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By DAVID EGGERT, Associated Press
LANSING, Mich. (AP) – The United States is considering passing last-minute laws that would weaken existing or future democratic governors and advance their conservative agenda.
In Michigan, where the GOP has held the levers of power for nearly eight years, Republican lawmakers want to relax a minimum wage law that they had approved before the elections so that it would not be passed on to them. voters and that it is now easier to change it.
Neighboring Wisconsin Republicans discuss ways to dilute Democrat Tony Evers' power prior to being replaced by GOP Governor Scott Walker. And in North Carolina, Republicans could try to evade the demands of a new constitutional amendment on voter identification before losing their legislative supermajorities and their ability to unilaterally cancel the vetoes of Democratic Governor Roy Cooper.
Republicans downplay their tactics and point out that the Democrats also held lame sessions, including in Wisconsin in 2010 before Walker took office and the GOP took control of the Legislative Assembly. But some of the measures that Republicans should take will almost certainly be challenged in court, and critics argue that such maneuvers undermine the political system and the will of the people, who voted for change.
"It's something that strikes all Michigan voters and tells them that this Republican party does not care about their voice, their point of view," said Sam Singh, leader of the Democratic Party in the House, about the strategy to control the fate of minimum wage increases required leave.
These moves would follow mid-term elections in which Democrats swept the state offices in Michigan and Wisconsin for the first time in decades, without however taking control of their gerrymander legislatures. This gives the Republicans a last push to lock in new policies, the Democrats being unable to cancel them anytime soon.
Michigan's new minimum wage and sick leave laws began as elections, but because they were preemptively enacted by lawmakers in September rather than by voters, they can be amended with votes to be taken. the simple majority rather than with the support of three quarters of the rooms.
One of the measures would gradually raise the minimum wage to $ 12 an hour and increase the wages of low-wage workers until it reaches the minimum. The other would require that employees be entitled to between 40 and 72 hours of paid sick leave, depending on the size of their employer.
It is unclear how laws could be amended to appease an anxious business lobby. The Michigan Chamber of Commerce has stated that the mandatory duration of sick leave – another 10 states also request it – would impose a "severe compliance burden" on employers, including those currently applying paid vacation policies. The group also calls on lawmakers to "be pragmatic, not extreme" and review wage increases that would make the Michigan minimum the highest in the Midwest.
Republicans seem insensitive to criticisms that cutting back on measures would thwart the resolve of voters who crudely elected Democrat Gretchen Whitmer to replace GOP Governor Rick Snyder, who has reached the limit of his term. Michigan Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof said changes to legislation are needed to "continue to keep our economy on track and not put an obstacle or hindrance" in the way of business.
The Duckblade sessions, which are commonplace in Congress, but rare among state legislatures, are frantic, as lawmakers rush to consider controversial bills or put on the back burner during the election period. The 2012 Michigan session, for example, resulted in right to work laws and a controversial status of a revised emergency manager for cities at risk, even as voters had just repealed the law former.
The lame duck period could be particularly intense this year in Michigan and Wisconsin, as they are only four states in which Republicans are losing full control of the power of government and the two legislative chambers. Legislators in the other two states, Kansas and New Hampshire, will not meet until next year.
Six states with a divided government will now be fully controlled by Democrats in 2019 and Alaska will be fully controlled by Republicans.
The Republicans of Wisconsin intend to look at various ways to protect the laws promulgated by Walker. These include limiting Evers' appointment capacity for appointments, limiting his authority over the rule-making process, and increasing the difficulty of blocking a work requirement for Medicaid recipients. They could also change the date of the 2020 presidential primaries so that a Supreme Court judge appointed by Walker has a better chance of winning the election.
In North Carolina, GOP lawmakers may use the session to go beyond the approval of additional bipartisan relief from Hurricane Florence. They should implement a voter ID requirement adopted this month by the electorate and consider another legislation that the Democratic governor would be powerless to stop until Republicans can no longer easily bypass his vetos from 2019.
Two years ago, they reduced Cooper's powers before taking office. He successfully pursued a law that reduced his role in the management of elections. Other lawsuits remain pending.
Michigan's outgoing governor, Snyder, did not take part in the bill to amend the minimum wage and sick leave laws, which would require his signature, contrary to their adoption. It is trying to persuade its Republican compatriots to increase and add new fees for cleaning the environment and upgrading water supply infrastructure. He wants the Legislative Assembly to facilitate the conclusion of an agreement for the drilling of a pipeline tunnel under Mackinac Sound. Whitmer and the state's elected state prosecutor, Dana Nessel, oppose this deal.
Proponents of existing laws on wages and sick leave have mobilized to keep them intact. MI Time to Care – the campaign supporting guaranteed paid holidays for workers who are sick or needing to stay at home with a sick family member – has made announcements, sent postcards and gone door-to-door before elections to remind citizens of their rights under the law: should come into force in March.
Chair Danielle Atkinson stated that the sick leave proposal would have been approved as a "landslide" had she been listed on the ballot.
"This is clearly why the Legislature has decided to pass it and now it should be respected as the promise it made to voters," she said.
Associated Press editors Scott Bauer of Madison, Wisconsin, and Gary Robertson of Raleigh, NC, contributed to this report.
Follow David Eggert on Twitter at https://twitter.com/DavidEggert00. His work can be found at https://apnews.com/search/David%20Eggert.
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