch another ballot drive in 2020, saying a new Democratic governor won’t let Republican lawmakers scale back the proposal’s protections, as GOP lawmakers are attempting to do now.

MI Time to Care, which spearheaded the sick leave law as a petition drive this year, on Monday filed a new petition with the state aimed at making the ballot in November 2020. The group’s decision comes as the GOP-majority Legislature debates a bill that would significantly reduce the amount of sick time Michiganders could accrue after it adopted the citizen-initiated proposal in September.

The group said the political calculus for another ballot drive hinges on a new balance of power in Lansing starting in January — namely, the arrival of Democratic Gov.-elect Gretchen Whitmer, who has publicly supported citizen-initiated laws to require employers to offer paid sick leave and increase Michigan’s minimum wage.

Whitmer will have veto power over Republicans, and could block efforts by legislative Republicans to scale back future proposals.

“We just believe that the incoming climate would be more favorable to getting it on the ballot,” said Danielle Atkinson, one of the organizers of the MI Time to Care committee, adding that the ballot language will remain the same as the petition in 2018.