VILLAGE ELECTIONS H.B. 5995, 5996 & 6005 (H-1):
COMMITTEE SUMMARY
House Bills 5995 and 5996 (as passed by the House)
House Bill 6005 (Substitute H-1 as passed by the House)
Sponsor: Representative Bill Huizenga (H.B. 5995)
Representative Jacob Hoogendyk (H.B. 5996)
Representative Jerry O. Kooiman (H.B. 6005)
House Committee: Local Government and Urban Policy
Senate Committee: Government Operations
Date Completed: 6-29-04
CONTENT
The bills would amend the Michigan Election Law to do the following in regard to village elections:
-- Specify the township clerk with whom to file for election.
-- Provide for the transmission of voter registration information to a village clerk.
-- Give villages the option of having all of their trustees elected to nonstaggered two-year terms.
House Bill 5995
The bill provides that filing for election to a village office would have to be with the township clerk if the township were conducting the election or, if the village were located in more than one township, with the township in which the largest number of registered electors of the village resided.
House Bill 5996
The bill provides that, in the case of an election for village officers only, the clerk of a township would have to transmit to the clerk of a village that lies partly or completely in the township and that holds its regular election in September under Section 642(7) of the law the information necessary to complete the registration of a person registered under Sections 500a to 500j (which govern voter registration). (Section 642(7) permits villages to hold their regular elections during the September primary elections.)
Currently, the clerk of a township must transmit the information to the village clerk for all elections.
House Bill 6005 (H-1)
The bill would allow a village council, by a two-thirds vote, to provide by ordinance for the election of all village trustees in the same election for two-year terms at the first possible election after 2004. The bill would require publication of a notice, at least 10 days in
advance, of each meeting at which an ordinance to change the time of an election of the trustees comprising the council would be considered.
Currently, the Election Law provides for two-year (as well as four-year) staggered terms for village trustees.
MCL 168.381 (H.B. 5995) Legislative Analyst: J.P. Finet
MCL 168.500f (H.B. 5996)
MCL 62.1 et al. (H.B. 6005)
FISCAL IMPACT
The bills would have no fiscal impact on State or local government.
Fiscal Analyst: Bill Bowerman
Analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent. hb5995etal/0304