In a lame duck for the history books, wrought with attendance issues, filibuster attempts and public scrutiny of how lawmakers have navigated the steep partisan divides in Michigan politics, the Michigan Senate broke the record for its longest session ever at 29 hours, adjourning for the year.

It’s been a week since Republicans in the state House walked out of session amidst the Democratic majority’s inaction on bills to preserve tipped wages and amend earned sick leave, which were put forward at the behest of members of the business community. Republicans have stood alongside members of the service industry protesting the phasing out of tipped wages to equate minimum wage and new mandates on paid sick leave after the Michigan Supreme Court outlined changes this summer.

Joined later by Democratic Rep. Karen Whitsett, D-Detroit, who refused to show up for session, the House could not rally votes this week and after two days of lawmakers unable to hold a quorum, the Michigan state House adjourned Thursday.

The Michigan Senate was nearly in a similar situation after Sen. Sylvia Santana said on Facebook that she would not be in attendance to vote on what she called “the Governor’s corporate welfare agenda while Democrats ignore priorities that impact urban communities.” She later said that she would attend to advocate for legislation that supports the needs of her constituents, but added that “If the Democratic Party is truly committed to the Black community, they must make every effort to advance an agenda that addresses and improves our communities, just as they have done for others.”

Over the course of 29 hours, starting mid-day Thursday, Senate Democrats used the last moments of the bicameral Democrat majority to pass bills before House Republicans take the majority in January. These bills will now head to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s desk for her signature.

After the session, Whitmer issued a statement focusing on the positive elements of the Democrats bicameral majority.

“With a Democratic majority for the first time in 40 years, together we cut taxes by $1 billion for working families and seniors, secured good paying jobs and investments that grow the economy, and saw record low unemployment rates,” said Whitmer. “We worked to lower costs by making record investments in education, including free school breakfast and lunch for every public-school student, expanded access to free preschool, and invested in housing so more people have an affordable, safe place to call home.”

In contrast, NAACP Detroit Branch President the Rev. Dr. Wendell Anthony said the failures of the lame duck session could not be ignored.

“My grandmother had a house rule, ‘Don’t leave the table until you finish eating everything on your plate.’ Members of the legislative body and others in power, you left the Voting Rights Act, police accountability and reform, Black maternal health care, election misinformation, charter school reform, gun reform, minimum wage and sick leave, and certainly long-term road funding, naming only a few still on the table,” said Anthony. “This is shameful! It is a case of political malpractice. If you don’t get it right in Lansing, how can you get it right in Detroit or any other city when you have such a key opportunity?”

Regardless, the Michigan Senate pushed through a bevy of legislative priorities;

Expanding protections from hate crime

Bills to expand Michigan’s hate crime laws after more than 30 years passed the Michigan Senate along party lines after debate between Democrats and Republicans. Together, House Bills 5400 and 5401 would expand the state’s “ethnic intimidation” statute, adding sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability or age as characteristics. Under the bills if such characteristics are the basis of acts of violence, true threats or destruction of property, such actions would carry harsher criminal penalties as hate crimes.

Michigan has seen too many incidents of hate crimes in recent years, state Sen. Jeremy Moss, D-Southfield, told lawmakers during session. He added that incidents of violence and vandalism don’t always carry the same penalties as hate crimes under current law, saying that the recognition of intent to create fear is necessary when assigning the correct punishment for criminal acts.

“If somebody came up to me today and said, ‘F you, I hate all Jews’ and punched me in the face, they would get two years. If they went to my car afterwards and took a pen out of it, they would get five years,” Moss said. “There’s an imbalance there and the idea is also that a hate crime doesn’t just terrorize an individual, but it terrorizes a whole community.”

Petition reform bills

Republican lawmakers showed in full force their disapproval of House Bills 5571-5576, which would rework how Michigan handles petitions for ballot initiatives, changing how signatures for petitions are gathered and the verification process for those signatures. The bills were born out of incidents in 2022 when tens of thousands of fraudulent signatures were submitted across 10 campaigns in Michigan resulting in five Republican candidates for governor and other candidates being disqualified from being on the ballot.

