{"id":7680,"date":"2020-12-11T21:29:30","date_gmt":"2020-12-12T01:29:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.mml.org\/wp\/inside208\/?p=7680"},"modified":"2020-12-11T21:29:30","modified_gmt":"2020-12-12T01:29:30","slug":"lame-duck-round-up-week-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mml.org\/inside208\/2020\/12\/11\/lame-duck-round-up-week-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Lame Duck Round Up – Week 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

We entered this second week of lame duck expecting action on bills along multiple fronts as the legislature positioned themselves to wrap up activity for the year next week. Instead, this second week ended up feeling a little more like waiting in limbo as the House cancelled all of their session and committee activities due to COVID concerns.\u00a0 That left the week’s action to center on the Michigan Senate, which had already moved most of the bills on their agenda over to the House last week.\u00a0 With the lack of House activity this week, that means most of the work left will fall on that chamber next week, while the Senate waits for the return of any items that will require Senate concurrence.\u00a0 It is possible that the lame duck session will now be extended into the week of Christmas to ensure enough time to get any agreed up bills completed before the term ends.<\/p>\n

Despite the absence of House action, the Senate did move the most critical item on the League’s agenda for lame duck.\u00a0 Senate Bill 1246 (Theis)<\/a>, which amends the Open Meetings Act to provide an extension for remote\/virtual public meetings until the end of March 2021, moved out of the Senate with an overwhelming 36-1 vote in support of the extension.\u00a0 This bill will be at the top of our list to push out of the House next week, once they return to session.<\/p>\n

The following is a brief summary of action that occurred this week on other bills that the League\u2019s State & Federal Affairs team is engaged with\u2026<\/p>\n