Tensions, absences threaten Democratic agenda in Michigan lame-duck Legislature

• Lawmakers have eight scheduled session days left before the end of the current term
• Democrats are brainstorming priorities on what can get done before Republicans take majority control in the House next year
• Some Democrats are concerned about attendance issues holding up key votes on progressive policies

With just weeks left in the majority, Michigan House Democrats are facing internal divisions and attendance issues that jeopardize their ability to pass key priorities before the end of the year.

How much they can accomplish depends on whether leadership can get lawmakers to show up next month and send bills to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer before Democrats lose their governing trifecta.

One Democrat is publicly threatening to stop voluntarily showing up if leadership does not advance progressive legislation, including bills that would allow undocumented immigrants to obtain driver's licenses. 

Others missed session last week due to apparent health issues, which meant Democrats could not act on two of three scheduled session days because their current 56-54 majority means they need every vote. 

Now, lawmakers are off this week and next for a regularly scheduled fall break. If the Legislature meets as scheduled, there are eight session days remaining until both chambers break for the year.

“There's a lot of wonderful work to be done. And sadly, we have pressed ourselves into a corner,” Rep. Rachel Hood, D-Grand Rapids, told Bridge. “It makes me very anxious.”

Legislative Democrats have a lot of options in the hopper if they can muster up the votes and political will.

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Among them: changes to the state’s minimum wage increase and sick time expansion, opening up the governor and Legislature to public records requests, economic development spending, school safety and criminal justice reforms such as cash bail changes and a “second look” at lengthy prison sentences. 

Democrats will still control the state Senate and the governor’s office next year. But Republicans won a state House majority in the Nov. 5 election, meaning Democrats only have one more month to pass any legislation without the kind of bipartisan buy-in that will soon be necessary.

‘Agitated’ and under pressure

Votes on several notable bills were scheduled in the House last week, but Democratic lawmaker absences on Tuesday and Thursday delayed key votes.

The caucus was at full strength Wednesday and passed several bills, including a ban on firearms in polling places, data center tax breaks and bills aiming to expand hate crime laws and access to birth control. 

Jess Travers, spokesperson for House Speaker Joe Tate, D-Detroit, said leadership isn’t concerned about attendance for the last month of session, predicting that representatives “are going to show up for their constituents, show up for session and be ready to work.” 

But some Democrats are threatening to withhold their votes if the caucus doesn’t promise stronger action.

Hood, who did not seek re-election and is leaving the Legislature at the end of the year, made a splash last week when she suggested she may not show up voluntarily in the final days of a Democratic-majority House if leadership can’t muster up the votes to pass progressive bills she supports.

That means Tate could have to issue a Call of the House, which would require all members to attend — with a police escort if necessary.

Hood’s concerns extend well beyond the party’s lame-duck woes, she told Bridge Michigan, calling the current climate in Lansing “toxic” and a big factor in why she chose not to seek reelection this fall. 

“I didn't expect it to be like Willy Wonka's chocolate factory,” Hood quipped. “But under the pressure that we are facing, my colleagues are quite agitated and quite short-sighted and frankly, just mean.”

She said she’s “impatient” to get votes on issues that are priorities for her district, including “Drive Safe” bills for undocumented immigrants  and an overhaul of sex education requirements in schools. 

She’s not letting those priorities go without a fight.

“Even though I am just one vote, I hold power,” she said. 

‘Give and take’

House Republicans, preparing to take the reins, have little incentive to help Democrats out. 

“Gridlock happens if they start popping bills on us. If they do that, we'll vote no,” House Minority Leader Matt Hall, a Richland Township Republican who will become Speaker next year, told MIRS subscription news service this week. 

“The good bills I can do next year when I'm the speaker. Why do I have to do it on their timetable? Let's talk. We can have some give and take and lame-duck will be productive.”

Conservative groups have also pushed back on several Democratic-backed initiatives that could see action in lame-duck, arguing that the proposals would fly in the face of voters who put Republicans back in charge.

“Michigan voters had an opportunity to express their viewpoint and choose a path of what they wanted to see happen in Lansing and DC, and they made a pretty clear statement,” Zach Rudat of the Michigan Freedom Fund recently told Bridge. “I would hope that the current leadership in Lansing takes note.” 

House Republicans last week helped Democrats pass legislation that would expand tax breaks for data centers and create a new research and development tax credit for Michigan businesses. 

Some House Republicans are also co-sponsoring legislation that would bring back a form of film incentives, a plan that was initially scheduled for a vote last week but was not taken up. 

Rep. Alabas Farhat, D-Dearborn, recently told reporters “there’s a lot of really good priorities” on the table, citing a personal interest in healthcare affordability and accessibility. 

“What this majority has been focused on since day one, is investing in our state's working class,” he said. “We're going to keep doing that to the last minute.”

State Rep. Kara Hope, a Holt Democrat who chairs the House Criminal Justice Committee, is pushing for at least one major criminal justice reform and birth control accessibility, among other issues. 

She recently told Bridge she’s “optimistic, but…not delusional” about what’s possible in the short amount of time left.  

Few details have emerged about specific priorities as talks between Democratic caucus leaders and the Whitmer administration about what realistically can get done before the term ends continue. 

Those discussions are expected to continue during the ongoing legislative break. 

Travers, Tate’s spokesperson, said at this point, “nothing is off the table.”