It’s been more than 100 days since Michigan’s 35th district has had representation. When will there be a special election to fill the seat? This week on MichMash, host Cheyna Roth and Alethia Kasben sat down with Michigan Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks. She discusses the significance of that seat, the current status of the state legislature, road funding and her plans for the future. 

Subscribe to MichMash on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

In this episode:

• The status of the open Senate seat in Michigan’s 35th district
• Brinks on how well the legislature has been working with each other
• Brinks’ plans after the end of her term

Brinks shared that the 2025 legislature has shown potential for bipartisanship despite the unprecedented occurrences these last couple of months.

“In terms of the entire legislature being able to work together across the aisle — I think we’ve proven it’s possible,” she said. “Still some potential for improvement there.”

The Senate majority leader also acknowledged that things are a bit “antagonistic” in the state House. 

The 35th Senate district seat is still vacant, and despite Senate Democrats handling constituent work in that area, Brinks believes when the time comes the state Democrats will produce a candidate to cover the seat.  

“It’s going to be critical that we maintain that seat so that we can maintain the majority,” she said. “We stand in an incredibly positive position when it comes to our chances of maintaining it.”

Brinks shared examples like in Pennsylvania, where a state Democrat won in a race that went for Trump by nearly 15 points. It is up to Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to call for a special election.  

More from WDET:

• MichMash: The road ahead with incoming Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks
• Republicans urge road funding revision as Legislature resumes lame duck session this week
• MichMash: Michigan AG discusses legal challenges to Trump, open US Senate seat

A group of Republican state lawmakers is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to clear the way for them to challenge two voter-approved amendments to the Michigan Constitution. This is a last-ditch effort by the GOP legislators to pursue their challenge without the full backing of a politically divided House and Senate.

The legislators are asking the high court to accept the case and rule that state lawmakers have individual standing to file the challenge and do not have to wait on formal action by the GOP-controlled House and the Senate, which is controlled by Democrats.

“Unless you have an agreement of both chambers of the Legislature, there’s no way to get an answer to this question except by going through individual legislators,” said Sen. Jim Runestad, who is also the Michigan Republican Party chair. “The only hope we have of a good clear look at the legality of this is the U.S. Supreme Court.”

The underlying controversy is the fate of two ballot proposals adopted by voters in 2018 and 2022. The voting rights proposals include provisions that include making it easier to register to vote, to vote absentee and to use early voting options. The Republican lawmakers say those ballot questions usurp their constitutional authority of the Legislature to set “the time, place and manner” of federal elections.

University of Michigan constitutional law professor Leah Litman said the legislators can’t show an individual harm that would give them standing to pursue a federal lawsuit.

“That injury is to the institution, not to the individual legislators, and for that reason, the institution has to be the one who is the plaintiff because the Legislature, the institution, is the one that is injured,” Litman told Michigan Public Radio.

The lawsuit names Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and Bureau of Elections Director Jonathan Brater in their official capacities. Benson said in a statement released by her office that she will defend the ability of voters to amend the Michigan Constitution through ballot initiatives.

“Michigan voters have a right to enact laws that reflect their values, and politicians have a duty to stand by the will of the voters,” she said. “The idea that the time, place and manner of federal elections law-making is beyond the right of voters to self-determine is anti-democratic, and already multiple courts have reaffirmed this under law.”

Most appeals are turned away as the U.S. Supreme Court agrees to hear just a fraction of the requests that are filed.

A Republican-backed plan to fund road repairs in Michigan could be voted out of a state House committee Tuesday.

The proposal involves removing the 6% sales tax currently charged on gas sales and replacing it with a higher fuel tax that would go toward road repairs. The bill package sponsors say consumers wouldn’t see any difference in how much they pay.

The bills would also send around $2.2 billion in corporate income tax revenue to roads as well.

State Rep. Pat Outman (R-Six Lakes) chairs the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. He said he plans to add another bill to the package that would create a neighborhood road fund to make sure side streets don’t get forgotten.

“It’s a fund specifically for certain streets that might not be federally aid eligible or ones that are most neglected that usually don’t get the adequate resources to it,” Outman said Monday.

Outman said the fund would be a good deal for smaller units of government like townships since they wouldn’t necessarily have to match what county road departments spend on road projects.

While House Republicans are pushing forward with their road funding plan, Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is promoting her own.

Like Republicans, Whitmer has also suggested using all taxes collected at the gas pump for road repairs. But she’s also looking to have large companies and the marijuana industry pay more to help with roads too.

Outman said a compromise is still a ways out.

