LANSING, Mich. — Wednesday is the start of state Legislature for the new year.
It's the first time in 40 years, Democrats will have control of the House, Senate and governor's office.
The House will also become majority Democrat for the first time since 2008.
Even though the Democrats are in control, it doesn't mean all initiatives will pass through as they only have a slight majority.
Leaders have made it clear they are ready to get to work, and they have many priorities for this session.
READ: Whitmer, Gilchrist tackle packed agenda in a second term
Gun control remains a top agenda item with a focus on restrictions. It includes things like requiring background checks for nearly all gun purchases, gun storage laws and a red flag law that bars people deemed to be a danger to themselves and others from having a firearm.
Democrats could also look at a right-to-work law Republicans approved a decade ago that allows workers covered by union contracts not to pay dues.
The law is seen as weakening organized labor financially and politically. Labor unions, among Democrats’ biggest supporters, have been pushing to repeal it. Business groups and the GOP say doing so would hurt the state’s recovery from the pandemic.
Some additional top-of-the-line items include tax credits, education changes and action on climate change.
The Legislature will also work to put the ballot measures in place that voters overwhelmingly approved in November.
READ: ‘You’ve got to deliver’: Democrats take charge in Michigan
One expands voting access, allowing nine days of early in-person voting for the first time in the state. The other enshrines the right to an abortion in the state constitution and eliminates a ban on the procedure that was approved in 1931. Whitmer sued to stop the ban from taking effect after the U.S. Supreme Court in June overturned the Roe v. Wade ruling from 1973 that legalized abortion nationwide.
“So it is our job to make sure that, no matter what happens in Washington D.C., Michiganders can have that protection," said Governor Gretchen Whitmer. "We've got to go in and scrutinize all the laws on the books that are zombie laws, dormant laws, laws no one thinks about or don’t make sense in 2023 and beyond, and we need to get those off the books," she said.
Swearing-in ceremonies are first on the schedule where constituents will see the first female senate majority leader, Winnie Brinks from Grand Rapids.
The state will also have the first African-American become speaker of the house and the first Muslim as a majority floor leader.
To add, Democrats control the statewide offices of the attorney general and secretary of state.
