Michigan House of Representatives

Michigan House of Representatives
Michigan State Legislature
Type
Type	Lower House of the Michigan Legislature
Term limits	3 terms (6 years)
History
New session started	January 14, 2015
Leadership
Speaker of the House	Kevin Cotter (R) Since January 14, 2015
Speaker pro Tempore	Tom Leonard (R) Since January 14, 2015
Majority Leader	Aric Nesbitt (R) Since January 14, 2015
Minority Leader	Tim Greimel (D) Since January 1, 2013
Structure
Seats	110
Political groups	Majority      Republican (61) Minority      Democrat (46)      Vacant (3)
Length of term	2 years
Authority	Article IV, Section 3, Michigan Constitution
Salary	$71,865/year + expenses
Elections
Last election	November 4, 2014 (110 seats)
Next election	November 8, 2016 (110 seats)
Redistricting	Legislative Control
Meeting place
House of Representatives Chamber Michigan State Capitol Lansing, Michigan
Website
Michigan House of Representatives

The Michigan House of Representatives is the lower house of the Michigan Legislature. There are 110 members, each of whom is elected from constituencies having approximately 77,000 to 91,000 residents, based on population figures from the 2010 U.S. Census. Its composition, powers, and duties are established in Article IV of the Michigan Constitution.

Members are elected in even-numbered years, and take office on the January 1 following the November general election; the House first meets on the second Wednesday in January, according to the state constitution. Each member is limited to serving three, two-year terms. The House meets in the north wing of the Capitol in Lansing.

Title

Members of the House of Representative are commonly referred to as representatives. Because this shadows the terminology used to describe members of Congress, constituents and news media, using the Associated Press guidelines for journalist, often refer to members as state representatives to avoid confusion with their federal counterparts. As elected officials, members of the House of Representatives also receive the courtesy title of the Honorable (abbreviated to Hon. or Hon'ble) for life.

Composition

Affiliation	Party (Shading indicates majority caucus)					Total
	Republican		Democratic		Ind		Vacant
End of Previous Legislature	59		50		1	110	0
Begin 2015 session	63		47		0	110	0
February 3, 2015			46	1
April 16, 2015	62	1
August 3, 2015			45			109	1
September 11, 2015	61					107	3
Latest voting share	57%		42.1%	1%

Leadership

Majority party

• Speaker of the House: Kevin Cotter of Mt. Pleasant (R-99)
• Speaker Pro Tempore: Tom Leonard of DeWitt (R-93)
• Majority Floor Leader: Aric Nesbitt of Lawton (R-66)
• Majority whip: Rob VerHeulen of Walker (R-74)
• Majority Caucus Chair: Peter Pettalia of Presque Isle (R-106)
• Chief Deputy Majority Whip: Andrea LaFontaine of Columbus (R-32)
• Associate Speaker Pro-Tem: Ray Franz of Onekama (R-101)
• Associate Speaker Pro-Tem: Laura Cox of Livonia (R-19)
• Assistant Majority Floor Leader: Ken Yonker of Caledonia (R-71)
• Assistant Majority Floor Leader: Daniela Garcia of Holland (R-90)
• Majority Caucus Vice Chair: Eric Leutheuser of Hillsdale (R-58)

Minority party

• Minority Leader: Tim Greimel of Auburn Hills (D-29)
• Assistant Minority Leader: Fred Durhall III of Detroit (D-05)
• Assistant Minority Leader: Vanessa Guerra of Saginaw (D-95)
• Minority Floor Leader: Sam Singh of East Lansing (D-69)
• Assistant Minority Floor Leader: Gretchen Driskell of Saline (D-52)
• Assistant Minority Floor Leader: LaTanya Garrett of Detroit (D-07)
• Assistant Minority Floor Leader: Derek Miller of Warren (D-28)
• Assistant Minority Floor Leader: Jeremy Moss of Southfield (D-35)
• Minority Whip: Robert Kosowski of Westland (D-16)
• Minority Caucus Chair: David E. Rutledge of Yspsilanti (D-54)

