What a mess.
That was the consensus surrounding the fiasco that unfolded Wednesday at the Capitol where neither the House, nor the Senate passed any bills after one Democrat in each chamber chose to stay away in protest, leading to uncertainty surrounding what would happen Thursday.
All that was certain Wednesday night, with two weeks remaining until Democratic control of the House ends and Republicans assume the majority on January 1 is that the Senate will gavel in at 10 a.m. Thursday and the House two hours later at noon.
Whether the Senate will have all 20 Democrats present and the House all 56 Democrats in attendance was not clear.
Rep. Karen Whitsett (D-Detroit), who stayed home Wednesday, told Gongwer News Service just before 5 p.m. that she had received assurances there would be votes on her priorities Thursday and would attend with a police escort. But not long afterward, word began to spread Whitsett had changed her mind. She told Gongwer just after 7 p.m. and again about 8:30 p.m. that House Democratic leadership deceived her, and now she plans to stay home Thursday (see separate story).
So fluid and unpredictable was the situation that about 8:30 p.m., as one source told Gongwer News Service they had solid information she had changed her mind and would attend, Whitsett told a Gongwer reporter no, she wasn’t going to be at the Capitol on Thursday.
House Republicans have walked out of session to protest House Speaker Joe Tate’s (D-Detroit) refusal to put bills up for votes that would preserve a lower minimum wage for tipped workers and soften some of the new requirements in the paid sick time law. It appears they will again stay away from the House Chamber on Thursday. They have instead scheduled press conferences across the state to discuss their demand for action to keep the lower tipped minimum wage.
Restaurant owners and many tipped workers have warned that if the law takes effect and brings them up to the regular minimum wage, there will be severe consequences, both in restaurants closing and in patrons reducing tips as menu prices rise.
A Whitsett absence, combined with no House Republicans present, would leave the House again without a quorum. Speculation was rampant Wednesday the House was near giving up and adopting a sine die adjournment resolution for the year (purportedly enough Republican members are available to walk into the chamber solely for the purpose of providing a quorum so a sine die adjournment resolution could be gaveled through).
Should a lack of quorum again occur Thursday, that talk will kick into especially high gear. It is the House’s last scheduled voting session day of the year.
It was Sen. Sylvia Santana (D-Detroit) not attending Wednesday’s session that staggered Democrats and stakeholders hoping to see their bills clear the Legislature because it was so unanticipated.
Speculation about Santana’s status for Thursday was rampant Wednesday evening. Several sources said they anticipated she would attend, but there was also no official word from her. Santana did not respond to messages.
That leaves five potential scenarios for Thursday:
• All 56 House Democrats, including Whitsett, and all 20 Senate Democrats, including Santana, are in attendance, and both chambers will try to pass as many bills as they can for as long as they can. The House has 83 bills on its tentative agenda (including 14 sponsored by Santana, which seemed not coincidental).
• Whitsett stays home and deprives the House of a quorum, leaving the House unable to conduct business. House Democrats raise the white flag and adopt a sine die adjournment resolution to set the date when the Legislature will formally adjourn for the year. Senate Democrats swallow hard and decide to send as many House bills as they can to the governor to move as much policy as they can before Democratic control in the House ends. The Senate has 60 House bills on its tentative agenda that if it passes in identical form to how they passed the House can to the governor.
• Whitsett is absent, the House folds. The Senate, furious at the House’s dysfunction and mindful of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer saying the Legislature should not expect her to sign any bills if they don’t pass a road funding solution or economic development bill, decides to close up shop too, letting the House bills die.
• Similar to Wednesday, a punt. House and Senate Democrats, unwilling to let the term end in catastrophe, schedule another session day or even declare there will be voting at the sine die session, which has happened before, in 2002.
• A wild card theory advanced by some House Republicans, one that seems highly unlikely: The House and Senate adjourn sine die, and then Whitmer calls the Legislature into a special session and chooses the agenda. What this would achieve, other than more of the same problems and adding the new one of limiting the agenda to keep members engaged, was unclear. A Legislature is under no obligation to pass anything in a special session.
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Sen. Sam Singh (D-East Lansing), the majority floor leader, spoke to reporters briefly in his ground-floor office following session as to the status of proceedings.
“We are going to take one day at a time, and we’re coming in tomorrow to do the work of the people,” Singh said.
Singh repeated his “coming in tomorrow to do the work of the people” comment in response to repeated queries from reporters, including whether there were any plans for meeting next Monday, if the Senate plans to move House bills without changes, and whether he expects any further legislation to get to the governor’s desk.
Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Sen. Sarah Anthony (D-Lansing) was asked following a committee hearing Wednesday about Santana’s absence from session and Appropriations. Anthony said she had not spoken to her directly Wednesday.
“She’s a respected member of our caucus, and she’s not wrong in terms of wanting to make sure that priorities that impact the Black community are uplifted, so I think the discussions around making sure that we’re lifting up those priorities are good ones, but I have always had the expectation that as a member of this body that I show up to work,” she said.
Anthony said many of the priorities are not specific to the Black community, but many of them would uplift working people and by extension marginalized communities. She said policies like capping payday loans “are small, commonsense things that make a real difference for people, just to get ahead.”
Just before 3 p.m. Wednesday, as the House prepared to adjourn, House Democratic spokesperson Jess Travers said the caucus was “hopeful that members will show up for work” on Thursday.
As the night concluded, there did not appear much reason to hold onto that hope.
– By Zach Gorchow; Elena Durnbaugh and Nick Smith contributed
