Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s chance to fulfill many of her campaign promises is closing after Democrats failed to unite on a legislative agenda in the final days of 2024.
Michigan Democrats have led all branches of government for the past two years, the first time in nearly four decades, and started with a multibillion-dollar budget surplus. But the trifecta was lost after Republicans took back the state House of Representatives in the fall. And during the chaotic last session of the year, Democrats accomplished little what Whitmer once presented as the most significant challenges facing the state.
Among the bills that did not see action: bills to increase transparency in the governor’s office and the Legislature, which are now exempt from public records requests. Also dead were repeal efforts Michigan’s Controversial Emergency Law charge bottled water companies royalties for extracting groundwater and invest it in infrastructure and other programs, an idea similar to what Whitmer herself once suggested. Nor has the Legislature taken any significant action to “fix the damn roads,” as Whitmer’s famous 2018 campaign slogan claimed.
“Governor Whitmer thanks our colleagues in the Legislature for their efforts on behalf of his fellow Michiganders and looks forward to working together with the new House of Representatives,” said Stacey LaRouche, Whitmer’s spokeswoman. “She will continue to work with anyone who is serious about achieving the goal.”
Overall, Michigan Democrats, after an active first year in charge, had a much more stunted year, tempered by internal conflicts and moderate policies that appeared to be tailored to improve electoral prospects. (The governor has consistently declined when asked about her interest in running for president.)
“I’m completely freaked out,” said Lisa McGraw, public affairs manager for the Michigan State Press Association, which has lobbied for years to expand the state’s Freedom of Information Act.
Secrecy in state government invariably comes at a cost, McGraw said, pointing to how a lack of transparency fosters corruption and possible abuse of power. To those who oppose opening the governor’s office and the legislature to FOIA, she asks, “What do they have to hide?”
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Bills long pending in the Michigan Wrongful Imprisonment Compensation Act also never made it to the governor’s desk. ProPublica investigation last year showed how WICA is supporting wrongfully convicted people as they rebuild their lives, but many of their compensation claims are being challenged by the state. Some get nothing at all. Two Supreme Court justices, a state commission, the attorney general’s office and attorneys have asked lawmakers to close loopholes in the law.
But the bills aimed at this ended at the end of the year.
“More people will suffer in the near future because of the failure of our legislature,” said Kenneth Nixon, president and co-founder of Crime Free.
Now, he said, “everything starts all over again” with reforming WICA. The split government makes it unlikely that a new bill will be advanced within the next two years, he said, but it’s important to educate lawmakers about why change is needed.
“People’s lives were destroyed through no fault of their own, and they need to be healed,” Nixon said.
A A Senate bill would require health plans to cover a new generation of cancer therapies were also unable to reach the finish line. ProPublica previously reported how Michigan man dies after insurer denies only life-saving treatment.
Road financing was not publicly discussed until the last moment. In mid-December, Whitmer reports warned her fellow Democrats that they shouldn’t expect her to sign any more bills unless they move toward road funding or economic development. But in the end, nothing was done about the problem that had once been Whitmer’s flagship.
Short-term funding sources that have paid for some of the improvements in recent years are running out. Without further action, according to one estimate by civil engineers, the proportion of paved roads in poor condition will increase in the coming years.
“Governor Launches Road Funding, But Has She Done It?” asked Rachel Hood, a Democrat whose term in the House of Representatives ended in December. If Whitmer does run for higher office, she said voters will “see that the job wasn’t done.”
Sam Inglot, executive director of the left-leaning nonprofit Progress Michigan, said one of the lessons of the past session is that even with the trifecta advantage, there is a need for strong leadership. “You have to have somebody who’s going to set the vision and the priorities for what these people are going to do,” he said.
In 2023, the first year of full Democratic power, Michigan lawmakers did pass a number of subsequent laws. They repealed the state’s “right-to-work” law that allowed union workers to waive union dues and fees, codified reproductive rights, expanded the earned income tax credit, and provided free breakfast and lunch to all school children.
And in the final weeks of the trifecta, they passed bills that strengthened hate crime protections, overhauled the state’s gun buyback program and made changes aimed at expanding access to birth control.
State Sen. Jeff Irwin, a Democrat who supported the cancer care bill, said many of the year’s achievements were overlooked because they didn’t match the issues raised during the presidential election. As an example of such success, he gave reforms in teaching reading skills in Michigan. (ProPublica reported on how 1 in 5 American adults struggle to read at a basic level.)
Still, “2024 will go down as one of the least productive legislative sessions in history,” said Eric Luffer, president of the Michigan Citizens Research Council, a nonpartisan political organization.
The momentum slowed in the first half of the year, when Democrats’ slim majority in the House of Representatives was whittled to a tie until special elections for two seats were held. Pre-election campaigning consumed the summer and autumn. And the usually crowded late agenda was all the more so because House Speaker Joe Tate instructed members to wait until after the election to introduce many bills, according to Hood. (The Tate office did not respond to requests for comment.)
Then Republicans in the House of Representatives and one representative of the Democratic Party refused to appear unless their political priorities were resolved. Failing to gather a quorum, Tate adjourned the House early on December 19. “Nobody was doing their job in the House,” McGraw said. “They didn’t show up.”
The Senate continued to work, holding a session that lasted through the night before concluding in the afternoon of December 20. But it was actually limited to bills that did not require further action by the House of Representatives.
This was a problem for the wrongful compensation bill. Although the House passed it in December, the bill inadvertently left out an amendment so the Senate could not vote on the full bill, said Sen. Stephanie Chung, the Democratic sponsor.
Despite warning about inaction on the road, Whitmer signed many bills, including policies related to housing discrimination and human trafficking.
And this week, on the first day of the new legislative session, senators who have long fought to expand the Freedom of Information Act once again introduced bipartisan proposals. “The Senate has made it a priority,” McGraw said. “I hope House Republicans feel the same way.”
If passed, the bills likely wouldn’t take effect until 2027 — after Whitmer completes his second and final term in office.
In a statement, LaRouche said the governor believes state government should be open, transparent and accountable to the taxpayer. “She is the first governor in state history to voluntarily disclose personal financial information and income tax returns,” LaRouche said.
Whitmer has previously said she would unilaterally open the governor’s and lieutenant governor’s offices to public inquiries if legislative efforts to increase transparency stalled.
“Michiganers need to know when and what their governor is working on,” she promised in her 2018 “Sunshine Plan.”
Six years later, she still hasn’t.
