(Source: MIRS.news, Published 12/13/2024) The House Democratic caucus's ability to stay unified was tested Friday evening as the 56 members faced an agenda of 120 bills after their Republican colleagues walked out in protest. The threads wore bare around 10 p.m. after about half the agenda was completed and several of the members' biggest issues weren't brought up.

The House gaveled in at 9 a.m. for a rare Friday session that lasted 13 hours. The frays in the fabric surfaced before that, though, when Rep. Betsy Coffia (D-Traverse City) posted screenshots on X of a text exchange between her and Speaker Joe Tate (D-Detroit) that happened in May, in which she emphasized that her policy priorities were with migrant workers, hate crime victims, survivors of catastrophic accidents and more.

The post was taken down shortly after it was posted, then later re-uploaded.

The first vote was on HB 5887, the lead bill in Rep. John Fitzgerald (D-Wyoming)’s ‘sextortion’ package and wasn't taken up until 12:20 p.m., around the same time that House Republicans were told HB 6056 and HB 6057, which restore the tipped wage credit and earned sick time, wouldn’t go up for a vote.

Republicans rushed into caucus and emerged about a half hour later, conducting a press conference outside Hall’s office wearing orange Save MI Tips buttons and announced that they wouldn’t return to the floor unless those two bills had a chance on the board.

“Put it up today, and then we'll come back out on the floor, and we'll vote for it, and we'll vote for other bipartisan ideas, too, but if all they're going to do is sit up there and caucus and strategize and keep us here until 10 p.m. and then put up some bill about changing people's gender identity on their driver's licenses, we don't need to be here,” Hall said.

The message quickly emerged from the Democrats that this was a political stunt and that Republicans weren’t showing up to do their job. Later, Hall said he thinks voters represented by the absent members of his caucus will view their choice favorably. Majority Floor Leader Abraham Aiyash (D-Hamtramck), standing behind him, responded that the Democrats passed “a flurry of bills,” many of which he thinks voters will be very happy with.

Aiyash has reminded reporters in the last week that his term doesn’t end until Dec. 31, 2024 at 11:59 p.m., and that until then, anything is possible. When asked if that means more voting days could be added to the House schedule to make more time for bills that haven’t yet passed the Senate, he said “everything is on the table.”

The Michigan Supreme Court ruling that created the issue on minimum wage and the tipped wage credit was decided on July 31, and lawmakers from both sides of the aisle were seen at events for Save MI Tips, the organization campaigning for a legislative solution to keeping the pay structure in place. But Tate told reporters the reason the bills didn’t go up was because there weren’t 56 votes.

Presumably, 53 Republicans would vote yea, with one missing, and Rep. Nate Shannon (D-Sterling Heights) sponsored one of the bills.

“Amongst Michigan’s 20,000 restaurants and nearly 500,000 workers, today will be remembered as a tragically avoidable failure of leadership by the Democratic leaders of the Michigan House and Senate,” said Justin Winslow, Michigan Restaurant and Lodging Association President in a statement.

In about nine hours after Republicans left, the Democrats passed just under 60 bills without the other caucus, including HB 6060 that reopens the closed pension systems back up to teachers and HB 4665, HB 4666 and HB 4667 that allow corrections workers, conservation officers and State Police motor carrier officers to join the Michigan State Police retirement system.

Last week, Rep. Rachel Hood (D-Grand Rapids) didn’t come to session, in the name of the Drive SAFE package that didn’t seem to be moving otherwise. Tate told reporters that he would call this strategy a “political stunt” no matter who performed it. He used words like “shameful” and “disappointing” to describe what Republicans did today.

Around 10 p.m., Rep. Reggie Miller (D-Belleville)’s HB 5333 about raising fees for dumping radioactive waste in Michigan was put on the board, and Shannon was an immediate no vote and had to be talked into seeing his name in green.

Rep. Karen Whitsett (D-Detroit)’s name was still white, and she was standing in the exit next to the rostrum. Then reporters were told she was ill and having an emergency, meaning there was no longer a quorum in the House. The clerk closed the board, leaving Shannon’s name on the record as a yea vote.

At this point in the evening, it wasn’t just Reps. Peter Herzberg (D-Westland), Tullio Liberati, JR. (D-Allen Park) and Shannon with their wool coats on. Suddenly everyone was standing up, putting coats on and picking up their bags as Aiyash let members know that there would be no further voting, and the House was adjourned. 

Hall quickly emerged onto the House floor, perhaps the only legislator in the room with a smile on his face.

“Tate is a failed leader who can’t bring people together,” Hall said.