At noon on New Year’s Day, Democrats will control all branches of state government.
Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s inauguration to a second term will take place early on a bright Sunday morning. I was a sober Sally on New Year’s Eve to let his MLive provide a recap of all the festivities whenever and wherever he was awake.
It will be the first time since 1983 that Democrats will control both houses of Congress. They have a long wish list of policy changes, and political observers are very interested in how their priorities are laid out.
Senate reporter Alyssa Barr on MLive spoke with incoming Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks for a little insight into what will top the agenda in early 2023. In the House, Democrats are affordable. Whitmer said he wanted to strengthen LGBTQ protections and laws to reduce gun violence, expand the income tax credit and eliminate taxes on retirement income altogether. I hope
This does not mean that policymaking has come to a halt in the weeks following the Democrats’ overwhelming victory in the November elections.
The Republican-led Congress is still holding relatively low-key lame-duck sessions, and one congressional session in the middle of the night was clearly flooded with bills. However, Whitmer did not offer any assurances about the law that had not been negotiated with her office in advance.
Alyssa and House reporter Jordyn Hermani published a rundown of all the major legislative desks that crossed Whitmer’s desk at the end of 2022. She passed 278 bills this year.
It included:
- First signing of more than 20 bills, including the first state-funded veterans cemetery, renewal of low-income home heating assistance, and more.
- Expansion of tuition-free college programs in Michigan.
- Among the 11 vetoes were changes to Michigan’s marijuana regulations that would ease restrictions aimed at conflicts of interest, and another package that tightened controls over retirement plan debt payments for civil servants. .
- Whitmer signed legislation to incorporate Michigan mental health professionals into multi-state compacts, allowing other states to implement telemedicine and limited in-person services. Patients are compact and can also receive care from other states.
- An expansion of Detroit’s Huntington Center and free QLine rides capped the year to prevent medical facilities from completely blocking patient visits 30 days after the pandemic was declared.
- Also, in case you missed it last week, a major shift in Michigan’s recycling system was also signed into law.
A vacancy on Michigan State’s board of directors was also filled by the end of the year, with bank executive Sandy Pierce filling the seat left by the resigning Pat O’Keeffe. (For what it’s worth, she donated $2,500 to Whitmer’s campaign for this election — not a lot, considering the total $38 million she raised.)
In another sprint toward the finish line, a Jan. 6 committee of the US House of Representatives is making a last-minute push to wrap up its work investigating the attack on the US Capitol, and in doing so, some publishes records from key figures in Interview on the way.
I have already outlined the role played by Michigan’s former legislative leader at the time. But records released last week offer additional insight into how central Michigan was escalating an election fraud conspiracy that ultimately led to violent riots in the seats of the U.S. government. Offers.
And in the transcript released in an interview with outgoing Senate Majority Leader Mike Sharkey, there was another revelation. Sharkey was repeatedly pressured by key figures in a plan to replace representatives of Michigan’s Electoral College with a slate of votes. for Trump, despite then-candidate Joe Biden’s 154,000-vote victory.
If that wasn’t enough, state cybersecurity officials are now considering whether TikTok, a hugely popular social media platform, could pose a threat to state government devices.
The review, first reported by MLive, comes amid growing concerns about the company’s data practices and the banning of apps from state-issued phones by 19 other state governments. Republicans in the Michigan legislature have asked Whitmer to consider forcing state officials to remove her TikTok from personal phones.
