Lame duck season is so big, it can only do one thing: Fail

It’s lame duck time in Lansing — that special time of year lawmakers love to hate … until it’s their bills they want passed.

It’s literally the last chance for a bill to get passed by the Legislature before the whole process starts over again. For outgoing lawmakers, it’s their last chance to pass any legacy policy they might have.

This year’s lame duck season is even more special.

Michigan Democrats have effectively three weeks to clear the decks of any bill they want passed that doesn’t have a prayer of passing when Republicans take control of the state House on Jan. 1.

And unlike the 2018 House and Senate Republican caucuses, which sent 401 bills to outgoing Gov. Rick Snyder in lame duck, the 2024 Democrats are all over the place with their priorities. That’s a problem for the 56-member House Democratic caucus, which needs every single member’s support to pass a bill unless Republicans get on board.

With so many of their ideas, getting support will be a struggle.

I started a list of the bills that emerged just last week that won’t get many (if any) House Republican “yes” votes if they were put on the board:

• Revision of sex education requirements
• Allowing private citizens to sue any regulated Michigan business
• Pro-worker changes to workers’ compensation
• Paid family leave
• A state law banning guns at the Capitol
• New registration process for stores selling tobacco and vapes
• Removing work requirements for Medicaid recipients
• Having Michigan join the National Popular Vote Interstate compact
• Expanded transparency measures for charter schools
• Ending all cash bonds for criminal suspects

That’s only one week. There’s a big agenda out there. Too big not to fail.

When you’re trying to overturn 12 years of Republican policy in three weeks — that is, where the Democrats haven’t already done so during their two-year House reign — there’s not much you can do if everyone isn’t on the same page.

And Democrats aren’t on the same page. Rep. Dylan Wegela, D-Garden City, said last week that he’s a “hell, no” on the governor’s top priority of creating a permanent revenue stream for the Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve (SOAR) Fund.

This $55 billion microchip project in Genesee County that requires a bunch of money and tax cuts from the Legislature to make it happen? The governor wants it, but Wegela and other House Democrats aren’t enamored.

Rep. Betsy Coffia, D-Traverse City, posted on X last week that “Big Corps run Michigan” and lame duck needs to be passing unfinished business for the people.

So, this means Republican “yes” votes are needed if Michigan taxpayer money is going to spur economic development. That isn’t coming without bringing Republicans to the table.

Could that happen? Sure. It would be a departure from past practice, when Democrats have tried to pick off a GOP member or two rather than deal with their hard-wired political GOP leader, Matt Hall.

Democrats could scrap Republican involvement all together and go it alone. But that hasn’t worked in about a year … unless organized labor and/or the trial lawyers pushed the envelope.

Rep. Rachel Hood, D-Grand Rapids, threatened not to show up for session if the Democrats didn’t start passing “significant legislation.” Of course, if one Democrat doesn’t show up to House session, nothing gets passed without Republicans’ help.

The day before Hood said this, Rep. Karen Whitsett, D-Detroit, wasn’t at session due to a crippling migraine. Hood confronted Whitsett, who has worked with Republican lawmakers in the past, about her absence. The conversation didn’t go well.

The next day, two other Democrats joined Whitsett in not showing up to session. Again, no Democratic priorities passed that day.

Meanwhile, there’s a report that at least one House Democrat who lost a competitive seat but plans on running again in 2026 isn’t supporting any overtly liberal policy that will hurt him in the next election.

It’s hard to imagine lame duck is going to soar in 2024, isn’t it? Maybe a weak waddle?

(Kyle Melinn is the editor of the Capitol news service MIRS. His email address is melinky@gmail.com.)