Six weeks from today, we'll be going through November's election results. Michigan will have a new U.S. Senator and voters will have either given Gov. Rick Snyder another term or elected Democrat Mark Schauer to take over the job.
Six weeks from today will also mean the beginning of the state's lame duck legislative session. Lame duck – the period of time time after the November election but before a new year, begins with many new lawmakers.
The last lame duck session of the Michigan Legislature brought the passage of Right to Work. What are we going to see this year?
Rick Pluta is bureau chief of the Michigan Public Radio Network and co-host of Michigan Radio's "It's Just Politics." He says there are suspicions that something will come out of the blue.
Here's a list of some topics that will likely appear during this year's lame-duck session, according to Pluta:
- Electoral College reform
- Road funding
- Prevailing wage
Pluta says that lame duck has traditionally been a time period when lawmakers deal with controversial issues.
"If you've got a lot of lawmakers departing, like we will this year, then lame duck becomes more of a grab bag with a lot of people trying to get stuff done before they leave," says Pluta.
Pluta adds that the lame-duck sessions don't have a particular partisan makeup; Republicans and Democrats handle the opportunities and challenges of the post-election session pretty much the same way.
* Listen to our conversation with Rick Pluta above.
