LAURIUM — A statewide movement, the Restore Freedom Initiative of Michigan, is proposing an amendment to the state’s constitution to clarify specific issues regarding the effects on state government. Rallies have been conducted throughout the state to gather enough signatures to place the proposal on the ballot, and such a rally will take place in Daniel Park on Saturday, June 20, from 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

“Recent events have brought unprecedented assaults on our freedom by our state government,” reads a flyer circulating by the Initiative. “We are seeking to get an amendment to the state constitution put on the ballot this November to ensure our liberties as Americans and Michiganders are protected from governmental overreach.”

If passed, the amendment would:

• Clarify the separation of powers, foundations and functions of government;

• Guarantee the constitutional limitations of government during emergencies;

• Ensure that interpretation of state law will comply with the constitution;

• Prohibit any branch of the government from using powers belonging to another branch;

• Removal of non-elected commissions.

The amendment also seeks to enhance government accessibility, transparency and accountability, as well as return bill-drafting to the legislators. It would also prohibit requirements upon employees or customers who are likely to impair health or safety, and modify the requirements to serve as judge or on examining/licensing boards, and the jurisdiction of the various state courts.

Other provisions of the amendment, such as those relating to Article I, Section 17, will prohibit mandatory vaccines because the government “would not be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt” that it is necessary to receive the vaccine, because, beyond any reasonable doubt, living without the vaccine imminently threatens the life of another person. The same holds true for the other Executive Order requirements to wear masks, use “social distancing,” etc., especially considering, the website alleges, the science and medical studies on (this) point show those things do not mitigate the spread of COVID19.

“We are encouraging everyone 18 years of age, and registered to vote,” stated in a Tuesday email to the Daily Mining Gazette, “to come out and support us, and sign the petition.”

The Restore Freedom Initiative is a growing statewide response to Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s handling of Executive Powers regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, and limits she unilaterally imposed on Michigan residents and small businesses.

According to the organization’s website, among other goals, the amendment would constitutionally guarantee that government officials would no longer have no authority to “take away our rights to worship, assemble, speak freely, petition our government for a redress of grievances, or others related to our life, liberty or property – in times of emergency or not – without proving beyond a reasonable doubt that depriving us of that right is necessary because we are imminently harming the life, liberty or property of another person.”

Katherine Henry, an attorney in Hudsonville, Michigan, drafted the amendment language, told Fox17online, of downstate Michigan, on May 4, that in her legal opinion, the governor has been acting unlawfully. In May, FOX17 reported a growing opposition to Whitmer’s extension of the states of emergency and disaster after the Republican-led legislature refused to grant her request for the extension.

“People absolutely should not be complying with that,” Henry told FOX17.

She went on to say that Michigan has two sets of law relating to the emergency management powers.

“We have the Emergency Management Act, which is the 1976 act, and there’s several different provisions in there,” Henry told FOX17. “We also have the Emergency Powers of Governor Act of 1945.”

On May 21, 2020, mlive.com reported that Michigan Court of Claims Judge, Cynthia Diane Stephens, decided that Whitmer acted within the Michigan law in extending a state of emergency on April 30, but she wrote in the ruling the governor did overstep her authority when issuing another state of emergency under the Emergency Management Act of 1976 without legislative approval, which gives the governor a 28-day window before legislative approval is required.

Henry will be at the Laurium rally Saturday, from 10-10:30 a.m.