Unfinished Business: Michigan lawmakers’ 2024 legislative agenda | Government and Politics

Under the payments, legislative workplaces wouldn't should disclose communications between lawmakers and their constituents, inner investigation data, caucus counsel data, private cellular phone numbers and data associated to ongoing civil actions till these issues are settled. 

Communications between a lawmaker and a constituent would solely be made public if that constituent was a registered lobbyist – however not if the constituent was a part of a particular curiosity group or a robust enterprise chief. 

The proposal now awaits motion within the House, which has not held any votes on any laws since June 27.

Transparency reforms

In the identical vein as the general public data package deal, House lawmakers have proposed additional transparency and ethics reforms, together with implementing a one-year cooling interval stopping elected officers from instantly taking jobs as lobbyists.

The package deal, generally known as the BRITE Act, was publicly supported by Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and Attorney General Dana Nessel, each Democrats, earlier this 12 months in committee testimony. 

The payments haven't but superior out of committee, nonetheless, not to mention acquired a vote within the full House. There has been no motion on the laws since an April hearing. 

School security efforts 

Following a 2021 capturing at Oxford High School during which 4 college students had been killed, lawmakers leaped on the likelihood to give attention to improved faculty security. 

Among different issues, a dozen-bill package deal they launched would define security and safety coaching necessities for all safety personnel, require suggestions despatched to the OK2Say scholar security program be forwarded to authorities inside 24 hours, require every intermediate district to make use of at the least one emergency and security supervisor in addition to at the least one psychological well being coordinator.

Reintroduced in February 2023 — after failing to achieve traction in 2022 — solely 5 of the 12 payments have since acquired a listening to, and the laws continues to languish within the House Education Committee.

State-based well being alternate 

Senate Democrats accepted alongside partisan strains in late June payments that will set up a state-based health insurance exchange below the Affordable Care Act, also called Obamacare. 

The laws would shift the state away from the federal medical insurance market to a state-based alternate, which supporters referred to as a “logical next step” for providing extra flexibility on well being care protection. 

The proposal was referred to a House committee in June, the place it nonetheless wants a closing vote within the chamber previous to passage. If signed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, the alternate would go reside in 2026.