(Source: MIRS.news, Published December 16, 2022) The Michigan House and Senate met fewer times in 2022 than in any calendar year since 1950, at a time when the Legislature didn't hold regular session on even-numbered years. Lawmakers only came in for a special session at the call of the Governor, which is what happened that year.
This year, the House only took attendance on 54 days. The Senate reported taking attendance 62 days, fewer than any other year in the era of a full-time Legislature, MIRS has learned after a team of three reporters spent days researching old House and Senate journals.
In reviewing journals going back 75 years to 1947, there were some part-time years in which lawmakers met more despite adjourning for the year in May or June. A full analysis of legislative journals can be found here.
When determining why the Legislature had such a small number of active session days in comparison to previous years, it's noteworthy to point out that Michigan lawmakers used to meet five days a week, instead of three.
Until a shift in the mid-1990s, according to Capitol Historian Valerie MARVIN, legislators would meet Monday evening, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday morning. Marvin indicated this was the norm throughout most of the state's history, referencing when it was time for lawmakers to make their journeys to the Capitol.
She said in every decade or two, there seems to be a session year where legislators are "in a whole lot."
"Maybe there's a shift in power. Maybe there's a sense of 'OK, we've really got to buckle down to deal with this really complicated issue and it's going to take a longer time…'" Marvin told MIRS.
In the House:
Of the 86 total sessions held in 2022, only 54 of them saw members present for attendance and voting. A quorum was not present the other 32 days.
The last time the legislature met so infrequently was in 1950. The part-time legislature met for only 52 of their 102 scheduled special session days, while the other 50 were no attendance, no voting. The Republican-led legislature stretched out the calendar that year to prevent Gov. G. Mennen WILLIAMS from calling them into a special session to address a certain issue.
Only one other year had fewer recorded active days. In 1948, the part-time House members met only 31 times, again, in a special session.
But other part-time years met more frequently than in 2022. In 1947, the House met 98 times, and there were 90 active days in 1949, 96 days in 1951, 76 in 1952, 85 in 1953 and 65 in 1954.
From 1947-58, the average number of active sessions were 78 days.
The switch to a full-time legislature came during the 1955-1956 session, which met 107 and 81 times respectively and recorded zero inactive days both years.
The all-time high was in 1959, when the Senate convened with a quorum 170 times as the Republicans put on a full-court press against Williams, a Democrat, in his first term.
Save that anomaly, the number of House session days slowly crept up with a full-time legislature, from an average near 100 in the 1960s to around 120 in the 1970s. With a peak of 154 in 1971, the number slowly declined again throughout the 1980s and 1990s, with an average of slightly fewer than 100 active days in the early 2000s.
That trend remained in place until 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic and stay home orders resulted in only 61 active session days and 44 no-voting days.
There was a slight increase towards “normal” with 91 days in 2021, but in 2022 the full-time House only met 54 days.
At the same time, the average number of no-attendance days were fewer than 20 until 2019, with the exception of the 50 days without a quorum in 1950.
The 27 sessions in 2019 were followed by 17 no vote days in 2021 and 32 in 2022.
In the Senate:
The 2022 legislative session also marked the least active session days since 1950. Of the 78 total Senate sessions held, only 62 were voting days, while the other 16 did not have enough members for a quorum.
In 1950, the Senate recorded 53 active session days of 102 total, a number that was topped in 1948, when the part-time Senate met 30 of 32 days.
But like the House, the Legislature met more when they were operating part-time in 1947 with 99 active days, 1949 with 87, 1951 with 92, 1952 with 74, 1953 with 84 and 1954 with 65.
The Senate followed a similar trend to the House, with a slow climb in both overall and active session days starting with the creation of a full-time legislature in 1955.
From 1956 to 1969, there were fewer than five inactive days a year and an average of near 100 session days, with a high of 170 days in 1959.
The slow climb was consistent in the 1970s, with a 146-day high in 1969 and an average of 120 days yearly continuing into the 1980s.
The number of session days remained consistently around 90 to 100 in the 1990s, with fewer highs and lows than the House. A 1994 low of 65 days was one of the few anomalies.
During the pandemic, the Senate met on 81 of their 99 scheduled session days, with a slight increase to 90 days in 2021.
But 2022 found the Senate meeting with a quorum only 62 of their total 78 days. Again, prior to 1951, the Legislature only met for regular session on odd-numbered years.
The number of inactive session days also increased significantly since 1947, albeit more slowly than in the House. With the exception of 49 inactive days in 1950 and 12 in 1955, the Senate remained stable at 10 or less until 2004, when it jumped to 18.
The Senate has managed to keep their overall inactive days at or fewer than 20 thus far, with 16 total in 2022.
