On Monday, House Speaker
Jase Bolger (R-Marshall) removed eight House Democratic members from committee
assignments due to unexcused absences. Speaker Bolger’s decision was in
response to House Minority Leader Tim Greimel’s (D-Auburn Hills) request to
remove Republican members who left early from a House Insurance Committee
meeting on no-fault insurance reform. Bolger also instructed committee chairs
to stop granting approved excuses unless the member notified the chair before
the meeting commenced.
Democrats were removed
from the House Agriculture Committee (Doug Geiss of Taylor and Jim Ananich of
Flint); Commerce Committee (Stacy Erwin Oakes of Saginaw); Energy and
Technology (Rudy Hobbs of Southfield and Marilyn Lane of Fraser); Criminal
Justice (Oakes); Local Government (Woodrow Stanley of Flint); Health Policy
(Kate Segal of Battle Creek); and Tax Policy (Rep. Harold Haugh of Roseville).
By the end of the week,
tensions appeared to be easing between the House leaders. Five of the committee
assignments were reinstated by Wednesday and the remaining members were
reinstated on Thursday afternoon. In a
prepared statement, Bolger and Greimel both pledged to move forward to address
the issues facing the state.