“The bottom line is the vast majority of her money is generated through new revenue sources. And then the vast majority of ours is through existing revenue and just rather reprioritizing some existing funding,” Outman said.

Some concerns have arisen about what would happen to school funding under the proposals, given that it depends largely on sales tax revenue that would no longer be collected on gas.

Republicans say they’ve answered that concern by dedicating an extra $775 million to the School Aid Fund.

Michigan House Speaker Matt Hall says there will be a floor vote this week on a bill to roll back the state income tax rate. That would reverse a determination by the state Treasury and the Attorney General’s office and upheld by court decisions that a 2023 reduction was for one-year only.

The reduction was based on a formula that includes revenue increases and inflation. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said the rollback to 4.05% was a signal of Michigan’s strong economy.

“In total, we have put $1.6 billion in tax relief back in people’s pockets without cutting any critical services or programs,” she said at the time in a statement released by her office at the time.

Republicans say the rollback was essentially a reset and the rate should have remained at 4.05% instead of returning to 4.25%. Hall said that would require the Legislature to set its top priorities and then make tough decisions, including budget cuts.

“What programs get the best return on investment?” he asked Friday. “We’re going to fund those, we’re going to fund the income tax rollback and we’re going to fund the roads, and then the rest of the stuff is not going to make the cut. We can do that within our existing budget if we set good priorities.”

But Democrats said the GOP tax cut plan is a shell game without a list in advance of roughly $540 million in spending cuts in this fiscal year and $700 million in future years to keep the budget balanced.

“I would like to know the plan,” Rep. Kelly Breen (D-Novi), who serves on the House Finance Committee, told the Michigan Public Radio Network.  “I’m happy to see that it is the first probably honest and sincere effort to put money back into the hands of Michiganders, but the question is, is the juice worth the squeeze?”

The tax rollback bill was adopted last week by the finance committee without Democratic support.

If adopted by the House, the rollback would also have to be approved by the state Senate, which is controlled by Democrats, and by Governor Whitmer.

–Michigan Public’s Steve Carmody contributed to this report.

State House Republicans without advance notice Thursday muscled through a $20 billion dollar bare-bones budget, touching off a rancorous floor fight and setting up a showdown with the Senate Democratic majority.

GOP leaders said the two-bill package for education and other government functions would serve as a stop-gap spending plan if spending negotiations bog down heading into the summer or fall.

“This is a government shutdown prevention plan,” said House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Twp.) Hall said the package would ensure funding for per-pupil spending, corrections and other critical programs even if future budget negotiations stall.

“This is the beginning of the process, said Rep. Ann Bollin (R-Brighton), chair of the House Appropriations Committee, who noted the budget would increase state per-student funding.

“This is what we absolutely have to provide. We don’t want our kids starving. We want to make sure they’re safe in school, educated and they have the resources. That’s what’s in this budget bill,” she said. “It’s not a budget bill. It’s a prevention plan.”

Democrats opposed the measures as a ploy to gain the upper hand in budget negotiations months ahead of the deadline.

“This is setting the stage for a government shutdown,” said House Minority Leader Ranjeev Puri (D-Canton). “Like, let’s not beat around the bush here. That’s what’s happening here. There’s a reason some level of critical services were kept to just make it easier for him to drag this budget out, to get political wins.”

The sudden unveiling left many lawmakers with little time to examine the details. State Rep. Betsy Coffia (D-Traverse City) said the stripped-down budget left out critical programs that would be subject to future negotiations.

“They cut at-risk funding,” she said. “They cut school meals. They cut rural transportation equity with no conversation with the stakeholders. They are just adding to chaos when what Michiganders want is thoughtful, measured negotiation.”

The bills’ prospects are not promising in the state Senate, which is controlled by Democrats.

“Is Speaker Hall anticipating his own failure to get a budget done? We haven’t seen a government shutdown in a long time, and there’s no good reason why he should be predicting one now unless he wants it to happen,” said Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks (D-Grand Rapids).

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s office declined to weigh in on the controversy. The spending bills are also linked to a measure Whitmer needs to close the books on the previous fiscal year.

A Democratic state lawmaker has sponsored a proposal to strike the language of the dormant same-sex marriage ban from the Michigan Constitution.

State Rep. Jason Morgan (D-Ann Arbor) said the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 reversal of abortion rights protections shows the conservative majority is willing to revisit foundational decisions, including the Obergefell v. Hodges opinion that cleared the way for him to marry his partner.

“If the Supreme Court were to overturn this protection for marriage equality, it would become illegal again for any same-sex couple to get married in our state,” Morgan told Michigan Public Radio.

