See you in 2010, Legislature!

After several marathon session days last week (seriously - into the wee hours of the morning Friday and Saturday and not adjourning until Saturday afternoon), the Legislature is out on its holiday break until January 13, 2010.  That means there is time for our lobbying staff to dig out our desks and clean out e-mails before the madness begins again. So what happened in these last few weeks? The Legislature passed and the Governor signed the smoking ban for bars and restaurants that goes into effect on May 1, 2010. On Saturday the Legislature finally concured on the Race to the Top legislation that includes school reforms and federal funding for new programs. The League was able to hold off a few problems including keeping HB 5671 (the public employee health care reporting mandate) in the House for now and an amendment in the Pure Michigan package (HBs 5018, 5088 and 5089) that will protect future revenue sharing.  We expect a big focus on 2010 on health care (both the Speaker's plan and likely something from the Senate) and obviously the 2011 budget is going to be a HUGE challenge.  So off to clean out my inbox and start thinking about finishing my holiday shopping!