A change do you good?

http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061212/NEWS99/61212034 Group calls for changes to Michigan constitution By CHRIS CHRISTOFFFREE PRESS STAFF WRITER December 12, 2006 Michigan’s constitution should be revised to lengthen term limits for state elected officials, give the governor power to appoint Supreme Court justices and university trustees and forbid non-Michigan residents from collecting petition signatures for ballot proposals. Those are among 63 recommendations by a self-appointed, volunteer group that’s calling for a constitutional convention to rewrite the 1963 constitution. The group, Citizens for Michigan, calls for maximum 12-year terms for legislators, the governor, attorney general and secretary of state. Currently, they can serve a maximum eight years except for the state House, where six years is the limit. Others recommendations in the study include allowing cities to raise local taxes to fix roads, and a statewide tax to pay strictly for building or renovating school facilities. The complete report can be read at http://www.citizens4mi.wordpress.com/ <http://www.citizens4mi.wordpress.com/>. “We’re not dictating anything to anybody,” said former attorney general Frank Kelley, a member of the Citizens for Michigan, which has met quietly for three years and which includes former legislators, legal experts, business people and lobbyists.Rather, he said, the study is meant to promote good public policy, and to give the governor, Legislature and the public time to consider possible constitutional changes before 2010. That’s the next year the constitution requires a public vote to decide whether to hold a constitutional convention.“This is an attempt to get a discussion started,” said John Axe, chairman of the group and an expert in municipal finance and an instructor at the Wayne State University School of Law.