The same-sex marriage ban proposal was approved by Michigan voters in 2004 and stood until the U.S. Supreme Court struck it down in a case that included April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse’s appeal of the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals decision that rejected their challenge of the Michigan ban. But even though the Supreme Court struck down the amendment as a violation of equal protection and due process rights, the language remains in the Michigan Constitution.

Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented from the 5-4 majority decision.

It would require two-thirds majorities in the House and the Senate to put a question on the ballot asking voters to adopt an amendment to strip the language from the Michigan Constitution. An alternative would be a petition campaign to put an amendment proposal on the statewide ballot, a path endorsed by state Senator Jeremy Moss (D-Southfield).

Morgan and Moss both said a proposed non-binding resolution by a small group of House Republicans including Rep. Josh Schriver (R-Oxford) helped make the case for removing the language.

House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Twp.) was not pleased with the actions of the right-wing rogue group and assigned the resolution, which would carry no legal weight, to a “graveyard” committee as a signal that will be its final destination.

A Republican state lawmaker says he hopes Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s support will help get a proposal enacted into law to help reduce the distraction of students staring into electronic screens during class time.  

“She has some influence in Lansing,” deadpanned Rep. Mark Tisdel (R-Rochester Hills) in an interview on the Michigan Public Television show “Off The Record.” “So, I like that very much.”

Tisdel’s legislation would set specific rules for elementary, middle and high school classrooms. The rules would also apply to charter academies, which are publicly funded. He said some Michigan schools already have policies on student electronics in place.

“In the schools that have put this in, one of the things you hear from teachers is how tremendous it is to be standing at the front of the classroom and see 25 or 30 sets of eyeballs staring back at you instead of this stuff under the desk,” he said.

The legislation would set different restriction levels in elementary schools, middle schools and high schools. Tisdel said the restrictions would not prevent teachers from using electronic devices as part of classroom instruction.

He said many students are opposed to the idea and so are some parents who are worried about contacting their children if there is a crisis at their school.

“But the question is, how does your child communicating with you – who might be miles away from the emergency site – how does that improve or enhance your child’s safety?” Tisdel said. “You want your child focused on the trained adult that’s at the head of the classroom.”

It is a debate happening in other state capitols. And Whitmer endorsed the legislation last week in her State of the State address.  

“It’s hard to teach geometry or geography when you’re competing against memes or DMs,” she said. “Other states, red and blue, have taken action. So has most of Europe and Canada. I understand the need to be connected to your child but we can do better.”

A nationwide survey of teachers and classroom workers released last year by the National Education Association found 90% of its union members support restrictions on cell phones and other electronic devices in schools. Michigan Education Association President and CEO Chandra Madafferi endorsed the idea last year.

Governor Gretchen Whitmer delivered her second-to-last State of the State address and she urged Michiganders toward unity and togetherness. This week on MichMash, host Cheyna Roth and Gongwer News Service’s Alethia Kasben discuss the major elements of her speech and what stood out the most. Plus, Denise Donohue from the Michigan County Road Association joins the show to discuss potential road funding measures.

Subscribe to MichMash on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

In this episode:

• Gov. Whitmer’s penultimate State of the State Address
• How critical is road funding?

Whitmer’s speech was filled with calls for unity and bipartisanship. Will these calls be answered by the Democratic-controlled Senate and the Republican-controlled House in Lansing?

“We saw the Legislature strike a deal last week — a significant deal on minimum wage and paid sick time,” said Kasben. “So at this point, I would say anything is possible.”  

Other elements of Whitmer’s State of the State dealt with lowering costs, especially when it comes to housing, getting more men to sign up for post-high school education, and more.

In regard to road funding, Donohue told MichMash that this is the year that road funding should be substantially planned because there is a lot of focus on it.

“We talk about a rising tide of funding lifts all boats; [for] municipalities, counties and the state department of transportation. So for us, it’s been critical that we find new road funding for a while,” she said.

Donohue added that according to Senate Fiscal Agency figures, fewer gallons of gas were sold in Michigan than any time in the last 25 years (with an exception for COVID periods). With a portion of taxes from gas being given to road funding, that decrease hurts road funding as well.  

More from WDET:

• Whitmer asks for bipartisan cooperation, positivity in State of the State speech
• Federal money coming to three Michigan cities for safer, greener roads
• MichMash: Breaking down Governor Whitmer’s $83.5 billion budget proposal

The Michigan House voted Tuesday to keep lawmakers from signing non-disclosure agreements.

The practice has come under scrutiny in recent years as some lawmakers and state officials have signed NDAs as part of talks to bring some economic development projects. That includes for a General Motors battery plant that spurred the creation of the often-criticized Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve (SOAR) Fund.

