Whether controlled By Democrats or Republicans, Lansing is broken
The term ‘lame duck’ has a historical context, referring originally to politicians nearing the end of their term who lacked influence or accountability. In practice, lame duck legislative sessions in Lansing are notorious for rushed, last-minute decisions driven by corporate lobbyists.
After she was elected governor – but before she took office – Governor Whitmer expressed concerns:
“Lame duck is really a dangerous time, right? There are a lot of legislators who are not accountable to the public anymore. There is not transparency or full debate,” she said during a WOOD-TV interview in December 2018.
In 2022, voters elected Michigan’s first democratic trifecta in decades. This presented massive opportunities for the Democrats to deliver game-changing wins for everyday Michiganders across an array of issues and, notably, to take bold action to protect the water we all drink, the air we breathe, and the land upon which we grow our food.
In 2023, some important progress was made. At the top of the list was passage of legislation that moved Michigan to 100% clean energy and made critical improvements to voting rights. The Democratic agenda included much more than that, and with control over all facets of legislative power in Lansing, many expected much more to be done.
Instead, many Michiganders are left wondering why the new Democratic trifecta did not continue to pass a sweeping pro-people, pro-environment, pro-worker agenda. Dysfunction, mismanagement, and infighting certainly played a role, however, one thing has become very clear: big corporations, their multi-client lobbying firms, and influence peddling are at the core of the problem.
Overbearing corporate influence in our state politics thwarted more progress, and lawmakers on both sides willingly complied with their demands – whether it was blocking an effort to hold polluters accountable for their actions (instead of taxpayers paying to clean up their messes), or refusing to crack down on ever-increasing energy bills (electric/propane/etc.) that force families to struggle.
The dysfunction that corporate special interests fueled was on full display in the final days of session in Lansing – with the entire Republican House caucus walking out and some Democrats refusing to show up. This left the House without enough votes to pass any bills.
But the well had already been tainted months prior when lawmakers, especially those in the House, stalled out on any agenda except for pushing through tax breaks for large corporations.
A SOAR Point
The state’s Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve (SOAR) fund had become a “sore” point between Governor Whitmer and some members of the Legislature. It was seen as controversial corporate subsidies by some, while others argued the money should go towards transit and community development projects. This dispute over SOAR (which was never resolved) was one of the main reasons the 102nd Legislature concluded in such an embarrassing way.
For example, included in SOAR during lame duck was a proposed $50 million state grant for a mine in part of our Upper Peninsula’s beautiful Porcupine Mountains near Lake Superior. Numerous SOAR funding proposals were bundled with this controversial funding and efforts to separate them failed in the House. Widespread public outcry, which included a petition that received more than 300,000 signatures and an article in Newsweek, was successful in stalling out funding for the mine in the Senate.
Many critics and lawmakers like Sen. Jeff Irwin expressed concern about why a state incentive for a copper mine that poses grave threats to some of Michigan’s most pristine natural areas was a prudent move.
“The copper can’t pull up stakes and leave the community behind. The copper is in the ground, and so it just seems very weird to me to appropriate dollars to incentivize a mine, when the copper can’t go anywhere,” Irwin told MIRS News.
Moreover, only 1.45% of the extracted material from the mine is actually copper. The remaining 98.55% would be waste, containing mercury, arsenic and other toxins to be stored on-site close to Lake Superior – not exactly a promising economic development opportunity for our state.
Misplaced Priorities
This happened as votes to address a myriad of other issues – from affordable drinking water to expanding the statute of limitations for sexual assault victims – were left on the sidelines.
Among the litany of misplaced priorities was the failure to pass a broadly supported bill package reinstating some portions of the Polluter Pay laws. The bill package stagnated in the House and never moved forward, despite the fact that more than 90 percent of Michigan voters support Polluter Pay, according to polling conducted in May and August of 2023.
Reinstituting Polluter Pay laws that were gutted by former Gov. John Engler should have been a slam dunk – a real opportunity to make sure taxpayers were not on the hook to clean up contaminated sites and toxic PFAS. We put the blame squarely on lawmakers who blocked and tackled repeatedly on behalf of these polluting special interests until they were able to put the bills on ice.
