What we didn’t get under the two years of a Democratic Party trifecta in Michigan

On December 19th, Bridge Michigan posted an article with the headline, Michigan House kills hundreds of bills.

The article provided a pretty good summary of all of the proposed bills that never got voted on, in part because state lawmakers either didn’t show up to vote on them or because of partisan bickering. 

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However, the list of bills that Bridge Michigan cited were primarily mild reformist bills that  only tweaked issues that need a more robust response to unjust and oppressive realities. For example, one bill that did pass in the Lame Duck period was legislation that would protect Michigan consumers from price gouging during emergencies. Sure, this is a good thing, but it doesn’t address larger issues of corporate regulation or the fact that most Michiganders don’t make a Living Wage.

What didn’t happen with a Democratic Party trifecta in Michigan

In the 2022 elections, Michigan Democrats won a majority in both the State House and State Senate. Since the Democrats already had control of the Governor’s office, this gave them what is often referred to as a trifecta in party politics.

There was a great deal of excitement when the Democratic trifecta happened two years ago, and along with that excitement came many promises and expectations about what would happen. I wrote a three part piece in November of 2022, entitled, What Kind of Change Do We really want to see in Michigan: Part I, Part II and Part III. 

In each of those articles I addressed more structural changes that were needed, changes that could transform lives and get us closer to the kind of world – or at least state – we wanted to live in. What follows is a summary of those three articles and how the Democratic trifecta failed us in so many ways.

Driver’s Licenses for undocumented immigrants – So many Democratic Party lawmakers, including Gov. Whitmer, had promised the immigrant community that they would pass the Drive SAFE bills, which would once again allow undocumented immigrants the ability to obtain a driver’s license. Not only would driver’s licenses improving the quality of life for undocumented immigrants, it would reduce the possibility of ICE detaining or deporting family members. Movimiento Cosecha has been working on this issue for the past 7 years and in the end, the Democrats failed them by not even having a quorum last week to vote on the bills.

Increasing the minimum wage to a Living Wage – The minimum wage in Michigan is a joke, at $10.33 an hour. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, people in Michigan need to make roughly $25 an hour in order to afford the average cost of rent in the state. However, $25 an hour doesn’t cover other expenses like food, transportation, health care, etc. Sure, it was nice to see the Dems repeal the Right to Work law in early 2023, but that should only have been the first step in the fight to improve the economic conditions of working class families and individuals.

Housing Justice – There is a housing crisis all over the US and in Michigan. The cost of housing is out of reach for more than half the population and the cost of rent is ridiculously too high. The Democratic Party did not deliver on most of the bills that the Rent is Too Damn High coalition presented over the past 15 months. Plus the issue of banning the current Michigan law, which doesn’t allow for rent control was never even really considered. 

Environmental Justice – Gov. Whitmer made it a promise when she took office in 2018 to shut down the Enbridge oil pipeline, known as Line 5. With the Democrats in control of the State Legislature, they could have made that a priority, but didn’t. In fact, Enbridge is still moving forward with plans to build a tunnel under Lake Michigan for Line 5. In addition, there are new mining projects in the UP, projects that would not only contaminate the water and the soil, these projects are in violation of Indigenous Rights and Indigenous sovereignty. 

Transportation Justice – Michigan Democrats decided to take the easy way out and push for electric cars, when they could have given the the billions of taxpayer subsidies that went to EV production and the auto industry, and instead us that money to develop mass transit systems. Electric cars are an improvement over fossil fuel cars, but they don’t address other longterm and structural issues, like parking, traffic congestion and land use.

The Prison Industrial Complex – Policing and mass incarceration have been issues that are front and center, especially for BIPOC communities in recent years. Michigan’s Democrats have not fundamentally altered funding for police departments, in fact they have increased funding. In addition, the Prison Industrial Complex – policing, the courts and the jail/prison infrastructure – has not been addressed, despite the fact that violent crime has been on the decline for several years. 

Education Justice – Funding for public education is still deeply inadequate in Michigan. Parents, students and education advocates across the state are left angry and dismayed as Michigan legislators fast-tracked tax breaks for corporations rather than prioritize our families and schools. Critical bills, including teaching accurate and inclusive history, continuing to aid debt relief in Detroit, updating outdated sex education, paid family leave, a supplemental for Bridgeman schools, and closing tax loopholes among many other important issues for Michigan families were derailed by the Governor, Speaker Tate, Senate Leader Brinks and Representative Karen Whitsett.

While these are only some of the issues that the Democratic Party failed us on, we need to think hard about how we can create mass movements that will get us what we want and want we need. We also need to address the fact that when Democrats have a majority in local, state and federal government systems, it doesn’t translate into structural changes that are necessary to improve the lives of communities across Michigan. Another World is indeed possible, but only if we don’t rely on political parties. We have to create the world we want from the ground up.