Michigan House of Representatives

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.

Majority party

Minority party

Speaker of the House

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

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 the 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

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, an 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.