- What Lame Duck?
- Speaker Orders Call of the House
- Senate Holds Marathon Session
What Lame Duck?
After a fast and furious week last week, this week was a dud. There was no session on Tuesday due to the meeting of the Electoral College in the Senate Chambers. On Wednesday, one Senate Democrat and one House Democrat each said they would not attend session. This left both chambers without enough Democrats to pass anything. Compounding that was the continued boycott by House Republicans. The House couldn’t even officially meet because they didn’t have a quorum.
Speaker Orders Call of the House
On Thursday, rumors were still swirling that one House Democrat, Rep. Karen Whitsett (D-Detroit), would not come to Lansing. As the morning went on, we learned she was coming after all. Shortly after she reached the Capitol, the Speaker ordered a Call of the House. This is an order to report to the House Chamber and once you are in the Chamber, you can not leave until the order is lifted. The Speaker also has the ability to deputize the State Police to go retrieve absent members. He did not take this step.
But after just over an hour and with no additional members in the Chamber than when it started, the Speaker abruptly adjourned session until December 31. We do not expect that they will be able to get a quorum on New Year’s Eve and their actions point to being done, so anything still pending in the House will need to be reintroduced in the new session.
Senate Holds Marathon Session
The Senate gaveled into session at 10:00 am on Thursday. After the House’s adjournment, they went into a lengthy caucus meeting, most likely to figure out what they could still do. Voting began at about 4:30 p.m. They could not make changes to any bills they passed because the House will not meet again to concur on changes. At noon on Friday, it was reported that they had set a “modern record” for session length at 26 hours with no end in sight.
Some of the bills they passed include:
House Bills 4095-4096 – Require MI State Police to establish standardized response terminology for emergency situations and requires schools to adopt it.
House Bill 4485 – Extends statute of limitations for criminal sexual conduct.
House Bill 4854 -- Allows Native American students to wear traditional regalia at ceremonies of honor at school.
House Bills 5231-5234 – Require certain information about a charter school’s authorizer and Education Management Organizations to be printed on school signage and promotional materials.
House Bill 5269 -- Requires the salaries of all employees of a charter school to be posted on their website.
House Bills 5450-5451 – Require information on the new laws regarding the safe storage of firearms be provided to all parents annually. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services would create the document, and districts would be required to share it by October 1 of each year, beginning in 2025.
House Bill 5549 -- Requires school districts to have behavioral threat assessment and management teams in each school building.
House Bill 5594 – Updates work permit requirements and moves administration to the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Growth.
House Bill 5659 – Codifies the school safety commission and sunsets the current commission.
House Bill 6058 – Makes changes to Public Act 152 by raising the hard cap for insurance costs as well as requiring any district using the 80/20 option to make that the minimum amount covered.
These bills will now go back to the House to be sent to the Governor for her consideration.
The Senate finally adjourned just after 3:00 p.m. Friday, after 29 hours in session. They adjourned until Dec 30 at 11:30 am when it will adjourn Sine Die. This should also set an effective date for any bill that did not get immediate effect as March 31, 2025.
The new Legislature will begin session on January 8. News From the Capitol will also return in January. We’ve updated the final bills we were watching this last week. Look for DashBoard in January for a full rundown of the issues that made it through and some that didn’t during this crazy December.