LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is MIA while Lansing tries to come up with a solution to save tipped wages and avoid new sick time rules in the state before a Feb. 21 deadline kicks in.

Senate holds hearings while clock ticks down.

The Michigan Senate is holding another committee meeting on Wednesday after introducing two bills to keep the new minimum wage policies from taking effect. The Michigan House has already introduced its version of said bills.

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While lawmakers from both parties try to come up with a solution, Gov. Whitmer is spending an unknown amount of time on an overseas trade mission in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. A slew of executives are traveling with Whitmer, including her stalwart sidekick, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC). The MEDC is responsible for siphoning tax dollars and giving it to Chinese companies to set up shop in Michigan. Gotion in Big Rapids and CATL in Marshall are two such projects.

“She needs to be here.”

Whitmer appears to be letting lawmakers flail and fail much like she did during the lame duck session of her own Democratic party in December 2024. That’s when the Democratic-controlled House failed to take up the restaurant bills, a move Republicans said stemmed from then Speaker Rep. Joe Tate (D-Detroit) going back on a promise to do so. Whitmer’s absence was felt then, too.

Without legislative action, new laws will kick in that will alter sick leave standards and hike the minimum wage. That means tipped wages will be phased out. In media reports, State Senator Roger Hauck (R-Mount Pleasant) compared Whitmer’s current trip to ancient Roman emperor Nero fiddling while Rome burned. “She needs to be here…something needs to get done with this,” he said.

Sen. Aric Nesbitt (R-Porter Township) is running to replace the term-limited Whitmer in 2026. Last week he posted on social media that “Michigan deserves more than a part-time governor and wannabe influencer.”

 

Tipped workers are showing up.

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Sen. Hauck also pointed out on a video to constituents that “mom and pop shops” will be hit the hardest if the legislature does not act. “The people that work in the restaurant industry that rely on their tips because the harder they work the bigger their tips are going to be-  they do not want this.” He continued,  “I have not had anybody from the other side call and advocate for this proposal to go through,” he said, referencing the Michigan Supreme Court’s ruling that puts new minimum wage policies into place by Feb. 21.

Meanwhile in Wednesday’s committee hearing, Save MI Tips spokesman John Sellek pointed out how many tipped wage workers keep showing up to tell Lansing the same message.

 

Nesbitt said 1 in 5 Michigan restaurants will likely close and 50,000 jobs will dissipate if the legislature fails to act. Michigan’s restaurant industry has already taken a hit after Gov. Whitmer’s arbitrary COVID-19 shutdowns in 2020 and 2021 lead to mass closures.