The following student report was submitted by Ambassador League Agent Joshua E. during the 2007-2008 League.
Observation of Legislative Session and Committee Hearing
I fulfilled my committee hearing and legislative session requirements by going to Lansing on Wednesday, April 23rd, the same day I shadowed my State Representative, Aldo Vagnozzi. In planning the assignment, I looked up meeting dates on the Michigan House of Representatives website and found a day on which Rep. Vagnozzi had a committee hearing as well as a legislative session.
The meeting I attended was a hearing of the Michigan Representative Appropriations Committee. I had been informed earlier by Rep. Vagnozzi's aid that nearly all bills have to make it through the Appropriations committee because it holds the keys to funding. In truth, I expected a fairly boring meeting in which the members would simply scroll through the line-itemed pages and approve the bills with no intrigue whatsoever.
Representative Cushingberry, the Chair of the Appropriations Committee, called the meeting to order somewhat late because it had only been added to the schedule a few hours earlier and some representatives were late. The meeting began with Rep. Cushingberry extolling the virtues of Michigan State University and all of its very successful satellite Universities (Eastern, Western, Oakland, Grand Valley, etc.). The point of this was to prepare the committee for the upcoming discussion concerning funding for state colleges and special programs aimed at the creation of jobs.
Following this discussion, the bill presented was House Bill 5221, which would put $799 million towards these special projects. The bill would create 29,000 new jobs, and would improve airport safety, recreation projects, military facilities, MDOT facilities, and property development. The primary purpose of the bill was to increase jobs. The most interesting part of the meeting was when Representative John Proos asked the proponents of the bill why it contained such a large margin for error in estimations of cost. He brought up that the bill provides for an additional 20% of the original grant should the costs exceed expectations. He asked whether other bills were allowed such a large margin for waste. Sharon Schaffer, a lobbyist in support of the bill, addressed his question by stating that her group was trying to get an audit on the expenses in order to formulate a line-item budget, and that they would not know total costs until the projects were actually begun.
Unfortunately, the bill was still passed on from the committee with favorable recommendation to the House floor, where it was passed that same day. Representative Elsenheimer made the made the following statement in protest to the passage of the bill:
"Mr. Speaker and members of the House: This bill contains a huge amount of pork, and has the potential to lock up available funds for capital projects for up to 4 years. We've got to start to take some responsibility for our spending. The people of Michigan are asking for fiscal discipline, and we are giving them pork in an election year. There may well be some investments here that make sense, like the airport funding. But this bill goes far beyond the sensible." Despite losing the bill, I really enjoyed seeing the objection of Representative Proos, and wrote an e-mail to him in support of his efforts. It is good to know there are still legislators out there trying to tame the beast.
After the meeting, I went to the House Chambers Gallery to witness the legislative session. To my surprise, I found several hundred Right to Life advocates outside the viewing area, and the guards would not admit any more observers. I found out from talking to several bystanders and advocates of the bill that a ban on partial-birth abortion was being debated in the House (SB 0776). The Senate had already approved the bill, and this was the culmination of a monumental effort from Right to Life and their representatives in the legislature.
I was finally (after 20 minutes or so) admitted into the gallery to observe the session for 20 minutes or so. After some time of milling around, the representatives adjourned for caucus meetings to discuss SB 0776 and strategize. The Right to Life leaders told us that they would not reconvene for at least an hour and fifteen minutes, and it was at this time that I had to leave due to other commitments that day.
I was, however, able to talk to several activists on my way out. One bystander I talked to said that "100% of republicans and 25% of democrats in the Michigan House are pro-life and support this bill. But the democrats keep postponing the actual vote, trying to shut it down by not dealing with it. We just need to get it to the floor - the only problems now are procedural." Another talked of how, when he used to live in Farmington Hills, he would go every Monday and Friday morning to the local abortion clinic to pray. The dedication to the sanctity of life among the crowd as a whole was inspiring, and I will be praying for the passage of the bill.
Overall, the committee hearing and legislative session were informative and more interesting than I had expected. Both meetings closely resembled my experiences in the mock legislature at SSI, and I am impressed by how good of a job the SSI staff has done at the re-creation of the legislative process. I enjoyed the happenings in the Capitol and look forward to my next trip to Lansing.
