(C) Common Dreams
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Newly Empowered Michigan Democrats Move on Labor, Gay Rights and Guns [1]

['Mitch Smith', 'Ernesto Londoño']

Date: 2023-03-09

LANSING, Mich. — Democrats in Michigan pressed ahead with a torrent of liberal measures on Wednesday, the boldest assertion yet of their new political power since taking full control of state government this year for the first time in four decades.

In the course of a single afternoon and evening, and despite loud objections from many Republicans, the Michigan House of Representatives voted to repeal a right-to-work law loathed by labor unions, expand background checks for gun purchases and enshrine civil rights protections for L.G.B.T.Q. people in state law. On the other side of the Capitol, the State Senate voted to repeal an abortion ban that is unenforceable but still on the books. Some of the legislation must still be voted on in the other chamber, and all of it would have to be signed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, to take effect.

The rapid-fire votes were possible only because Michigan Democrats narrowly won a trifecta — control of both legislative chambers and the governor’s office — in last year’s election after spending much of the prior decade on the lawmaking sidelines.

Republicans swept into power in Michigan in the 2010s and quickly remade the state in their image, just as they did in Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin and beyond. By 2018, Republicans had full control of 26 statehouses. But Democrats have steadily rebuilt their state-level strength in the last few years, with full control now in 17 capitals — their most since 2009 and up from only six in 2017. Republicans control 22 states, including Nebraska, where the unicameral Legislature is officially nonpartisan.

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[1] Url: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/09/us/michigan-democrats-right-to-work-lgbtq-guns.html

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