Whitmer signs LGBTQ protections into law, Senate OKs gun control bills: Your guide to Michigan politics

It was another busy week for Michigan Democrats as they advanced another two of their major policy initiatives, one of which Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed into law Thursday, March 16.

The other – a cohort of bills looking to create a process to file extreme risk protection orders, mandate the safe storage of guns around minors and require universal background checks for the sale of all firearms – passed out of the state Senate earlier that same day.

It now puts the legislation in the House for consideration, with the chamber also mulling its own version of gun reform in the House Judiciary Committee.

Happy Sunday, March 19! Here’s to hoping your St. Patrick’s Day was uneventful, your weekend has been restful and your March Madness bracket has stayed mostly intact.

And if it hasn’t? Well, here’s some political news to take your mind off things. 🌈☘️

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signs an expansion of the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act to cover LGBTQ Michiganders into law. Behind her, from left, are Equality Michigan president Erin Knott, Sen. Jeremy Moss, D-Southfield; Attorney General Dana Nessel, Rep. Jason Hoskins, D-Southfield, and advocate S’Niayh Tate.

The state’s anti-discrimination law, the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, will now explicitly contain protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer Michiganders after Whitmer signed into law a bill amending the current act.

As Simon Schuster reported from the bill signing, the move was heralded as a historic advancement in civil rights for the state’s LGBTQ residents by activists and policymakers alike. Though LGBTQ residents have been fully covered from discrimination on the basis of sex since last July, when the state Supreme Court ruled 5-2 that sexual orientation was protected by Elliott-Larsen, the bill formally put those protections into state law Thursday.

This means that should a future court reverse the 2022 legal decision, LGBTQ Michiganders would still be protected from discrimination.

“There are those who continue to scapegoat this community. It seems like their sole mission is to destroy us,” Attorney General Dana Nessel, who is a lesbian, said at the bill signing in Lansing. “But we will say this: we will not relent, we will not submit, we will not ever stop striving for equal opportunity under the law for all Michiganders.”

RELATED: Michigan’s ‘right to work’ is at death’s door. What will its legacy be?

Whitmer could have also received legislation looking to repeal Michigan’s “right-to-work” laws this week as well, but the Senate ended up delaying sending a bill to do just that to her desk on March 14.

Back in January, House and Senate Democrats each introduced two versions of bills with the goal of repealing Michigan’s decade-old “right-to-work” laws – one for the private sector and one for the public sector.

The pair of House bills were poised to get Senate approval Tuesday after passing the House last week, but as Alyssa Burr reported, the Senate bill for workers in the private sector was taken up instead.

Bill sponsor Sen. Darrin Camilleri, D-Trenton, said there’s still room for negotiations with his House colleagues to ensure “the best versions” cross the finish line and the chambers are able to share the victory once that happens.

News of the delay comes as Democratic lawmakers out of the House introduced a host of pro-labor bills this month, including one weighing tax credits for in exchange for paying union dues.

Sen. Rosemary Bayer, D-Keego Harbor, rises on the Senate floor to speak in support of gun control legislation on March 16, 2023.

The Senate version of an 11-bill package installing extreme risk protection orders, universal background checks and safe storage measures into Michigan law passed out of the upper chamber Thursday, mostly along party lines.

As I reported from the Senate – only two bills within the package, Senate Bill 81 and Senate Bill 82, passed in a 22-15 vote on Thursday, March 16. The rest passed in a partisan line, 20-17 votes, with Sen. Roger Victory, R-Georgetown Township, excused from voting for the day.

“This bills do make a difference in other states, these bills do reduce gun violence in other states,” said Sen. Rosemary Bayer, D-Keego Harbor, sponsor of SB 79. “This is a U.S. only problem. … We have far and away multiple times as many gun violence incidents than any other country. There’s no reason for this except that we have no regulation.”

The bills now head over to the House for further consideration. Bayer told reporters following session that she wasn’t sure which, between the Senate’s package and the House’s own 11 bills dealing with the same topics, would ultimately head to the governor.

The lower chamber has so far only passed the universal background check portion on the House floor. It’s bills dealing with red flag legislation and safe storage remain under scrutiny as House lawmakers continue further testimony on the subject.

RELATED: Michigan lawmakers mulling felony charges for red flag reporting abuse

The day prior to the Senate’s vote, gun control activists rallied again outside the state Capitol, this time joined by a gaggle of state and federal lawmakers including Whitmer, Nessel, U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Lansing, and U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Ann Arbor.

Wednesday’s rally was organized by gun safety organization Giffords, whose founder – former Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who was also in attendance at the March 15 rally – nearly lost her life after being shot in the brain during a 2011 mass shooting during a constituents meeting outside a supermarket in the Tucson area.

As Ben Orner reports, Michigan currently holds a C+ grade from Giffords’ gun law scorecard, ranking 18th of 50 states in “gun safety strength.” But the organization says the state has made modest improvements in recent years.

“We are living in challenging times,” Giffords said Wednesday. “We are up to the challenge.”

Michigan state Rep. Helena Scott, D-Detroit, chairs the House Energy, Communications and Technology Committee in Lansing, Mich., on March 8, 2023.Ben Orner | MLive.com

The House Energy, Communications and Technology Committee put representatives from DTE Energy and Consumers Energy in the hot seat during a March 15 hearing meant to figure out why the power companies were unable to quickly restore power to residents following two back-to-back sever winter storms that knocked out power for hundreds of thousands of Michigan residents and businesses.

DTE issued $35 credits to people who had no electricity for at least four days, which cost the company an estimated $5 million. Consumer’s Energy issued their customers a $25 credit if they lost power for five or more days.

Lawmakers seemed unimpressed, Alyssa Burr reported, and compared DTE’s offering to the company’s $1 billion in earnings last year – believing the company put investors over their customers.

As a method to possibly hold energy companies accountable, the use of performance-based rates is being explored. This would allow a utility company to make money based on how it performs, rather than a traditional cost-of-service model.

“I think it’s an appropriate way to hold the utilities accountable for the investments they’re making in the grid, and make sure that those investments are working for the customers,” Trevor Lauer, president and chief operating officer of DTE Electric, a subsidiary of DTE Energy, told the committee.

The Senate Energy and Environment Committee is expected to hold a hearing on the storm outages Thursday, March 23.

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