Big Tech Gets Their Way
Early in 2024, the Legislature and Governor made it one of their top priorities to pass tax breaks for Big Tech companies like Microsoft, Google, and Meta to build large-scale data centers.
We, along with many others in the environmental space, raised alarms about how these data centers were massive energy and water hogs. In other states, they had stretched the grid, triggered coal plants to be restarted, and made it harder to reach renewable energy goals. We stressed that the bills were poorly written and threatened to undermine the Clean Energy & Jobs Act we had all just worked to pass in 2023.
None of this seemed to resonate. Lawmakers added amendments around groundwater usage and then declared negotiations were over. “There’s only going to be, like, 5-6 of these built in the region. We just want to get our share,” one lawmaker claimed as a reason for the urgency.
Despite our efforts to advocate for provisions in the policy that would require Big Tech to help build out wind and solar in this state, and protect ratepayers from increased costs due to data centers’ massive energy consumption, the legislation moved steadily through the Legislature and now sits before the Governor to be signed into law.
Chance At Statewide Water Affordability Squandered
Meanwhile, a carefully crafted package of water affordability bills – designed to assist low-income Michiganders struggling to pay for water and prevent homes from being shut off – did not cross the finish line. This people-centered legislation was overlooked and left on the sideline, stranding many Michiganders with bills they can’t afford and, thus, denying access to a basic human right.
Water affordability bills were supported by municipalities, the Michigan Catholic Conference, the Area Agencies on Aging Association of Michigan, the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization, the Detroit People’s Water Board, and many others, including Michigan LCV.
So why didn’t it become a priority? Why didn’t it get the same level of attention and urgency that tax breaks for corporations did? Michiganders aren’t dumb. They know why.
The 102nd Michigan Legislature’s failures in 2024 sadly outweigh many of its accomplishments in 2023. Maybe the lamest of lame duck sessions in Michigan history underscores the fundamental problem: as long as corporate money and the lobby corps have unfettered access to pollute and corrupt our policymaking in the Capitol, the needs of everyday Michiganders will continue to take a backseat.
It’s Time For Change
We must clean up Lansing if we are to see real progress. Too many environmental bills that actually saw some movement were either watered down or blocked completely because some corporate special interest put their thumb on the scales. Very concerningly, lawmakers – both Democrats and Republicans – seemed all too eager to follow their lead under the guise of “we can’t upset the apple cart too much.”
The money flowing to lawmakers is often kept hidden from the public through the use of 501(c)(4) non-profit organizations that raise funds from secret donors and then spend with little-to-no disclosures. According to a Dec. 2024 article by Detroit News investigative reporter Craig Mauger, “the amount of secret money that flowed to the main nonprofit groups of the Republican and Democratic leaders in the Michigan House and Senate in 2023 soared by 54%, or by $465,000, from four years earlier.”
Mauger also reported that in 2023 – as there was a push by lawmakers to hold utility companies like DTE and Consumers accountable for the constant outages – House Speaker Joe Tate received $100,000 into the account of a nonprofit he controlled called “Citizens for a Better Michigan.” Unsurprisingly, the legislation in question fizzled out and never made it onto the House agenda. The Detroit News tracked over a half-million dollars Tate raised into his 501(c)(4).
Michigan LCV is more clear-eyed than ever that we need to drain the swamp that is our state government. All the corporate wining and dining must go. No more trips and junkets paid for by polluters and corporate industries. No more tickets and gifts. No more allowing the full, unadulterated corruption of our elected officials whether they are Democrat, Republican, or Independent.
We will remain steadfast in our commitment to holding lawmakers and corporations accountable and advocating for policies that prioritize Michiganders over profits and influence peddling.
Moving into 2025, we must continue to fight for progress that puts our communities first, protects our water, and ensures a healthy Michigan for future generations. Every Michigander, no matter what political party they may identify with, wants lawmakers who are there to do a job, not work on lining up their next job. Those folks also want clean water for their families to drink, clean air to breathe, and safe land upon which to grow food and recreate. The people of Michigan are with us. That will be our superpower.