LANSING, MI (AP)-- Billionaire businessman Dan Gilbert is starting a ballot drive as a "failsafe" in case Michigan's Republican-led Legislature and Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer don't enact legislation to cut the country's highest auto insurance premiums.
Quicken Loans vice president of government affairs Jared Fleisher said Monday that a ballot committee, Citizens for Lower Auto Insurance Rates, will be created this week.
If Gilbert's group gathers enough voter signatures, the Legislature could approve the initiative and sidestep a veto. The House and Senate have passed differing bills that Whitmer has criticized, though negotiations are ongoing.
Fleisher says it'd be best if legislators and Whitmer enact a law to reduce rates by letting people opt out of mandatory unlimited medical benefits. But he says signature-gathering must begin soon as a backup.