Museum funding bills

After a banner year for attracting visitors in Detroit from hosting a record-breaking NFL draft to renovating Michigan Central Station, the state Senate passed the History Museum Authorities Act, which would allow the Wayne County Board of Commissioners to erect a history museum authority to provide funding to Detroit’s museums. Under House Bills 4177, 5817 and 5818, such authority could implement a new property tax for residents in the county in order to fund city-owned museums.

School Safety and Mental Health bills

With bipartisan support, as it received in the House, a school safety package cleared the Senate. House Bills 5659, 5660, 5659 and 5660 would codify a School Safety and Mental Health Commission in the state focused on improving school safety and mental health resources. The bills also mandate schools to adopt uniform terminology to create consistency for emergency responders starting in the 2026-2027 school year and create a behavior threat assessment and management team.

Regional transit

Under House Bill 6088, which passed along party lines, Wayne County and Oakland County would not be permitted to opt out of paying into local transit services. More than a dozen local municipalities don’t pay county transit property taxes via an opt out option.

Gun safety bills

Senate Democrats passed House bills 6144-6146 along party lines to mandate Michigan State Police to destroy firearms received through buyback programs, prohibiting resale in an effort that supporters say will help limit Michigan supporting the secondary gun market and ghost gun kits.

Sen. Michele Hoitenga, R-Manton, said law enforcement should be allowed to exercise authority over buyback programs adding that the state ought to trust members of law enforcement to act in the best interests of the state.

“We all want to see a reduction in violence, but the notion that destroying confiscated firearms will somehow lead to a safer society, is a liberal policy, while Democrats continue their obsession with chipping away at the Second Amendment, the focus should be on dressing the root causes of violence,” Hoitenga said.

Metro Detroit travel room assessment increase bill

House Bill 6166 would raise the fees to be levied on travel and convention centers in Metro Detroit in order to fund Visit Detroit’s marketing program. Currently a 2% fee is collected on travel and convention bureau rooms in Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb Counties. Under the bill, which passed along party lines, the fee would rise to 4% by 2031.

Met with applause was Sen. Ruth Johnson, R-Holly, who gave numerous no vote explanations throughout the session and presented a poem as her no vote explanation.

“Keep trying to raise taxes. Keep trying to raise them more

I’ll keep getting up and giving no vote explanations on the floor

Go ahead and double taxes on hotel rooms, if that’s what you choose

But I know, the longer we stay here, it’s the people of Michigan that lose

Raising taxes throughout the day and night will give all your constituents such a terrible fright

But I guess that’s how lame duck goes. But as for me, I’m going to keep voting no

And if a certain governor wants to be president, I’d stop passing bills pissing off residents.”

Sextortion bills

Senators passed legislation to specifically criminalize sexual extortion, or sextorion. House Bills 5887 and 5888 would address the issue of sextortion which public safety officials at the state and federal level have called attention to as a growing threat, particularly towards children.

Another bill in the package, House Bill 5889 was left behind. It would have instructed schools to distribute educational materials on the dangers of sexual extortion and where to find help.

The bills passed with nearly unanimous support, with Sen. Kevin Daley, R-Lum, alone casting a no vote on 5887.

Name change bills

The Senate passed bills to ease name changes and altering gender markers on government documents along party lines. The bills, House bills 5300-5303 were championed by advocates for the LGBTQ+ community, but supporters for the bills impressed upon lawmakers that the name change portion benefits anyone going through the name change process for reasons outside of marriage.

Maternal and infant mortality prevention bills

Lawmakers came together to clear bills aimed at curbing maternal and infant mortality out of the Senate. Together, House Bills 5166, 5167, 5168, 5169, 5170, 5171, 5172 and 5173 address several measures to ensure health and safety of pregnant people before and after birth and aim to promote better health outcomes for infants. The bills, which passed with bipartisan support, include expanding access to blood pressure monitors, offering mental health screenings for new parents and educating new parents on getting their babies on their insurance.

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