Category: Capitol News

By Mary Pollock The legislature remained adjourned during July while news outlets reported snippets of information about quiet budget talks among legislative and executive branch leaders. Each chamber has passed a proposed budget, but a single budget has not been adopted for presentation to the Governor. The Senate says it will return August 26 and… Read more

By Mary Pollock For the last 8 years, the GOP-led Michigan legislature finished the budget in mid-June, the Republican Governor signed it promptly, and everyone left for the summer. This year with a GOP-led legislature and a Democratic Governor disagreeing on budget priorities, school districts, public universities, community colleges and local governments whose fiscal years… Read more

By Bob Kopasz FRIDAY AUGUST 2, 2019 SERA COORDINATING COUNCIL TO BE HOSTED BY LAKE SUPERIOR SERA CHAPTER #9 IN MARQUETTE, MI Arrangements have been made to have the Friday, August 2 SERA Coordinating Council meeting to be held in Marquette, Michigan. Lake Superior Chapter# 9 will be hosting the event. On Thursday evening (August… Read more

By Mary Pollock May saw continued movement of appropriation bills, conclusive activity on auto no-fault insurance reform, and the legislative and executive branch leadership decamping to Mackinac Island for the annual Detroit Chamber of Commerce Mackinac Policy Conference. AUTO NO-FAULT INSURANCE PASSES Following decades of efforts led by the auto insurance industry to end mandatory… Read more

By Mary Pollock The Governor is still traveling the state touting her budget and policy priorities; the GOP-led legislative appropriation committees are moving their bills without her 45 cent gas tax increase, and a federal court decision rocked the capitol this month. ILLEGAL GERRYMANDER On April 25, a three-judge federal panel held that Michigan Republicans’ redistricting in… Read more

By Mary Pollock The Michigan Legislature was on spring recess for two weeks in late March and early April giving Governor Whitmer extra time to travel the state and pitch her proposed budget and policy priorities. FY 20 BUDGET UPDATE Since the roll-out of her proposed 45 cent gas tax increase, Governor Whitmer has coaxed… Read more

By Mary Pollock Highlights since our last report are the Governor’s budget presentation, hearings on pension tax repeal, and legislative committees finally beginning to move from orientation mode to hearings on actual bills. FY 2020 BUDGET INTRODUCED Governor Gretchen Whitmer and State Budget Director Chris Kolb outlined the Fiscal Year 2020 Executive Budget Recommendation to a joint… Read more

By Mary Pollock Because of the polar vortex visiting Michigan just after Martin Luther King Day, all three branches of state government were either shut down or operating with fewer staff for several days during January thus slowing down the pace of state governance. A NEW GOVERNMENT Governor’s Office — Taking hold of state government by… Read more

By Mary Pollock Happy New Year and welcome to the beginning of a new legislative session, the 100th Legislature in Michigan history, with a new Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, and many other new faces in Lansing. But first let’s recap what happened during 2018 Lame Duck, the most prolific legislatively in Michigan history.… Read more