House Speaker Joe Tate, D-Detroit, issued a rare call of the House on Dec. 19, 2024, as Democrats tried to reach a quorum to pass their agenda before losing the majority in January. It ultimately failed and Tate was forced to adjourn the session. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance)
The Michigan House of Representatives adjourned Thursday having never reached a quorum for the second day in a row, effectively marking the end of the first Democratic trifecta in Lansing in four decades.
House Speaker Joe Tate (D-Detroit) attempted to reach a quorum by issuing a Call of the House, a rare procedure in which House sergeants are ordered to bar the chamber doors and gather any absent members.
But the move was unsuccessful in bringing any additional members to the House floor, and Tate announced after about an hour that the House would adjourn until Dec. 31 at 1:30 pm.
State Rep. Karen Whitsett (D-Detroit) joined all 54 Republicans in skipping session Thursday, arguing that Tate “would not negotiate in good faith.”
“They promised me they weren’t going to lock me in here, and that’s exactly what they did,” Whitsett said.
While Whitsett said there were bills on the agenda Thursday that would have benefitted Detroit, including water affordability legislation, she said putting the bills on the agenda was merely a strategy to get her to vote on other pieces of legislation that she says had not been properly vetted.
“They also wanted to do that to force me to come in to vote on bad bills, so I would look like the bad person who didn’t want to do right by her community,” Whitsett said.
Whitsett, who also skipped session Wednesday, first told reporters Wednesday night that she planned to attend session Thursday after legislation she supported was added to the agenda, but later backtracked and said she would not attend.
Then, on Thursday morning, she announced that she was on her way to the Capitol, but upon arriving waited in the office of House Minority Leader Matt Hall (R-Richland Twp.) rather than coming to the chamber.
House sergeants were seen entering Hall’s office shortly after the call of the House was issued, possibly in an attempt to bring Hall or Whitsett to the chamber, but Hall said that he did not speak to any sergeants and was unaware if his staff had.
Republicans first walked out of session last week in protest of changes made to the state’s minimum wage that would eliminate a separate tipped wage, an issue that Whitsett also wanted addressed.
“Do the Republicans care more about the Black people than our own party? I guess so,” Whitsett said after the House adjourned Thursday. “This shows it.”
But Whitsett said that she still considers herself a Democrat and does not plan to caucus with Republicans.
“I am for my city of Detroit and I am still a Democrat. And I hope that the Democratic Party actually understands that the issues that they are pushing here are the actual things as to why they lost in the first place,” Whitsett said.
Hall told Whitsett that when Republicans take the majority in the state House next year, they will “work with you in good faith to try to help your city and your district.”
But the incoming speaker declined to commit to bringing the water affordability legislation Whitsett has advocated for up for a vote.
Speaker Pro Tem Laurie Pohutsky (D-Livonia) said that the only order of business when the House meets Dec. 31 will be to adjourn sine die, marking the official end of the legislative term.
The Senate has session Monday and could continue to pass any bills that have already made it through the House, but any new legislation originating in the Senate, along with any House bills that have not already been sent to the Senate, would have little hope of reaching Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s desk, effectively ending Democrats’ hopes of addressing issues including government transparency, child labor, maternal health and gun reforms.
“Everything that was on the agenda today in the House is dead,” Pohutsky said. “The 55 members who did not attend should feel free to own that.”
Among the legislation that has hit a legislative brick wall were a host of gun-related bills, including proposed bans on ghost guns and bump stocks, as well as banning most guns in the Capitol.
“Ghost guns are untraceable firearms easily assembled in minutes from parts bought without a background check. They undermine gun safety laws, endanger public safety, and have become a weapon of choice for criminals,” said Denise Wieck, a gun violence survivor and volunteer lead with Moms Demand Action.
Wieck’s son, Guy, was shot and wounded by a ghost gun in 2021. Wieck is the co-founder of the organization Lock It For Everyone (L.I.F.E.).
“No one should have to go through the pain of learning that your child has been shot and may not survive. At 17, my son was badly injured with a ghost gun and suffers the consequences to this day. Michigan House’s failure to do all that it could to ban these incredibly dangerous weapons will cost lives,” said Wieck.
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