Insider Intelligence

In the previous blog post we highlighted the policy events of the past two years.  In addition to the active session in terms of legislation, there were quite a few shake ups to the membership of the legislature.  Throughout the past two years, the legislature has lost seven members between the two chambers.  Former Senator […]

The legislature addressed many major issues in the 2015-2016 session.  Some they were able to complete and others an agreement was never struck amongst the caucuses and chambers.  In the past two years, the House introduced 2,113 bills, while the Senate introduced 1,192 bills.  Many of the bills never saw any movement, including committee hearings […]

On Tuesday, House Democratic Leader-elect, Representative Sam Singh (D-East Lansing) announced his leadership team for the 99th Legislative Session beginning in January.  Below are the members he has selected as part of the leadership team for the caucus: Representative Vanessa Guerra (D-Saginaw) – assistant House Democratic Caucus Leader Representative-elect Darrin Camilleri (D-Brownstown Township) – assistant […]

This week, House Majority Floor Leader-elect, Dan Lauwers (R-Brockway), released the session schedule for 2017.  The first session day of the new term will be held on Wednesday, January 11.  Beginning January 17 through June 22, the House will hold session Tuesday – Thursday, with the exception of their two-week spring break in the beginning […]

On Thursday, the Michigan House and Senate wrapped up their final session day for the 2015-2016 legislative term.  At the end of the month the legislature will adjourn sine die.  At that time, all legislation will die, except those bills that have already been passed by both chambers and are awaiting final consideration from Governor […]

This week, the House passed legislation requiring photo identification when casting a ballot.  Under the legislation as passed, if a voter does not have photo ID when attempting to vote, they will be given a provisional ballot.  Within ten days they must go to their local clerk’s office to show their identification.  Along with the […]

This week, the House Elections Committee reported a bill requiring that the full cost of a vote recount be covered by the individual requesting the recount.  Under the legislation as reported by the committee, a candidate requesting a statewide recount for an election that resulted in more than a 5% difference between the winning candidate […]

For the remainder of the legislative term, Speaker Kevin Cotter (R-Mount Pleasant) has made replacement committee assignments to fill the committee vacancies created by the resignation of former Representative Kurt Heise (R-Plymouth Township).  Below are the new assignments: Speaker-elect Representative Tom Leonard (R-DeWitt Townships), Chairman of the Criminal Justice Committee Representative Aric Nesbitt (R-Lawton), member […]