(Source: MIRS.news, Published 01/06/2025) As far as the House is concerned, there's a new sheriff in town in 2025 and the plan is to be in session … a lot.  

In the face of a trend of vanishing session dates, the House Republican majority announced last week it hopes to meet at least twice every week from now until July 1, except for a two-week spring recess in April.  

If they succeed in having a quorum every day they've planned to hold session, the House will be in town 64 days in the first half of 2025. For all of 2024, the House managed a quorum on 55 days, only one day off the historic 72-year low set in 2022. 

"We want to send a message that the Republicans are here to work and hit the ground running," said House Majority Floor Leader Bryan Posthumus (R-Rockford). "The session calendar was aggressive, so people know we were here for a purpose."  

Posthumus said his goal is to minimize the number of "no-voting, no-attendance" days out of respect for session staff, who are required to work regardless of whether the lawmakers are there or not.  

These types of days have become increasingly common in the House and the Senate. In the House, out of 99 session days in 2023, nearly a quarter were "no-voting, no-attendance" days. For the Senate, 20 of its 102 session days fell into this category.  

From 1999-2018, the House averaged seven "no-voting, no-attendance" days and 110 days of active session days with a quorum.  

From 2019-2024, the House averaged 29.5 "no-voting, no-attendance" days and 71 days of active session days with a quorum.  

By comparison, from 1999-2018, the Senate averaged six "no-voting, no-attendance" days and 91 days of active session days with a quorum.  

From 2019-2024, the Senate averaged 21 days of "no-voting no-attendance" days and 80 days of active session days with a quorum.  

A pdf listing the active session days from 1947-2022 is here. For 2023, the House had a quorum 76 days and no quorum 23 days. For 2024, it was 55 days of a quorum and 34 without.   

For the Senate, in 2023, it was 82 days with a quorum and 20 without. In 2024, it was 69 days with a quorum and 42 without.  

The continuation of fewer session days came at a time in which Democrats held a rare trifecta in 2023-24 when it had the Governor's office and both chambers of the Legislature. 

Since 1854, when the Republican Party began, the Democrats have held a trifecta for only seven years (1891-92, 1933-34, 1983, 2023-24).