Lansing — Unless Republicans pitch in votes, Michigan House and Senate Democrats will not have enough members Wednesday to pass any legislation as two Detroit Democrats — a senator and a representative — say they will not show up to session while urban priorities are being derailed in the chambers.
The developments suggested majority Democrats might have to either use House rules to force members to come to the Capitol or risk their two-year term in power ending with a policy collapse.
State Sen. Sylvia Santana, D-Detroit, said Wednesday morning she will not attend legislative session in Lansing. Her announcement came hours after state Rep. Karen Whitsett, D-Detroit, confirmed Tuesday night that she would not attend House session until a list of demands are met by Democratic leadership.
“I will not be in attendance to vote for the governor’s corporate welfare agenda while Democrats ignore priorities that impact urban communities,” Santana told The Detroit News in a text message. “We have supported a progressive agenda only to have Black community agenda set aside until the last hours of TRI-fecta.”
Trifecta is the term for the Democrats’ control of the House, Senate and governor’s office the last two years for the first time in nearly 40 years. That comes to an end at year’s end after Republicans reclaimed the House majority in the Nov. 5 election.
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Whitsett said Tuesday, in order for her to attend session, she would need to see votes to retain the tipped wage, alter paid sick leave laws, solidify a road funding plan, and pass a water affordability package. She said she’d also like to see movement on legislation creating a public safety trust fund, which is on Wednesday’s Senate agenda.
“I’m staying home for my constituents,” Whitsett said. “We’re not going to be voting on garbage bills that do nothing for our community and have a negative impact.”
The Michigan House rules include a provision that allows the House speaker to dispatch the House’s sergeant-at-arms to bring absent lawmakers to session. So far, House Speaker Joe Tate, D-Detroit, has declined to use that power.
During a press conference Wednesday, Rep. Tyrone Carter, D-Detroit, questioned what it would look like having House sergeants “going out and getting 55 to 60 members when they don’t show up.”
However, House Speaker Pro Tem Laurie Pohutsky, D-Livonia, a member of Tate’s leadership, acknowledged that she’s advocated for Tate to act under the rule.
“And I am not the only one,” Pohutsky said. “He is the Speaker of the House. That is his decision to make.”
Tate expressed hesitance to use a call of the House on Friday, when Republicans boycotted session over the tipped wage and sick leave issues. He said he didn’t want to engage in political games with the GOP.
On Wednesday, Whitsett reiterated her refusal to come in and said she would also need guarantees from Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer that she would sign water affordability and public safety legislation. Whitsett believes the governor would veto the bills; the governor’s office did not immediately return a message Wednesday morning seeking comment.
Among the bills Santana would like guarantees of final passage on are certain expansions of criminal expungements, the creation of a legislative corrections ombudsman and a requirement that inmates’ addresses are recorded as their home address in census data so they are considered by their hometown during the redistricting process.
The absences of Santana and Whitsett leave the House and Senate without the needed majorities to get Democratic legislation across the finish line without Republican help. In the Senate, 20 votes are needed to pass a bill, but Democrats will only have 19; in the House, 56 votes are needed to pass a bill, but Democrats will only have 55.
Additionally, House Republicans said Tuesday they would not be attending session in protest of the majority’s continued refusal to take a vote on changes to new tipped wage and paid sick leave laws.
Attorney General Dana Nessel, in a Facebook post Wednesday morning, suggested the lawmakers could be guilty of willful neglect of their duties as elected officials, a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in prison and a $1,000 fine.
“What Rep. Whitsett and the MI House Republicans have chosen to do today is literally criminal,” Nessel wrote on Facebook, about two hours before Santana also said she would skip session.
Tate in response to Whitsett’s demands Tuesday, said through a spokeswoman: “We are preparing for a session day tomorrow.”
The shrinking chamber comes as a backlog of bills passed during an overnight Senate session last week awaits final votes in the House in the final two days of lame duck. Thursday’s House agenda has more than 50 bills listed, including two that would expand public record laws to the governor and Legislature’s office.
The refusals to attend session appear fluid and dependent on Tate’s willingness to put long-sought legislation on the board. Whitsett’s demands also have changed from Monday.
Whitsett initially said Monday that she would not attend session Wednesday unless the Legislature advanced a supplemental spending bill that includes money for each of the 110 House districts.
The request appears unrealistic given the state has a relatively slim balance of tax revenue that has not already been appropriated for the fiscal year: $200 million in the general fund and $10.5 million in the school aid fund, according to the House Fiscal Agency.
Whitsett and other Democrats on Monday spoke against Tate’s leadership, calling him a “failed” speaker who sometimes stood in the way of Democratic policy and did not communicate enough with his caucus.
Tate called the criticism “counterproductive.”
“We are here to do a job,” Tate said in a statement. “Last week, the Republican caucus walked off the job — they are looking to play party politics. I don’t want to play games. I don’t want infighting. I want to do my job, which is serving the people of Michigan.”
Amid the Wednesday morning chaos at the Capitol, Carter, a Tate ally, held an impromptu press conference to defend Tate’s performance as speaker, noting he can’t force any lawmaker to vote a certain way.
“This is not football where (Lions coach) Dan Campbell can say, ‘Either run these plays, or I’m going to cut you,'” Carter said. “We came in with a 56, on paper, majority. … But we quickly discovered that everybody doesn’t have that team mentality. And I think that’s probably what has hurt the speaker more than anything.”
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