Michigan Democrats have regained the House after a Tuesday special election.
The wins give Democrats a 56-54 House majority from the victories of Peter Herzberg and Mai Xiong in the 13th and 25th state House districts.
Read More
House Republican Leader Matt Hall urged House Speaker Joe Tate, D-Detroit, to pass reform to records requests during Sunshine Week, which celebrates government transparency.
Sunshine Week, observed this year from March 10-16, highlights the need for transparency and accountability at all levels of government.
Read More
The Michigan House will be deadlocked 54-54 after two Democratic House members won local mayoral races.
After Reps. Lori Stone of Warren and Kevin Coleman of Westland won their respective mayoral races, House Democrats will still craft legislative agendas but won’t have the votes required to enact legislation without Republican votes until a special session is called to fill those seats.
Read More
The Democrat-dominated Michigan House passed two sales and use tax bills critics say are unnecessary and will confuse business owners.
House Bills 4377 and 4378 passed on votes of 56-53. The bills cover prepared food either sold in a heated state or heated by the seller or that is two or more food ingredients that are mixed or combined by the seller for sale as a single item.
Read More
The Michigan House approved six bills to boost union membership that critics say would prioritize union politics before the quality of education.
House Bill 4357 aims to allow school districts to deduct automatically union dues from teacher salaries.
Read More
The Michigan House approved a trio of bills that aim to require hands-free cellphone use.
The goal is to reduce distracted driving and fatalities.
Read More
The Michigan House on Tuesday voted to repeal right-to-work, reinstate the prevailing wage, and trash the state’s A-F grading system for public schools.
The Democrat-dominated House approved Senate Bill 34 on a vote of 65-52. The bill aims to allow unions to require workers to pay dues to a labor organization as a condition of obtaining or continuing employment. The Senate approved the bill last week to repeal the policy enacted in 2012 by former Republican Gov. Rick Snyder.
Read More
The Michigan House approved a $1.3 billion spending bill with about half going to a planned Ford electric vehicle battery plant in Marshall.
The House voted 59-49 on House Bill 4016, which the Senate approved a day prior.
Read More
Michigan House lawmakers voted 56-53 on House Bill 4001, which aims to provide some tax relief, but also block an automatic, permanent tax break for all Michiganders triggered by an influx of money in state coffers.
The package would increase the earned income tax credit from 6% to 30%, reduce taxes on public and private pensions, and possibly provide a $180 check to Michigan tax filers.
Read More
Although she thinks it’s only a “start,” Gov. Gretchen Whitmer applauded the bipartisan budget passed Thursday night by the Michigan House of Representatives.
The House voted to pass the budget before the July 1 deadline, and includes the governor’s proposal to implement the largest increase in K-12 public school spending in the state’s history. Whitmer’s office claims the $16.7 billion in school expenditures will “close the gap between the lowest- and highest-funded school districts for the first time since the goal was introduced in 1994.”
Read More
Just 14 months after the COVID-19 pandemic began, the Michigan House approved a bill that requires the government reimburse private businesses for COVID-19 fines based on restrictions that were found unconstitutional.
The vote was 74-34.
Read More
The Michigan House unanimously passed a flurry of bipartisan bills seeking to reform the state’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by including the governor and legislature under the new Legislative Open Records Act (LORA).
The House passed the package during “Sunshine Week,” which celebrates government transparency, and after reporters used FOIA to expose Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration gifting $253,000 in secret, taxpayer-funded severance packages.
The bill package is virtually identical to bills introduced in the 2015-16, 2017-8, and the 2019-20 legislative session other than technical changes and effective dates.
Those packages all failed.
Read More
On Wednesday, the Michigan House passed over $4 billion of COVID-19 recovery spending that ties over $1 billion of the funding to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer relinquishing the pandemic powers she’s held for nearly a year.
Federal funding comprises about $3.4 billion of the funds.
Read More
The Michigan House and Senate Oversight Committees are assuming authority to issue subpoenas, administer oaths and examine books and records related to the 2020 election.
The committees immediately proceeded to issue subpoenas to election clerks in Detroit and Livonia. Detroit Clerk Janice Winfrey and Livonia Clerk Susan Nash have until the end of business on Jan. 12 to turn over documents pertaining to their respective elections.
Read More
The Michigan Senate voted to reject Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s appointment of former Grand Rapids Mayor George Heartwell to lead the Natural Resources Commission last week.
Read More
Michigan House Democrats have introduced a bill that would ban the practice of declawing cats in the state.
Read More
Michigan House Democrats have introduced a slate of bills to provide what they describe as “much-needed updates to the sexual education curriculum” taught in the state’s public schools.
Read More
State Rep. Rebekah Warren (D-Ann Arbor) pleaded guilty Tuesday to operating a vehicle while intoxicated, a lower charge than she initially faced.
Read More
A bill making its way through the Michigan House seeks to tighten the state’s definition of terrorism after a Lake Superior State University student was charged for posting a picture of his AR-15 on Snapchat.
Read More
House Republicans are sponsoring a resolution that would declare Michigan a “Second Amendment sanctuary state.”
Read More
Michigan Republicans said they are committed to working with the governor to avoid more budget drama, but expressed a number of concerns with her new budget proposal.
Read More
A Michigan Democrat filed a sexual harassment complaint Tuesday against State Sen. Peter Lucido (R-Shelby Township) just a week after he was accused of making “sexist” and “belittling” comments towards a female reporter.
Read More
A Michigan bill that would require every executive branch department and division to post the salary and benefit information of their employees unanimously cleared its first hurdle Thursday. House Bill 5015 easily cleared the House Oversight Committee and is now on its way to the House Ways and Means…
Read More
Michigan’s state income tax was raised in 2007 in what was supposed to be a temporary fix, but it ended up being permanent. More than a decade later, one Republican state lawmaker plans to change that.
Read More
The Michigan Bureau of Elections announced Friday that a group seeking to recall Rep. Larry Inman (R-Grand Traverse County) from office did not submit enough valid signatures, officially ending the months-long effort.
Read More
The new self-service stations being installed across Michigan will allow customers to complete their transactions in Spanish or Arabic, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson announced.
Read More
The Michigan Supreme Court allowed a recall effort against Rep. Larry Inman (R-Grand Traverse County) to move forward in a Monday decision, quickly reversing a lower court’s decision.
Read More
A Michigan Democratic lawmaker spent Thursday night in jail after being arrested for suspected drunken driving.
Read More
A group seeking to recall Michigan Rep. Larry Inman (R-Grand Traverse County) plans to take its case to the Michigan Court of Appeals after the state’s Bureau of Elections rejected the group’s recall petition because it contained a typo.
Read More
A federal judge has ordered Michigan House Speaker Lee Chatfield (R-Levering) to testify in the trial of a fellow Republican lawmaker set to begin next week.
Read More
A bipartisan group of former lawmakers filed a lawsuit last week in an effort to overturn Michigan’s “draconian” term limits law.
Read More
Michigan State Rep. Steve Johnson (R-72) recently introduced a resolution calling on the National Park Service to establish a moose tag lottery hunt on Isle Royale National Park in an effort to help control the island’s exploding moose population.
Read More
New texts have been revealed in the case of Michigan State Rep. Larry Inman (R-Traverse City), who was indicted earlier in May on charges of extortion, bribery and lying to a federal agent. The texts back up claims that Inman had attempted to sell his vote.
Read More