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Ballot drive targets Michigan law that underpins virus rules

The new measure aims to limit Gov. Whitmer's power to issue or extend coronavirus restrictions.

Credit: AP

FILE - In this Oct. 2, 2020 file photo, a group gathers as boxes filled with petition signatures are delivered by Unlock Michigan to the Michigan Department of State Bureau of Elections in Lansing, Mich. The Michigan Supreme Court on Friday, June 11, 2021, unanimously ordered the state elections board to certify a veto-proof initiative that would let Republican legislators wipe from the books a law Gov. Gretchen Whitmer used to issue sweeping pandemic orders. (Rod Sanford/Detroit News via AP, File)

LANSING, Mich. — A group will launch a ballot drive to require legislative approval to extend emergency pandemic orders beyond 28 days, in the latest bid to neuter Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's administration's power to issue coronavirus restrictions.

The initiative will be organized by Unlock Michigan. The ballot committee previously gathered signatures to repeal a law that underpinned Whitmer's orders.

Her administration kept the limits intact under a law giving the state health director broad authority to issue orders. The new measure would make emergency orders unenforceable after 28 days unless the legislature OKs an extension.

Whitmer says restrictions saved lives.

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