Michigan Votes Forum

Introduced in the Senate on June 27, 2007, to amend the Standing Rules of the Senate so that a majority of Senators "present and voting" cannot order a "Call of the Senate," under which the Senate is essentially forced back into session, with the sergeants-at-arms and state police sent forth to gather members who are not present. The rule change was passed in the context of conflict between the Republican Senate majority and Gov. Granholm regarding whether the body should not adjourn for two weeks in early July, but instead stay and pass $1.2 billion in tax hikes that the governor is pressing for. Under the rule as changed by this vote, a majority of those "elected and serving" are needed to order a call of the Senate, meaning Senate Democrats could not do so without some Republican votes

The vote was 20 in favor, 17 opposed and 1 not voting

(Senate Roll Call 205 at Senate Journal 65)

Click here to view bill details.

Senator Schauer asked and was granted unanimous consent to make a statement and moved that the statement be printed in the Journal. The motion prevailed. Senator Schauer's statement is as follows: I would hope the sponsor of the resolution will speak to the reason and motivation behind this resolution. As I read it--and I have just seen it for the first time--this would change the Standing Rules of the Senate. It would change the threshold for ordering a Call of the Senate. Now here is what I think is very interesting. First, I ought to note that the Senate is having a hard enough time doing its job, and if there was a circumstance where there was not a majority of members here, okay, and we had critical business to do, for example, balancing the state's budget, and there was a motion for a Call of the Senate in order to get all of the members necessary, or at least a majority, where this body could function. This rule change would prohibit that, so it would penalize this minority, in this case, that was here to do the business of this body, such as balancing the state's budget. This would say that a Call of the Senate shall be ordered by a majority of the Senators elected and serving. The current language says it shall be ordered by a majority of Senators voting, whether a quorum or not exist. Now let's keep in mind these were your rules. These were approved unanimously, I recall, in January and now for some reason--you know, I don't think any of us should vote for this unless we hear a proper rationale for changing the rules of this body. So it really nullifies the necessity of having this rule in our Standing Rules in the first place. Again, the relevance of having this rule is if there are not the members here to conduct the business of this body, I guess this weakens the Senate. It offers another excuse for the Senate not to do its work in the first place. I think we ought to do our job. We ought to show up, and we ought to do our work. This offers another excuse from this happening. So I would urge a "no" vote for both Democrats and Republicans, especially if we don't hear an explanation of why this improves this body.