State Rep. Steve Carra (R-Three Rivers) co-sponsored the bipartisan bills. He said public servants shouldn’t be signing NDAs, especially for business incentives.

“They’re using tax dollars to fund these projects. And then the idea that we as legislators would be complicit in that process and signing secrecy pacts, saying we cannot disclose the conversations we’ve had is a reckless form of governance.”

The bills would apply to lawmakers and their staff acting in their official capacities.

Despite the criticism, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, which took the lead in talks over some of the projects that have involved NDAs, defended the practice.

“It is important to note that in our experience, those seeking to make a significant investment are increasingly requiring NDAs, given the financial and proprietary information being shared. Further, no decisions are made until an investment opportunity is voted on by the bipartisan and bicameral appointees of Michigan Strategic Fund board in a public setting,” MEDC spokesperson Otie McKinley said in a written statement.

That feeling was shared by some of the lawmakers who voted against the bills.

Opponents to the bills argue NDAs are a tool that keeps Michigan competitive economically and that they stop lawmakers from insider trading when they know something is coming.

Rep. Phil Skaggs (D-East Grand Rapids) was among the lawmakers who voted against the bills.

“Non-disclosure agreements are critical for competitiveness, our ability to attract new jobs, cutting edge technology. And we should be involved in far more serious ethics issues than what I think here is largely a nothing burger,” Skaggs said.

Sponsors of the bills, including Rep. Dylan Wegela (D-Inkster) rejected the argument, however, that NDAs were necessary to bring business to Michigan.

“I think if corporations want public tax dollars, they should do their business in public. And that should be part of the discussion. Right? We’re talking about hundreds of millions of dollars going to multimillion dollar and multibillion dollar corporations,” Wegela said.

Lawmakers on both sides of the argument, however, have said they want the House to take up Senate-passed bills that would expand the Freedom of Information Act. Republican House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Twp) has said those bills aren’t a priority for him.

Ahead of voting in the House Tuesday, Democratic lawmakers unsuccessfully tried to tie the NDA legislation to the FOIA bills so one couldn’t become law without the other.

The NDA bills still passed with wide bipartisan support, by margins of 80-28 and 91-17.

The legislation now heads to the state Senate.

After some compromise, the Michigan Legislature passes a revised version of the minimum wage/sick leave laws late Thursday. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed the bills into law early Friday afternoon. As part of the weekly series MichMash, host Cheyna Roth and Gongwer News Service’s Alethia Kasben discuss the reactions. 

Subscribe to MichMash on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

In this episode:

• Whitmer signs minimum wage/sick leave bills
• Fallout from the compromised bills
• House Oversight Committee lays out policy plans

Roth shared how even though these compromised bills were the result of bipartisan efforts, some Democratic supporters aren’t too happy with the result. 

“Union and advocacy groups are traditionally democratic allies, and they are not happy with the outcome,” she said. “So there could be some fallout with democratic lawmakers who pushed for these changes and voted for them.”

We also covered how the Republican-led Michigan House is focused on its Oversight Committee and creating policy priorities. Kasben spoke with state Rep. Jay DeBoyer, the Republican chair of the Michigan House Oversight Committee, who laid out his plans for creating more transparency in the legislature.

DeBoyer said that this new structure of oversight is one that he believes should continue as is because it allows residents to become more comfortable with government. When asked whether Democrats claim that this is an attempt on the Republican-led House to play “gotcha” politics, he said:

“Only the guilty need to feel guilty, right? Only the guilty need to worry. I’m going to put this message out there right now. If anybody listens to this, if you’re behaving in a manner that you shouldn’t be behaving and you work in state government, you need to consider changing your ways.” 

More from WDET:

• New rules give Michigan House Oversight Committee greater subpoena power
• Detroit Evening Report: Gov. Whitmer signs new minimum wage, sick leave policies
• Michigan House passes minimum wage bill

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed legislation on Friday to preserve Michigan’s lower minimum wage for tipped workers and to modify the law that requires most employers to provide paid sick leave.

Subscribe to the Detroit Evening Report on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

The governor signed the bills just hours after they were sent to her by the Legislature.

In a statement, Whitmer said the new laws are the product of bipartisan compromises that still provide better wages and guaranteed sick leave.

The state minimum wage is now $12.48 — up from $10.56. The minimum wage for tipped workers is $5.09. Employers are expected to make up the difference if salary and tips don’t meet the minimum wage.

Small businesses with fewer than 10 employees must allow workers to accrue up to 40 hours of paid sick leave. People who work for larger employers can bank up to 72 hours of sick time a year.