Members

Cora B. Anderson House of Representatives Office Building, Downtown Lansing

District	Representative	Party	County(ies)	Term
1	Brian Banks	Dem	Wayne	2nd
2	Alberta Tinsley-Talabi	Dem	Wayne	3rd
3	Wendell Byrd	Dem	Wayne	1st
4	Rose Mary Robinson	Dem	Wayne	2nd
5	Fred Durhal III	Dem	Wayne	1st
6	Stephanie Chang	Dem	Wayne	1st
7	LaTanya Garrett	Dem	Wayne	1st
8	Sherry Gay-Dagnogo	Dem	Wayne	1st
9	Harvey Santana	Dem*	Wayne	3rd
10	Leslie Love	Dem	Wayne	1st
11	Julie Plawecki	Dem	Wayne	1st
12	Erika Geiss	Dem	Wayne	1st
13	Frank Liberati	Dem	Wayne	1st
14	Paul Clemente	Dem	Wayne	3rd
15	George Darany	Dem	Wayne	3rd
16	Robert Kosowski	Dem	Wayne	2nd
17	Bill LaVoy	Dem	Monroe, Wayne	2nd
18	Sarah Roberts	Dem	Macomb	3rd
19	Laura Cox	Rep	Wayne	1st
20	Kurt Heise	Rep	Wayne	3rd
21	Kristy Pagan	Dem	Wayne	1st
22	John Chirkun	Dem	Macomb	1st
23	Pat Somerville	Rep	Wayne	3rd
24	Anthony Forlini	Rep	Macomb	3rd
25	Henry Yanez	Dem	Macomb	2nd
26	Jim Townsend	Dem	Oakland	3rd
27	Robert Wittenberg	Dem	Oakland	1st
28	Derek Miller	Dem	Macomb	1st
29	Tim Greimel	Dem	Oakland	3rd
30	Jeff Farrington	Rep	Macomb	3rd
31	Marilyn Lane	Dem	Macomb	3rd
32	Andrea LaFontaine	Rep	Macomb, St. Clair	3rd
33	Ken Goike	Rep	Macomb	3rd
34	Sheldon Neeley	Dem	Genesee	1st
35	Jeremy Moss	Dem	Oakland	1st
36	Peter Lucido	Rep	Macomb	1st
37	Christine Greig	Dem	Oakland	1st
38	Kathy Crawford	Rep	Oakland	1st
39	Klint Kesto	Rep	Oakland	2nd
40	Mike McCready	Rep	Oakland	2nd
41	Martin Howrylak	Rep	Oakland	2nd
42	Lana Theis	Rep	Livingston	1st
43	Jim Tedder	Rep	Oakland	1st
44	Jim Runestad	Rep	Oakland	1st
45	Michael Webber	Rep	Oakland	1st
46	Bradford Jacobsen	Rep	Oakland	3rd
47	Henry Vaupel	Rep	Livingston	1st
48	Pam Faris	Dem	Genesee	2nd
49	Phil Phelps	Dem	Genesee	2nd
50	Charles Smiley	Dem	Genesee	3rd
51	Joe Graves	Rep	Genesee	2nd
52	Gretchen Driskell	Dem	Washtenaw	2nd
53	Jeff Irwin	Dem	Washtenaw	3rd
54	David Rutledge	Dem	Washtenaw	3rd
55	Adam Zemke	Dem	Washtenaw	2nd
56	Jason Sheppard	Rep	Monroe	1st
57	Nancy Jenkins	Rep	Lenawee	3rd
58	Eric Leutheuser	Rep	Branch, Hillsdale	1st
59	Aaron Miller	Rep	Cass, St. Joseph	1st
60	Jon Hoadley	Dem	Kalamazoo	1st
61	Brandt Iden	Rep	Kalamazoo	1st
62	John Bizon	Rep	Calhoun	1st
63	David Maturen	Rep	Calhoun, Kalamazoo	1st
64	Earl Poleski	Rep	Jackson	3rd
65	Brett Roberts	Rep	Jackson	1st
66	Aric Nesbitt	Rep	Van Buren, Kalamazoo	3rd
67	Tom Cochran	Dem	Ingham	2nd
68	Andy Schor	Dem	Ingham	2nd
69	Sam Singh	Dem	Ingham	2nd
70	Rick Outman	Rep	Montcalm, Gratiot	3rd
71	Tom Barrett	Rep	Eaton	1st
72	Ken Yonker	Rep	Kent	3rd
73	Chris Afendoulis	Rep	Kent	1st
74	Rob VerHeulen	Rep	Kent, Ottawa	2nd
75	Vacant		Kent
76	Winnie Brinks	Dem	Kent	2nd
77	Tom Hooker	Rep	Kent	3rd
78	Dave Pagel	Rep	Berrien, Cass	2nd
79	Al Pscholka	Rep	Berrien	3rd
80	Vacant		Allegan
81	Dan Lauwers	Rep	St. Clair	2nd
82	Vacant		Lapeer
83	Paul Muxlow	Rep	Sanilac, St. Clair	3rd
84	Edward Canfield	Rep	Huron, Tuscola	1st
85	Ben Glardon	Rep	Clinton, Shiawassee	3rd
86	Lisa Lyons	Rep	Kent, Ionia	3rd
87	Mike Callton	Rep	Barry, Ionia	3rd
88	Roger Victory	Rep	Ottawa	2nd
89	Amanda Price	Rep	Ottawa	3rd
90	Daniela Garcia	Rep	Ottawa	1st
91	Holly Hughes	Rep	Muskegon, Ottawa	2nd
92	Marcia Hovey-Wright	Dem	Muskegon	3rd
93	Tom Leonard	Rep	Clinton, Gratiot	2nd
94	Tim Kelly	Rep	Saginaw	2nd
95	Vanessa Guerra	Dem	Saginaw	1st
96	Charles Brunner	Dem	Bay	3rd
97	Joel Johnson	Rep	Arenac, Clare, Gladwin, Osceola	3rd
98	Gary Glenn	Rep	Midland, Bay	1st
99	Kevin Cotter	Rep	Isabella, Midland	3rd
100	Jon Bumstead	Rep	Lake, Newaygo, Oceana	3rd
101	Ray Franz	Rep	Benzie, Leelanau, Manistee, Mason	3rd
102	Phil Potvin	Rep	Mecosta, Osceola, Wexford	3rd
103	Bruce Rendon	Rep	Iosco, Missaukee, Ogemaw, Roscommon	3rd
104	Larry Inman	Rep	Grand Traverse	1st
105	Triston Cole	Rep	Antrim, Charlevoix, Cheboygan, Otsego	1st
106	Peter Pettalia	Rep	Alcona, Alpena, Crawford, Montmorency, Oscoda, Presque Isle	3rd
107	Lee Chatfield	Rep	Cheboygan, Chippewa, Emmet, Mackinac	1st
108	Ed McBroom	Rep	Delta, Dickinson, Menominee	3rd
109	John Kivela	Dem	Alger, Luce, Marquette, Schoolcraft	2nd
110	Scott Dianda	Dem	Baraga, Gogebic, Houghton, Iron, Keweenaw, Marquette, Ontonagon	2nd

