Pubdate: Thu, 28 May 1998
Source: The Ann Arbor News (MI)
Contact: http://aa.mlive.com/about/toeditor.html 
Website: http://aa.mlive.com/
Author: Susan L. Oppat, with Marianne Rzepka contributing

CITY'S MARIJUANA LAW UNDER FIRE

A state senator from Livingston County wants the City of Ann Arbor to go
back to criminalizing marijuana possession or face the loss of about $1.3
million of revenue sharing money from the upcoming state budget.

Sen. Mike Rogers, R-Brighton, says the city's once-infamous $5 marijuana
ticket law - ratcheted up to $50 since voters amended the city charter in
1974 - sends the wrong message to children by making possession of an
illegal drug a civil infraction.

But a City Council member called the Senate-passed state budget amendment
that Rogers sponsored "blackmail." Several state lawmakers from Washtenaw
County say the amendment, which still must make it through the House, is
unconstitutional.

Rogers, a former FBI agent, in his amendment called for a 10 percent
reduction in state revenue sharing funding to Ann Arbor every year until the
city complies with state marijuana possession penalties. He had attempted to
push through a 20 percent reduction.

Sen. Alma Wheeler Smith, D-Salem Township, spoke against the amendment this
week and was one of a handful of senators who voted against it.

Smith took that stand, she says, not because she supports low penalties for
possession of marijuana, but because the state cannot legally withhold
funding to force a local government to give up its right to its own laws.

Rogers' amendment does not specifically name Ann Arbor, but no other
municipality has marijuana possession penalties lower than the state
standard. Under state law, marijuana possession is a crime, and can be a
misdemeanor or a felony, depending on the amount and any previous offenses.

Since the unamended state budget would send $12.9 million to Ann Arbor in
1998-99, Rogers's amendment would cut $1.29 million to Ann Arbor in the
first year. The city's has an $80 million general fund budget for 1998-99.

State law calls for a maximum of one year in jail and up to $2,000 in fines
for a first marijuana possession violation. Ann Arbor city charter limits
civil infraction tickets for any marijuana possession to $25 in fines and
another $25 in costs.

With 353 possession tickets issued in 1997, including 31 at the Hash Bash,
and 44 tickets issued at the Hash Bash this year, that comes to $17,650 in
1997, and $2,200 at this year's Hash Bash.

Wheeler said Wednesday she will take the amendment to the conference
committee, where it can still be eliminated from the budget.

Rogers said he wrote the amendment after he spoke to a government class at a
Livingston County high school. Students there told him marijuana can't be
bad because they use it at the Hash Bash on the University of Michigan
campus every year. And, they told him, the only penalty is a ticket.

"I about fell out of my chair," Rogers said. "I thought, what a horrible
message we're sending to our kids. Nowhere else in the state do you do that.

"We need to ... make sure we're protecting families and children all around
the state, ... by having tough regulations and consistent standards."

The first-term senator conceded the City Council cannot repeal the charter
amendment approved by voters, but said the loss of state funding might
"encourage" city voters to reconsider.

"At the University of Michigan alone, the Department of Public Safety spends
$20,000 just on policing the Hash Bash," Rogers said.

"Those are tax dollars. Those are education dollars that could go to
scholarships, extra classrooms, computers, anything other than supporting an
event the majority of Michigan citizens don't support."

State Rep. Liz Brater, D-Ann Arbor, and Ann Arbor Council Member Christopher
Kolb, D-4th Ward, both described Rogers' amendment as unconstitutional
because it's a clear attempt to grab power illegally from local government
and redirect it to the state.

Brater also said state law requires revenue sharing to be based on
population, and that it cannot be reduced for any other reason.

Kolb described the amendment simply as "blackmail."

Mayor Ingrid Sheldon said Rogers' actions are confusing.

"Does he want to penalize Ann Arbor for something that was a vote of the
people?" she asked.

"If he has serious concerns about young people smoking marijuana - as I have
- - then he should spend money to fight that."

State Rep. Mary Schroer, D-Scio Township, was incredulous Wednesday when she
learned the amendment passed in the Senate.

"He obviously doesn't understand the workings of local government," Schroer
said, because council cannot change the charter. "Perhaps he should run for
local government, if that's what he wants to do."

But, she said, the bill "isn't going any place. It has to go through the
House, but our Republicans tend to be a little more reasonable.

"It's not something we do with our budgets," Schroer said. "We don't have
the big arm of government being tied into revenue sharing.

"I don't think the state Senate has any business dictating to local
governments what they can do, especially by withholding revenue sharing. He
doesn't even live there," she complained.

Smith described Rogers' action as another salvo in a war between Ann Arbor
and Livingston County residents.

Smith said Wednesday that she attempted to draft legislation to tack onto
the budget bill that would demand that any county that is home to the
imperial wizard for the Ku Klux Klan pay any other local government that
incurs costs or is damaged during a KKK rally. Livingston County was once
home to a KKK imperial wizard.

Ann Arbor spent about $137,000 to handle a Klan rally in front of the Larcom
Municipal Building on May 9.

Smith said she later dropped the effort to amend the budget bill.

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Checked-by: Melodi Cornett