No attendance/ no voting. That’s legislative code for “don’t bother showing up at the Capitol for session because we’re not going to do anything, and no one will know you weren’t here.”

Lawmakers have not met since the end of June when we voted on the 2025 state budget. There were a handful of session days scheduled in July and August, but they ended up being “no attendance/ no voting,” and the next scheduled session day isn’t until September 11th. There will be a 9/11 ceremony in Lansing that day in honor of those who died in the terrorist attack, but there probably won’t be any voting then either. At least, that’s what we are hearing as of right now.

As a taxpayer, you should be angry.

Republicans have been calling for lawmakers to come back to Lansing now because there are a lot of issues we should be working on. But Democrats currently control the House, so they decide when we meet and what issues come up for a vote.

One time-sensitive issue is the creation of a sales tax holiday on school supplies. Republicans introduced legislation that would eliminate sales tax on school supplies for one weekend in August to help parents save money.

Costs are going up on just about everything right now due to inflation, and school supplies are not an optional expense. So we should give parents a break by making back-to-school time more affordable.

Another time-sensitive issue involves the recent Michigan Supreme Court ruling that I previously wrote about, which says all employees must receive at least minimum wage. That ruling includes restaurant employees who typically earn tips.

A lot of lawmakers, including both Republicans and some Democrats, are concerned that moving away from tipping could hurt small restaurants because it will force them to raise their prices to cover the cost of paying higher wages, and many of those restaurants won’t be able to survive. I’m worried that people are going to lose their jobs as a result. So this is something lawmakers should be working on – we need to find a compromise that protects people’s jobs.

I also think that President Trump is correct that we shouldn’t tax tips. That’s an immediate change we can make here in Michigan to help restaurant workers keep more of their money.

No taxes on tips!