*: Indicates Representatives removed from their parties' caucuses.

Officials

Speaker of the House

Main article: List of Speakers of the Michigan House of Representatives

The Speaker of the House of Representatives is the presiding officer of the House and the leader of the majority party. The 72nd and current Speaker is Kevin Cotter, a third-term Republican from Mt. Pleasant.

The Speaker calls the House to order at the hour to which the House last adjourned, preserves order and decorum in the chamber, recognizes Members to speak, and puts all questions. The Speaker is the chief administrator of the House and is technically the employer of all legislative staff. There is also a Speaker pro tempore and two associate Speakers pro tempore who preside in the absence of the Speaker. The full duties of the Speaker are described in Chapter II of the Rules of the House.

Clerk of the House

Clerk of the Michigan House of Representatives
Incumbent Gary L. Randall since January 12, 2011
Style	Mister Clerk
Appointer	Elected by the House
Term length	Pleasure of the House (nominally a two-year Legislature)
Inaugural holder	George R. Griswold

The Clerk of the House of Representatives is elected by Members of the House at the beginning of each two-year term. The 33rd and current clerk is Gary L. Randall. Randall also served as clerk from 1999 to 2006. The assistant clerk is Richard J. Brown, who served as clerk from 2007 to 2010. Both Randall and Brown are former Members of the House.

Under the rules of the House, the clerk is the parliamentarian of the House, presides in the absence of the Speaker or any Speaker pro tempore, takes roll at the beginning of each session day and announces whether or not a quorum is present, prepares the official calendar and journal of the House, is responsible for the care and preservation of all bills introduced in the House, and for bills sent from the Senate until they are returned to the Senate.

