With Democrats unable to agree on a legislative agenda in the final days of 2024, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s chances of fulfilling many of her campaign promises have closed.
Michigan Democrats, who have led every branch of government for the past two years, started with a multibillion-dollar budget surplus for the first time in about four decades. But the three-game winning streak evaporated after Republicans recaptured state House seats in the fall. And, in a chaotic final session of the year, Democrats achieved little on what Whitmer once said was the most important issue facing the state.
Bills not enacted include bills aimed at increasing transparency in the governor’s office and the Legislature, which are now exempt from public records requests. Also failing was a repeal of Michigan’s controversial emergency management law and charging bottled water companies royalties for pumping groundwater and investing it in infrastructure and other projects, an idea that Whitmer herself once proposed. The idea is similar. Nor has the Legislature taken any real action to “fix the damn roads,” as Whitmer’s famous 2018 campaign slogan put it.
“Governor Whitmer thanks her colleagues in the Legislature for their efforts on behalf of fellow Michiganders and looks forward to working with the incoming House of Representatives,” Whitmer’s press secretary Stacey LaRouche said in a statement. “She will continue to work with anyone who is serious about getting the job done.”
Overall, after a dynamic first year of leadership, the Michigan Democratic Party’s leadership is decidedly more stunted due to internal strife and dovish policies that appear to be designed to boost electoral prospects. (The governor has consistently demurred when asked whether she would be interested in running for president.)
“I’m completely crazy,” said Lisa McGraw, public affairs manager for the Michigan Press Association, which has lobbied for years to expand the state’s Freedom of Information Act.
McGraw said the cost of secrecy in state government continues, noting that a lack of transparency leads to corruption and potential abuse of power. To those opposed to opening up the governor’s office and the Legislature to the FOIA, she asked: “What do they have to hide?”
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The long-pending bill for Michigan’s Wrongful Imprisonment Compensation Act also never made it to the governor’s desk. A ProPublica investigation last year showed how WICA provides support for wrongfully convicted people to rebuild their lives, but many of their compensation claims are contested by the state. Some people get nothing. Two Supreme Court justices, a state commission, the attorney general’s office and advocates implored lawmakers to fix loopholes in the law.
But the bill aimed at achieving that goal expires at the end of this year.
“In the near future, many more people will be harmed by the failure of our Legislature,” said Exonerees President and Co-Founder Kenneth Nixon.
Now, he said, “everything is starting from scratch” with WICA reform efforts. He said divided government makes it unlikely a new bill will move forward within the next two years, but it’s important to educate lawmakers on why change is needed.
“People’s lives have been ruined through no fault of their own and they deserve compensation,” Nickerson said.
A Senate bill to ensure health plans cover a new generation of cancer treatments also misses the mark. ProPublica previously reported on the story of a Michigan man who died after his insurance company refused the only treatment that could have saved his life.
Road funding was not discussed publicly until the last minute. In mid-December, Whitmer reportedly warned her fellow Democrats not to expect her to sign any further bills if they didn’t take action to advance road funding or economic development. But in the end, nothing was resolved about Whitmer’s once flagship issue.
Short-term funding sources for some improvements in recent years are being exhausted. Without further action, the proportion of paved roads in poor condition will increase in the coming years, according to an estimate by civil engineers.
“The governor has run away with road funding, but has she actually addressed it?” asked Rachel Hood, a Democrat whose term in the House ends in December. If Whitmer does run for higher office, voters “will see that the job is not done,” she said.
Sam Inglot, executive director of Progressive Michigan, a left-leaning nonprofit, said one of the lessons from the past session is that even with a triple advantage, strong leadership is needed. “You need someone to set the vision and priorities for what these people are going to do,” he said.
Michigan lawmakers did pass a series of follow-up laws in 2023, the first year of full Democratic control. They repealed the state’s “right-to-work” law, which allowed workers in unionized jobs to opt out of paying union dues and fees, codified reproductive rights, expanded the earned income tax credit and provided free breakfast and meals to all public school children. Lunch.
And, in the final weeks of the trifecta, they passed bills strengthening hate crime protections, revamping the state’s gun buyback program and making changes aimed at increasing access to birth control.
Democratic state Sen. Jeff Owen, the sponsor of the cancer care bill, said many of this year’s accomplishments were overlooked because they were out of sync with issues focused on in the presidential election. As an example of such success, he points to changes in the way reading skills are taught in Michigan. (ProPublica reports how one in five American adults struggles with basic reading.)
Still, “2024 will go down as one of the least productive legislative sessions in history,” said Eric Lupher, president of the Michigan Citizens Research Council, a nonpartisan policy group.
Momentum slowed in the first half of the year, with Democrats’ slim majority in the House slipping to a tie until special elections were held for both seats. Election-year campaigning consumes the summer and fall. Hood said the typical late-stage agenda is more crowded because House Speaker Joe Tate has directed lawmakers to wait until after the election to introduce many bills. (The Tate did not respond to a request for comment.)
House Republicans and one Democratic representative subsequently refused to attend unless their policy priorities were addressed. Unable to muster a quorum, Tate adjourned the meeting early on December 19. “No one in the House is doing their job,” McGraw said. “They didn’t show up.”
The Senate continued its work and held an all-night session before concluding its session in the afternoon of December 20.
This is a problem with the Wrongful Compensation Act. Democratic sponsor Sen. Stephanie Chang said that although the House passed the bill in December, the bill inadvertently omitted an amendment that prevented the Senate from voting on a full version of the bill.
Despite her reported warnings about inaction on road legislation, Whitmer has signed numerous bills, including policies addressing housing discrimination and human trafficking.
This week, on the first day of the new legislative session, senators who have long worked to expand the FOIA renewed their bipartisan proposal. “The Senate has made this a priority,” McGraw said. “I hope House Republicans feel the same way.”
If passed, the bills would likely not take effect until 2027, after Whitmer ends her second and final term.
LaRouche said in a statement that the governor believes state government must be open, transparent and accountable to taxpayers. “She is the first governor in the state’s history to voluntarily disclose personal financial information and income tax returns,” LaRouche said.
Whitmer previously said she would unilaterally open the governor’s and lieutenant governor’s offices to public records requests if legislative efforts to increase transparency stalled.
“Michigans deserve to know when and what their governor is doing,” she vowed in her 2018 Sunshine Plan.
Six years later, she has yet to do so.
