Will The Last Week Of Lame Duck Be The Quietest Yet?

Many controversial bills have died quiet deaths, but a handful of big issues remain.

State House

Jake Neher/WDET

The lame duck session is quickly drawing to a close in Lansing. With only a few days left, lawmakers are evaluating their priorities before the end of the year. 

At the top of the list for the House and Senate is legislation that would overhaul Michigan’s energy policy. The legislation is currently in the House where lawmakers have been mulling it over since November.

Republican House spokesperson Gideon D’Assandro said the House plans to keep working on the energy bills over the next few days.

He said, “We’re working on some changes probably, but still talking to people about what they would like to see in that package.”

Aside from energy, D’Assandro said it could be a quiet week.

“You know right now it looks like a quieter week because we got most of the big issues done earlier in the year,” he said. “But at this point you know anything could come up.”

In the Senate, the priority will be helping the House move the energy legislation, said Republican Senate Amber McCann. But other than that they will focus on bills important to individual senators. 

“In terms of what will take up the majority of our days in the legislature this week, it will be a lot of priorities that have come out of our respective members’ districts,” she said. “Things they have heard about from their constituents.”  

Some of those issues could include limiting how much land the state can buy and bills to regulate the skilled trades. Bills that would also increase voter identification regulations passed through the House and are currently in a Senate committee.

Here’s an update as of 11:37 a.m. on Tuesday:

Author

  • Cheyna Roth is the co-host and creator of WDET's state politics podcast, MichMash. She has been an audio journalist for almost a decade, covering major events like presidential elections, college scandals, the Michigan Legislature and more, appearing on NPR and across Michigan public radio stations. Cheyna is also a senior producer and podcast host for Slate.com, having produced and hosted shows like Political Gabfest, The Waves, and What Next TBD. Also an author, Cheyna has written two true crime books and her written work has appeared in Broadly, Slate, and MLive, among others.