Sergeant at Arms

The sergeant at arms of the House of Representatives is the chief police officer of the House, appointed by the Speaker. The current chief sergeant at arms is David D. Dickson, Jr.

The chief sergeant and the assistant sergeants are empowered as law enforcement officers by statute. The sergeants at arms have authority to serve subpoenas and warrants issued by the House or any duly authorized officer or committee, see that all visitors are seated and at no time are standing on the floor or balconies of the House, ensure that reasonable decorum is maintained in the lobby immediately in front of the entrance to the chamber to ensure access for Members and to ensure equal treatment for all citizens.

Committees

Article IV of the Michigan Constitution authorizes each house of the Legislature to "establish the committees necessary for the conduct of its business." The House does much of its work in committees, including the review of bills, executive oversight, and the budget and appropriations process. Members of committees and their chairmen are appointed by the Speaker. Bills are referred to a committee by the Speaker, and the chairman of a committee sets its agenda, including whether or not a bill will be reported to the full House. The Committee on Appropriations divides its work among subcommittees ordinarily structured by state department or major budget area.

There are also four statutory standing committees: Joint Committee on Administrative Rules; House Fiscal Agency Governing Committee; Legislative Council; Michigan Capitol Committee.

Unlike the Senate, the House does not utilize the committee of the whole.

House Fiscal Agency

House Fiscal Agency

Agency overview
Headquarters	Cora B. Anderson House Office Building
Employees	23
Annual budget	$3,105,200
Agency executives	Mary Ann Cleary, Director Kyle I. Jen, Deputy Director
Parent department	House Fiscal Agency Governing Board (Michigan House of Representatives)
Website	house.mi.gov/hfa/

The House Fiscal Agency is a nonpartisan agency within the House of Representatives which provides nonpartisan expertise to members of the House Appropriations Committee, as well as all other Members of the House. Fiscal analysts review the governor's budget recommendation, review and prepare budget bills, supplemental appropriations, and certain transfer requests, provide fiscal impact statements on legislative proposals, monitor state and national situations that may have budgetary implications, research and analyze fiscal issues, prepare reports and documents to assist legislative deliberations, and prepare special reports at the request of Representatives. The economist analyzes legislation related to tax and lottery issues, respond to Representatives' inquiries regarding state tax revenue, revenue sharing, and other economic issues, monitors state revenue, tracks state and national economic conditions, and prepares reports on revenue and other economic issues. Legislative analysts prepare concise, nonpartisan summaries and analyses of bills. Summaries, completed prior to committee deliberations, describe how a bill would change current law, including any fiscal impact. Analyses are prepared for bills reported to the full House from committee and include, with the summary information, a description of the problem being addressed, arguments for and against the bill, and positions of interested organizations.

The agency is governed by a six-member board consisting of the chairman and minority vice chairman of the Appropriations Committee, the Speaker of the House and the minority leader, and the majority and minority floor leaders. The governing committee is responsible for HFA oversight, establishment of operating procedures, and appointment of the HFA director. The director is one of three state officials charged with annually forecasting the state's revenues at the Consensus Revenue Estimating Conferences, which are held at least twice each year.

In January 1993, a front-page story in The Detroit News detailed a massive scandal in the House Fiscal Agency. For six years, the agency's imprest account was used to finance credit card payments, vacations, and property tax payments as well as payments to HFA employees and contract workers for non-existent workers. The scandal threatened to collapse the joint leadership agreement between the Democrats and Republicans brought about by a 55-55 partisan split in the House from the 1992 election. It resulted in Representative Dominic J. Jacobetti of Negaunee in the Upper Peninsula, the longest-serving Member in history, losing his position as chairman of the powerful Appropriations Committee.

See also

• Michigan Senate
• Michigan Legislature
• State House elections in Michigan, 2008
• Michigan House of Representatives elections, 2010
• Michigan House of Representatives elections, 2012
• American Legislative Exchange Council members

External links

• Democratic Caucus, Michigan House of Representatives
• Republican Caucus, Michigan House of Representatives
• Michigan House of Representatives
• Voting Records
• Michigan House District Map