The last week of lame duck was one of unexpected occurrences. There was no session on Tuesday due to the meeting of the Electoral College in the Senate Chambers. On Wednesday, one Senate Democrat and one House Democrat each said they would not attend session. This left both chambers without enough Democrats to pass anything. Compounding that was the continued boycott by House Republicans. The House couldn’t even officially meet because they didn’t have a quorum.

On Thursday, rumors were still swirling that one House Democrat, Rep. Karen Whitsett (D-Detroit), would not come to Lansing. As the morning went on, we learned she was coming after all. Shortly after she reached the Capitol, the Speaker ordered a Call of the House. This is an order to report to the House Chamber and once you are in the Chamber, you cannot leave until the order is lifted. The Speaker also has the ability to deputize the State Police to go retrieve absent members. He did not take this step.

But after just over an hour and with no additional members in the Chamber than when it started, the Speaker abruptly adjourned session until December 31 at 1:30 p.m. to close their session year. The Senate continued to meet overnight into Friday and did not adjourn until 3:00 pm. In that time, they could not make changes to bills they passed because the House would not meet again to concur on changes. It was reported that they had set a “modern record” for session length at 29 hours. They then adjourned until Dec 30 at 11:30 a.m. to officially close their session year.

The bills related to education passed that have been sent to the Governor include:
                House Bills 4095-4096 - Require MI State Police to establish standardized response terminology for emergency situations and requires schools to adopt it. (MASB supports)
                House Bill 4485 - Extends statute of limitations for criminal sexual conduct. (MASB opposes)
                House Bill 4854 - Allows Native American students to wear traditional regalia at ceremonies of honor at school. (MASB supports)
                House Bills 5231-5234 - Require certain information about a charter school's authorizer and Education Management Organizations to be printed on school signage and promotional materials. (MASB neutral)
                House Bill 5269 - Requires the salaries of all employees of a charter school to be posted on their website. (MASB supports)
                House Bills 5450-5451 - Require information on the new laws regarding the safe storage of firearms to be provided to all parents annually. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services would create the document, and districts would be required to share it by October 1 of each year, beginning in 2025. (MASB supports)
                House Bill 5549 - Requires school districts to have behavioral threat assessment and management teams in each school building. (MASB supports)
                House Bill 5594 - Updates work permit requirements and moves administration to the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Growth. (MASB supports)
                House Bill 5659 - Codifies the school safety commission and sunsets the current commission. (MASB supports)
                House Bill 6058 - Makes changes to Public Act 152 by raising the hard cap for insurance costs as well as requiring any district using the 80/20 option to make that the minimum amount covered. (MASB has concerns, read more here)

Bills related to education that we were watching but did not make it to the Governor include:
                Senate Bill 285 - Require Kindergarten.
                Senate Bill 354 - Require acceptance of a national certification test for out-of-state teachers to be certified.
                Senate Bill 463 - Mandate FAFSA completion as a graduation requirement.
                Senate Bills 651-652 and 653-654 / House Bills 6002-6003 and 6004-6005 - A comprehensive package regarding vape store regulations and licensing.
                Senate Bill 870 - Allow remote meeting participation for members of a public body with a disability.
                Senate Bills 943-944 and 946-947 - Expand budget transparency requirements to Education Management Organizations that oversee charter schools.
                Senate Bills 1079-1080 - Broad changes to the Workers Compensation Act.
                Senate Bill 1186 - Technical fix to the prevailing wage law to make clear that bond projects approved before Feb. 13, 2024, are not subject to the state prevailing wage requirements.
                Senate Bills 1190-1191 / House Bill 4486 - Extends the statue of limitations for criminal sexual conduct, makes the law retroactive to 2021, removes local government immunity for "should have known" offenses.
                House Bill 4671 - Allow school districts to start before Labor Day without a waiver.
                House Bill 5174 - Requires one hour of instruction on organ donation for all 9th graders.
                House Bill 5735 - Remove course titles in the Michigan Merit Curriculum requirements.
                House Bill 5741 - Adds "Stop the Bleed" instruction to the health education content standards.
                House Bills 5865-5867 - End "dark store" theory of property valuation.
                House Bill 5889 - Require school districts to distribute information on "sextortion" and related laws to students, parents and staff.

These bills will have to be reintroduced in the new session in order to be considered again. The 103rd Legislature regular session starts today at noon with the ceremonial swearing in of the House of Representatives. We'll have more about the new session's outlook in a future edition of DashBoard.