(Source: MIRS.news, Published 12/05/2022) With the House lame duck session dates now reduced to Tuesday and Wednesday, the question on many minds is how much will still be accomplished before January?
The answer, a MIRS source confirmed, is next to nothing.
The Republican-led Senate and House leadership have abandoned cutting any late deals and are content to give some goodbye speeches, push through some last-minute dogs and cats, maybe put up some controversial bills that'll likely get vetoed and go home.
It is unlikely there will be movement on the House Ethics Commission bill or prescription drug reduction package that House Speaker Jason Wentworth (R-Farwell) was looking to advance earlier in November.
And without an agreement on supplemental spending with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, it's unlikely that the Republican majority will put more economic development dollars on the table.
"It's typical in Lame Duck that you don't get everything done you're planning on. (For) this one, with the big change in leadership coming, it really tends to make the people who are going to come into power want to sit and wait and have that control," said Senate Majority Floor Leader Dan Lauwers (R-Brockway).
He said the Senate could pass a lot of items and send them to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's desk only to be vetoed, and "some things we may do that, just to have people on record of which way they stand."
This week is expected to be the final week of active session days for the state Senate and House. During the November election, Democratic candidates won 20 of the Senate's 38 seats for next year, and 56 of the 110 House seats – meaning this will be the final week of Republicans' legislative stronghold for at least the next two years.
When asked what bill might serve as one of these record-tracking items, Lauwers said he particularly likes HB 5097 by Rep. Andrew Beeler (R-Fort Gratiot).
The legislation would prohibit classroom lessons from teaching any form of race or gender stereotyping. Ultimately, the bill would ban a school district instructor from teaching that "individuals bear collective guilt for historical wrongs committed by their race or gender" or that "a racial or ethnic group or gender is in need of deconstruction, elimination or criticism."
The Senate Education and Career Readiness Committee moved the legislation in early June, with the committee's two Democratic lawmakers walking out right after attendance was taken.
Republican Sen. Ken Horn (R-Frankenmuth), the committee's majority vice chair, also abstained from voting, expressing at the time that not one teacher, parent or administrator within his district had come to him with a concern around the subject.
Lauwers told MIRS he thinks HB 5097 is a "good, simple bill" and that he doesn't know anyone who supports discrimination.
However, he doesn't know if HB 5097 will be one of the bills placed up for a vote or not. But when asked how many record-tracking scenarios he imagines playing out next week, he said there's a potential for three or four.
"In the caucus, we'll try to, as a group, come to an agreement as to what are the most important things to get done in our last day and hopefully take action on those things," he said. "The trick, of course, is always getting an agreement, and we have a short timeframe here so it's a little bit more challenging."
Something that's also high on the Senate majority floor leader's list is giving Whitmer a fourth opportunity to sign a tax cut bill.
Republican legislators have been keen this year about wanting to see a personal income tax reduction, with their latest effort offering some of Whitmer's wishlist items, like expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit from 6% to 20% and increasing personal tax exemptions by $1,800 to support retirees, in addition to dropping the income tax from 4.25% to 4%.
Whitmer vetoed the aforementioned effort, HB 4568 by House Tax Policy Chair Matt Hall (R-Comstock Township), in early June with claims that the massive alterations to the bill, which was originally introduced as a tax filing deadline extension, were unconstitutional.
"I've certainly suggested that's what we should be doing, is trying to give the Governor a fourth opportunity to sign a tax cut bill," Lauwers said. "The word we get back from the Governor is she's supportive of tax cuts, but she'd rather do it while she's controlling the Legislature."
Overall, Lauwers said his phone has been ringing "off the hook" throughout the last three days, with people advocating for things they'd like to see get done. However, he projected the final days of Lame Duck to be "very unpredictable," with Whitmer and Democratic lawmakers allegedly "not looking to do a whole lot."
The Senate will not be taking any votes on Tuesday as the House meets.
"Everything the Senate needs to do at this point is just about stuff that needs to come back from the House, so we'll be in on Wednesday for that," he said. "That can either be a really short day or a really long day that probably almost goes into the next (day)."
