Michigan voters should be able to decide Nov. 5 whether the state should alter its Constitution to ensure 90 percent of the 1998 tobacco-settlement money is earmarked for health care.
On Tuesday, the Citizens for a Healthy Michigan proposal failed to gain the Board of State Canvassers’ approval to go on the November ballot. The decision now goes to the Michigan Court of Appeals because the board’s vote tied 2-2 along party lines.
The proposal would allow voters to decide if the majority of the nearly $8 billion settlement should go toward health care, tobacco prevention and research.
The money is now the primary funding source for the Michigan Merit Award Scholarship Program, which gives high-school students $2,500 toward state college tuition if they pass four out of five portions of the Michigan Education Assessment Program test.
According to the state budget office, 31 percent of this year’s share of the settlement, or $328 million, was given to the 2002 Merit Award Scholarship Program.
During the past three years, the scholarship program has awarded MSU students more than $40 million.
The coalition supporting the tobacco initiative has until Friday to gain approval by a three-judge Michigan Court of Appeals panel. The decision can then be appealed to the Michigan Supreme Court.
By failing to send the ballot to voters, the canvassing board has allowed politics to overshadow its nonpolitical charge.
The state board is supposed to be objective and look more at the legality of ballot proposals’ wordings than their substance. The board failed in this charge.
We urge the court of appeals to allow Michigan voters to decide were they want their tobacco money spent and if that want merits a constitutional amendment.
American government operates on the principle that it is for and by the people. Citizens for a Healthy Michigan have followed the proper procedures to put a constitutional amendment proposal on the state ballot and have gathered more than enough of their needed signatures.
Voters are the most important part of American government, not elected officials.
The Legislature, governor’s office and courts work for the citizens of this state. If the citizens want to vote on where their money is spent instead of allowing their elected officials too do so, they should have the chance.
Ultimately, Michigan citizens are the ones who will benefit most from the outcome. They have the right to decide where, when and how much of the settlement money is used.
State politicians should not control the fate of the Citizens for a Healthy Michigan’s proposal, voters should.
