The Headlines
“House Has Yet To Present 98 Bills”*
“House Axing 5 Committees, Adding 2 Others”*
“Michigan House GOP leader on FOIA reform: ‘Don’t get your hopes up’”
*These are Gongwer articles behind a paywall, but you probably get the idea.
We’ve seen these kinds of headlines before, and the news coming out of the Michigan legislature this week has been confusing at best. Meanwhile, VNP is starting the year off strong and we are already building up our community of supporters to prepare for future actions this year.
I’ll explain further in the details, but suffice to say, if the first days of 2025 are any indication, our best bet to see real pro-democracy work get done this year is if the people of Michigan take action.
The Details
Legislative Update
- Unfortunately, the legislative chaos we witnessed at the end of 2024 has followed the House into the new year.
- 100 bills that were passed before the end of session in December were finally presented to Governor Whitmer for signing this week, an unprecedented delay which raised questions about the validity of these bills and the timing of their effect.
- Nine other bills that were passed by both the Michigan House and Michigan Senate and enrolled were not sent to the governor’s desk. According to Gongwer, “there is no recent precedent for a legislative house to wait on presenting bills beyond the start of the next Legislature”
- Senate Democrats have re-introduced the bipartisan FOIA expansion package as SB 1, their first piece of legislation of the new session.
- Among several other bills, like the transformative Michigan VRA, passed by the MI senate, the FOIA expansion died when house Republicans walked out, house Dems fell apart and the Lame Duck session adjourned early, unexpectedly, and disappointingly.
- House GOP leadership has said that progress on FOIA reform will likely not be a priority for them. New House Speaker Matt Hall’s exact words were “You’re not going to see fast action on the FOIA stuff from me in the House. You’re just not.”
- I’m frankly alarmed about the House majority’s decision to rename the House Elections committee to “Elections Integrity”, a completely unnecessary and ridiculous change that reflects the destructive anti-voter sentiment that persists among the Michigan GOP, despite voters’ strong support of Michigan’s recent election improvements like early voting.
Community Drives Collective Action
- The true power behind VNP has always been the people who drive this organization: the thousands of volunteers and supporters who donate their time and resources toward collective action.
- For over eight years now, our community of volunteers and supporters has been a sought-after conduit for motivated citizens to drive transformative change in our government.
- Now we are hosting our annual series of in-person regional volunteer meetings, just like we did in early 2017 at the beginning of our campaign to end gerrymandering. During these meetings, we’ll be fortifying our volunteer teams, strategizing, and focusing on how to best support our army of concerned and motivated citizens to prepare for collective action.
- We’re also hosting two policy-focused conversations because we know how important collaboration is when it comes to developing policy that supports all Michiganders.
- On January 14, we’ll be discussing policies to reform ethics and transparency standards for our state government, a long-championed policy of VNP.
- On January 23, we’ll be discussing campaign finance reforms, the options available to us in Michigan, and what we can learn from other states.
- All of this foundational work to build community and hone policy will set VNP on the path toward effective collective action in 2025, just as it has in past years.
What’s Next
By the end of last year, it had become fairly clear to me that we would not be able to rely on the state legislature to pass the kind of transformational pro-democracy reforms that our supporters demand. We hope that this new legislature is serious about representing the will of their constituents. Our conversations across the state make clear that the people want a government that truly represents them and is dedicated to solving their real-life problems.
I’ve been hearing from many of our supporters over the last few weeks and months, and despite the disappointment, fear, and frustration many of us are still feeling, I also hear the excitement and determination that drove us to achieving transformational change back in 2018. And I’m certain that those feelings, combined with the power of this revitalized community, will be able to create generational change for Michigan’s democracy.
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