(Source: MIRS.news, Published 08/24/2023) In her planned Aug. 30 speech to legislators, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is planning to make energy reliability a priority with an eye toward reducing fossil fuel use, MIRS has learned.
The Governor is also looking at touching on further reforms to reproductive health care, paid family leave and reducing prescription drug costs.
The new "What's Next Address" is designed to be a second-half reboot of what she'd like to see the Democratic-controlled Legislature tackle in the fall half of the 2023 session.
Top on the list is energy. While the Governor is not expected to call for any specific piece of policy, pushing for more reliable energy coming from renewable sources, solar energy, in particular. Both the House and Senate are expected to look at policies that have Michigan going carbon-free by 2030, but MIRS has learned the Governor is not planning to get that specific.
Planned Parenthood is still working with Democratic lawmakers on what will be included in an upcoming Reproductive Health Act (RHA), but executives told MIRS earlier this week that a proposal is coming this fall.
"While Michiganders now have a legal right to reproductive freedom, it's time to finish the job and ensure that they also have meaningful access," said Planned Parenthood President Paula Greear on Tuesday night. "I really can't stress strongly enough how imperative it is that we remove the remaining barriers to care and that we do so as quickly as possible."
Lowering the costs of prescription drugs is a big passion for Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks (D-Grand Rapids). The Senate leader is a supporter of a new board to traffic cop pharmaceuticals that skyrocket in price.
It's not clear if Whitmer will embrace this particular approach, but the Governor is expected to advocate for approaches to lower the cost of medication.
And, finally, paid family medical leave remains a personal issue for the Governor due to that time in her life when she was caring for both her sick mother and young children.
While some in the business sector are uncomfortable with stricter state mandates on this front, Democrats want to make sure workers are protected from retaliation at the workplace if they have family medical issues they need to attend to.
Preliminarily, a working goal for some -- while not formalized in any way -- is to finish major policy by the end of October so lawmakers can adjourn sine die, allowing many election reforms, the Feb. 27 presidential primary and tax changes, put formally into law before Feb. 1.
The scheduling can obviously change. Many, particularly in the Senate, need to be convinced that adjourning sine die before the November mayoral elections makes sense. But in the House, leadership is looking at the possibility of a 54-54 split after Nov. 7 if Rep. Kevin Coleman (D-Westland) is elected mayor of Westland and Rep. Lori Stone (D-Warren) is elected mayor of Warren.
The thought in the House is that key Democratic priorities likely won't get done after mid-November anyway, so an early adjournment isn't creating any undue hardships. If the Governor can plan the replacement elections for Stone and Coleman for the Feb. 27 presidential primaries, the House D's likely will have its 56-54 majority back by early March.
