Michigan’s “Proposal 4” Defeated

Michigan’s Proposal 4 to amend the state’s constitution to establish a matching services registry was voted down on Election Day.

Publicly funded matching services registries create a platform for individuals who need home care services to find individuals who are qualified — and desire — to provide those services.

The Michigan Quality Community Care Council (MQCCC) continues to operate a matching services registry on a limited basis — with a drastically reduced staff and donated funding — but will only do so for another few months without additional funding.

Supporters of the MQCCC had launched the “Prop 4” campaign earlier this year to establish that the state guarantee the services provided by MQCCC, which advocates consider to be critical to elders and people with disabilities.

The MQCCC was defunded by the Michigan Legislature in 2011 over concerns about unionization.

Today, fifteen states have statewide matching services registries and regional registries operate in four others.  In other recent state action, West Virginia passed legislation earlier this year requiring that a statewide matching services registry be established; Wisconsin, meanwhile, de-funded its registry in 2011.

Union Representation Out 

Also at stake under Proposal 4 was the opportunity for workers listed on the registry to decide through a publicly conducted election whether they want to be represented by a union. That path for organizing failed as well.

In late October, a path was cleared for the Missouri Home Care Union‘s (MHCU) first-ever contract with the state, when the Missouri Supreme Court declined to hear a case challenging the unionization of home care workers working in in the state’s Consumer-Directed Personal Care Assistance Program.

More Information

For more information on Michigan’s Proposal 4, read a commentary (pdf) by PHI Midwest Director Hollis Turnham.

— by Deane Beebe