Updated June 15, 2023
Michigan already has a long bill list, and you know more are coming. (Last term saw 207 bill votes just for health policy.)
Bookmark your resources now to see what has gone down, and be ready for more:
Find your Michigan State Representative
- MI House Health Policy Committee
- All bills referred to this committee to date
- MI House Behavioral Health Subcommittee
- Get to know the players
- Sign up to get hearing agendas by email - House Committees & Live Broadcast Schedule
- House Video Archive
- Look up previous hearings
Find your Michigan State Senator
- MI Senate Health Policy Committee
- Get to know the players
- Sign up to get hearing agendas by email
- View documents, bills, and people who testified at previous hearings - MI Senate Committees and Recorded Archives
- Legislature Bill Search
- Read the bills, Fiscal Agency analysis, and follow the process toward becoming law
Contact Governor Gretchen Whitmer at 517-335-7858.
Know another helpful resource? Add it in the comments.
And... the balance of power changes in Lansing.
Strategy, too.
In today's email Letter from the Editor appropriately entitled, "The glory of a gridlocked Lansing," Michigan Capitol Confidential insightfully comments on what this means for freedom, including healthcare freedom.
This week the House Democrats lost their 56-54 majority when two members, Kevin Coleman of Westland, and Lori Stone of Warren, won their mayoral races.
On Monday, Coleman and Stone will take office, reducing the House to 108 members and the party split to 54-54.
On Tuesday, the legislature will adjourn for the year, a month and a half early. Rather than negotiate or share power in order to obtain the necessary 55 votes to pass a bill, House Speaker Joe Tate, D-Detroit, opted to end the year early. Since it takes two to tango, the Senate followed suit.
They say that politics makes strange bedfellows. This time it resulted in an empty Capitol. Good.
If this is a preview of the months to come, before elections for the Coleman and Stone seats can be held, it could save Michiganders a lot of money. These are the glory days, if we dare to see it.
Every day Lansing takes off work is another day when its tentacles cannot reach into your life, your child's classroom, or your wallet.
Lawmakers can return home to their districts and look their neighbors in the eye. Hear their feedback at coffee shops and town halls and office hours. Spend time with the people who sent them to Lansing. Maybe even remember that these are people they were elected to serve. Not their new friends in Lansing.
Enjoy these days of divided government. When it comes to Lansing, no news is good news.
Yours in gridlock,
James David Dickson
Michigan Capitol Confidential
The MiVotes website is back up, completely reengineered and ready for business.
Fewer functions than the old one, but blazingly fast. You should check it out and bookmark it.
The Michigan Legislature publishes a "brief description of the major steps of the legislative process a bill must go through before it is enacted into law."
Great primer of Michigan's bill process.
https://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/publications/HowBillBecomesLaw.pdf
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