These new laws preempt petition initiatives that would have required more generous wage and sick leave policies. The petition campaigns called the new laws a betrayal of their efforts to use the initiative process to improve minimum wage and sick leave standards.

Groups say they’re looking at options, including legal action, new petition initiative campaigns, or a referendum to challenge the laws on the ballot.

—Reporting by Rick Pluta, Michigan Public Radio Network

Other headlines for Friday, Feb. 21, 2025:

• Cuts to the U.S. Department of Education could affect Michigan if President Donald Trump shuts down the agency, local education leaders say.
• The 9th annual African American Family Book Expo is taking place from noon to 5 p.m. Feb. 22 at the Ernest T Ford Field House in Highland Park.
• The Henry Ford Museum is presenting a new exhibit this Saturday in honor of Black History Month titled “We Shall Overcome: The 60th Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act,” featuring artifacts that explore the rich story of what it took to establish voting rights for African Americans.

Do you have a community story we should tell? Let us know in an email at detroiteveningreport@wdet.org.

A bill to change Michigan’s minimum wage law ahead of it taking effect passed the state Legislature Wednesday. The law is scheduled to take effect Friday.

If left unchanged, the law would gradually raise the minimum wage for both tipped and non-tipped workers until both are making the same amount by 2030.

The bill would speed up raises for non-tipped workers so they get to $15 an hour by 2027 instead of just coming close in 2028 with a planned $14.97 minimum wage.

But the bill would also slow down gradual raises for people who get tips. It would cap that minimum wage for tipped workers, like bartenders and servers, at half of what everyone else makes.

Employers would still be responsible for covering the gap if tips don’t make up the difference.

Rep. Bill G. Schuette (R-Midland) said that’s a necessary compromise to protect businesses.

“It’s not perfect, but it is an action, an immediate action that’s going to help preserve our tip credit and the tip wage system. And I think that’s vital in here to the restaurant industry,” Schuette said after the House vote Wednesday.

The bill is now cleared to head to the governor to receive her signature. But, for it to go into place by Friday’s deadline, it would need the Senate to vote for it to take effect immediately. That would require a supermajority in the Democratic-controlled chamber.

Republicans and hospitality industry groups say restaurants and bars could go out of business if they become responsible for covering a server’s entire base pay. Some Democrats in both the House and Senate also voted in favor of the bill.

But other Democrats say lawmakers shouldn’t touch the petition-initiated minimum WAGE law before it takes effect Friday.

That’s especially after lawmakers, in 2018, adopted the initiative before it could go to the ballot and watered it down, in a move known as “adopt and amend.” It led to a court challenge that eventually set the Feb. 21 deadline to begin with.

One Fair Wage, the group behind the petition, sent out a press release Tuesday that argued passing the bill would be illegal under the court ruling. It included an open letter from University of Michigan law professor Samuel Bagenstos.

“The Legislature’s original adopt-and-amend constitutional violation has meant that the Wage Act and Earned Sick Leave Act have been in suspended animation for years and have still not gone into effect. For the Legislature to amend these initiatives now, before letting them take effect, would be to once again ‘sidestep the people’s reserved power,’ Bagenstos wrote, referencing another law also planned to take effect Friday.

That law guarantees all non-federal workers in Michigan the right to at least some paid time off. How much that would be depends on how many hours they work and the size of their employer.

Business groups say wording in the law would create too much new paperwork for companies and not include enough accountability to make sure people don’t skip work without any warning.

House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Twp) said any compromise with Democrats needs to include exceptions for small businesses and seasonal workers, limit who can sue an employer, and include more accountability.

Hall also wants it to be more clear that businesses can offer the required sick time up front and not have to worry about doing the math to see how much sick time someone earns based on hours worked.

“I think we’re laying out things that we need to protect in order to do a deal here,” Hall told reporters during a press conference Wednesday.

Like with the minimum wage bill, however, some Democrats are promising opposition, saying people should be able to stay home if they’re sick, regardless of how many coworkers they have.

When asked what he’s hoping to get out of any compromise legislation, House Minority Leader Ranjeev Puri (D-Canton) said he’s just trying to watch out for Michigan workers.

“There’s been a very false choice presented where we have to pick between business and workers. And I don’t think that that is the reality of the situation here,” Puri told reporters.

The main sick leave policy bill is currently before the state Senate, which is expected to take up a vote on the measure Thursday in what could end up being a long session day.

The House would likely still need to agree to whatever compromise changes the Senate could introduce before the sick leave bill goes to the governor as well.

Both the sick leave and minimum wage bills are tie-barred together, meaning neither can take effect unless both become law.