Lansing Update: New Legislative Session Underway as MCC Presents Policy Priorities to Officials
Posted January 24, 2025
As New Legislature Convenes, MCC Shares A Blueprint for the Common Good With Policymakers
The 103rd Michigan legislative session is underway, as are efforts by Michigan Catholic Conference staff to connect with new lawmakers and share MCC’s vision to advance the common good of Michigan through public policy.
Lawmakers began the new session January 8. The House is now controlled by Republicans, who have a 58-52 advantage. Democrats carry a slim 19-18 majority in the Senate, where there is currently one vacancy due to a member having been elected to Congress.
As with the start of each session, MCC staff work to arrange meetings with each new lawmaker to introduce themselves and share about MCC’s interest in the legislative process. There are 14 new lawmakers this session, two of whom have previously served in a different session but were recently re-elected.
As part of this process, staff are sharing with both new and existing lawmakers the latest edition of A Blueprint for the Common Good, which serves as MCC’s official public policy platform as approved by MCC’s Board of Directors.
The Blueprint consists of nine advocacy principles that guide MCC’s public policy work at the state Capitol. The advocacy principles are informed by Catholic social teaching, the Church’s application of Gospel values to the world’s affairs.
Within each of the nine core advocacy principles are examples of related policies MCC would work to support. The Blueprint is a great representation of the breadth of Catholic social teaching and how it transcends traditional ideological lines on public policy.
The Blueprint is sent to every state lawmaker, officials in the state executive branch, and priests across the state. The Blueprint is available to review online by clicking or tapping here. Free print copies are also available for order by contacting the MCC office.
MCC Supportive of Bipartisan Effort to Adjust Paid Sick Leave Requirements
MCC offered support for legislation approved by the House this week that improves the state’s new paid sick leave requirements and will ease employers’ ability to comply with the law.
The bill, House Bill 4002, makes changes to a paid sick leave law ahead of it going into effect on Feb. 21, as the law presents implications for employers of all kinds, including the Church. The Church in Michigan employs thousands of full-time employees and part-time workers, and provides a variety of generous employee benefits, including paid sick leave.
The new law would have implemented onerous recordkeeping requirements on employers and created administrative headaches when calculating time off for clergy, who work irregular schedules. To address this, HB 4002 would allow employers to front load a minimum of 72 hours for all employees, which is much easier to administer.
The paid sick time law would have also allowed employees not to provide any notice of sick time. The House bill would introduce notice requirements so that employers can be properly informed of absences, but within reason, as individuals do not know when they will get sick or, if they do, may lack the ability to notify their employer.
The new paid sick law originated from a citizens petition proposal that was adopted by the Legislature several years ago but later amended by the same Legislature, which led to litigation. Recently, the Michigan Supreme Court issued a ruling allowing the original initiative as proposed to go into effect, which prompted lawmakers to pass HB 4002 to address some issues with the initiative.
The legislation passed on a bipartisan vote in the House this week and will move to the Senate next.
Bills to Promote Safety Among Schools, Firearm Owners Signed Into Law
The Governor signed two legislative packages that MCC supported regarding school safety and firearm safety, but vetoed a third package that would have promoted restorative justice for incarcerated individuals returning to society.
Although the new legislative session has begun, the Governor is still acting on bills approved late last session. This week, Gov. Whitmer signed a package of MCC-supported bills to improve school safety procedures, with the overall goal to better protect students from school shootings through more proactive efforts to address mental health and concerning behaviors among students.
The measures signed into law include a requirement that schools set up a dedicated group of people tasked with identifying and addressing concerning behavior, as well as requiring the state to develop a standardized response plan to help guide what terms schools use to respond to certain situations—such as lockdown or shelter in place—and then require schools to adopt and implement that plan.
The Governor also signed another set of MCC-backed bills to promote the state’s safe storage requirements for firearm owners through informational notices distributed in schools.
Under the legislation, both public and nonpublic schools would be required to distribute notices about the safe storage law to parents or legal guardians of every enrolled student and be required to post a link on their website.
MCC supported the legislation that enacted Michigan’s safe storage law in the interest of better protecting human life—particularly children—from harm because of unauthorized gun use.
A third legislative package that MCC supported, which would require the state to apply for driver’s licenses for individuals who are scheduled for release from prison, was vetoed by the Governor.
The state already does this by matter of procedure, which is the reason the Governor gave for her veto. MCC supported these bills as a matter of restorative justice in supporting individuals re-entering society to get back on their feet.
March for Life, Roe Anniversary Fitting Time to Renew Prayers for Life
Today marks the annual National March for Life in Washington, D.C. as thousands of people peacefully and joyfully demonstrate for the protection of human life, particularly for the unborn.
The March each year takes place during the week of the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision, which was responsible for the deaths of more than 60 million unborn children through abortion in the 50 years the Supreme Court ruling was in place.
The Church in the U.S. liturgically recognizes January 22—the date of Roe—as a day of prayer and penance for restoration of the legal protection of the unborn, which has yet to be fully achieved in this country, particularly in Michigan.
This week marks an opportune time to pray for those marching for the protection of life in Washington, and for the protection and promotion of human life everywhere. As one suggestion for prayer, here is one of the options for the Collect prayer for Mass said on the Day of Prayer for Legal Protection of Unborn Children:
O God, who adorn creation with splendor and beauty and fashion human lives in your image and likeness, awaken in every heart reverence for the work of your hands, and renew among your people a readiness to nurture and sustain your precious gift of life. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever. Amen.