LANSING, Mich. (MIRS News) – House Democrats have 172 standing committee positions compared to 105 Republican standing committee positions going into the 2023-24 session, which is more than the 166-108 edge the GOP had on minority Democrats last session.

Despite having a slim 56-54 margin on members the Democrats gave themselves an extra seat or two on such committees as Appropriations, Elections and Education. The Dems gave themselves a 7-3 advantage on the renewed labor committee.

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However, it was the committee allocation among members that had House Minority Leader Matt Hall (R-Richland Township) miffed. He has 11 members with only one committee or subcommittee and 11 with four or five committees or subcommittees.

“Committees should be the beating heart of the legislative process, focused on helping the people of Michigan,” Hall said. “But the Democrats have made a mockery of committee appointments for partisan reasons.

“Whether stuffing committees with extra Democrats, shuffling dozens of House Republicans’ committee recommendations, or publicly releasing their own members’ subcommittee appointments days before Republicans,’ House Democrats have resorted to all sorts of tricks and stunts to keep their razor-thin majority together and pass their partisan agenda.”

When asked in the past about criticism to the committee process, House Democratic spokesperson Amber McCann has said, “I suppose when a person can’t find fault with substance, they resort to criticizing process.”

In the Senate, the Democrats have 99 seats on standing committees to the Republicans’ 49, which is about the same as the 96-45 edge the majority Republicans had on Democrats in the 2021-22 session.