This story has been updated to include additional information.
The Detroit chapter of the NAACP is calling for the Michigan House of Representatives to be reconvened before the end of this year’s legislative session on Dec. 31 to finish voting on key legislation.
In an angrily written statement from the NAACP, the Rev. Wendell Anthony, president of the Detroit chapter, chastised those who missed legislative sessions last week and demanded the House reconvene. The NAACP joins others angered by the House’s sudden adjournment Thursday.
“Staying at home when you should be at work, hanging out in the halls or in a secure office when you should be doing the work for the people is shameful politics,” his statement reads. “You are in fact suppressing the rights of the people to be heard.”
On Thursday, after a tumultuous week of walkouts and absences, House Democrats adjourned with no plans for further voting.
House Republicans and a lone Democrat, state Rep. Karen Whitsett of Detroit, failed to attend sessions last week, walking out in protest.
The Republicans walked out together, anticipating House Democrats would put up for a vote bills meant to preserve the tipped minimum wage in Michigan for servers and bartenders.
Whitsett skipped Wednesday and Thursday for different reasons, telling reporters earlier this week that she left because she felt legislation on the table had been rushed.
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In the plea for the Legislature to return to Lansing, the NAACP floated the use of Joint Rule 15, a facet of the Joint Rules of the Michigan Senate and House that grants the Senate majority leader and the House speaker, acting together, the power to convene either chamber of the Legislature at any time in case of an emergency.
“In a final plea before the year ends, we respectfully call upon Speaker of the House Joe Tate and Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks to exercise their power and call the House back to session per Joint Rule 15,” the statement says.
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“Power means nothing if you don’t exercise it,” Anthony said in the statement. “Leaving bills stacked on the table when they should be voted on, passed, and signed into law is your job undone.”
“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,” Anthony said.
He noted that next year — when Republicans take control of the state House — is “a whole new political game.”
By adjourning with many key items still awaiting votes, House Democrats angered and disappointed some of their biggest advocates, beyond the NAACP.
Among the bills left on the table, were Senate-passed legislation banning “ghost guns” and bump stocks for firearms; bills to crack down on tobacco and nicotine sales to minors; bills to expand water affordability and crack down on mass polluters; and legislation to create pathways to obtaining state identification cards for undocumented individuals.
And although legislation to prevent the eventual elimination of Michigan’s tipped wage was also being championed by Republicans, some Democratic lawmakers had said there was a need to act before pending changes to Michigan’s wage laws take place in February.
Breaking news reporter Liam Rappleye can be reached at LRappleye@freepress.com.
