Editor’s note: Shortly after this story went live, the Michigan House voted in favor of House bills 4001 and 4002. They must still be approved by the Senate and governor if they are to become law.

Legislation before the Michigan House will fix imminent harmful change to the state’s paid sick leave and tipped wage law, supporters say, and lawmakers of both parties claim they have a solution to changes that could devastate restaurants, stores, nonprofits and others.

The Republican-controlled House could vote on House bills 4001 and 4002 as early as today.

Voter-initiated laws passed in 2018 force all businesses to provide paid sick leave and a higher minimum wage starting Feb. 21, though current legislative activities could modify those requirements.

Proposals to modify the impending changes are bipartisan, with Democrats offering Senate Bill 8 and Senate Bill 15 in the upper chamber, which they control.

Rep. Jamie Thompson, R-Brownstown, posted a side-by-side bill comparison on social media Jan. 12.

“Tip workers and restaurants testified today in committee that keeping (the law) as is, is crucial to the worker and the business,” Thompson told Michigan Capitol Confidential in a Jan. 14 email.

The looming laws don’t provide business owners flexibility, Thompson said.

A new law will require employers to give paid sick leave to all employees, CapCon has reported. Only state agencies are exempt.

House Bill 4002, introduced by Rep. Jay DeBoyer, allow employers to discipline employees for missing three or more consecutive workdays without notice. It also defines paid leave to include vacation, personal days, sick leave or paid time off.

HB 4002 exempts from sick leave law seasonal employees who work 25 weeks or fewer per year and part-time employees who work 25 hours or fewer per week. State employees, and certain employees of airlines or railroad companies

House Bill 4002 exempts small businesses and employers with fewer than 50 employees. It does not redefine what constitutes a small business.

The Senate version of the sick-leave bill, SB 15, redefines a small business to include employers with fewer than 25 employees. Current law defines a threshold of fewer than 10 employees.

House Bill 4001 and Senate Bill 8 both increase the minimum wage, though the House uses a slower schedule.

House Bill 4001 would use this schedule:

• Jan. 21, 2025: $12.00
• Jan. 1, 2026: $12.50
• Jan. 1, 2027: $13.00.
• Jan. 1, 2028: $14.00.
• Jan. 1, 2029: $15.00.

Senate Bill 8 would increase the minimum wage on this schedule:

• Jan. 21, 2025: $12.48
• Jan. 1, 2026: $13.73
• Jan. 1, 2027: $15.00.

Both House and Senate bills call for automatically increasing the minimum wage. The Senate version’s automatic adjustment take effect earlier (2028) than the House’s (2030).

The two bills differ in the mechanism for calculating inflation adjustments. The Senate bill calls for using the consumer price index for urban wage earners while the House bill uses a measure of inflation for the Midwest, which generally reflects the region’s lower cost of living.

It’s a new legislative term, and one of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s first calls for action was to increase taxes.

“To my friends in the GOP: fixing the roads in a sustainable way means looking for new, fair sources of revenue,” Whitmer said in a Jan. 16 press release.

Whitmer’s primary campaign promise in 2018 was to fix Michigan roads. Seven years later, the governor is still talking about roads. But her latest comments did not say where the increased revenue will come from. Options could include raising the gas tax, enacting toll roads, or creating a mileage tax.

“We can’t just cut our way to better roads. Defunding public safety or public health is not the way to fix potholes,” Whitmer added in the press release.

Sen. Aric Nesbitt, R-Paw Paw, used a Jan. 16 social media post to criticize Whitmer’s handling of roads.

“She had 6 years, a 40% increase in state revenue, a legislative trifecta and a $9 billion dollar surplus,” Nesbitt wrote on X.

Nesbitt criticized Whitmer’s spending priorities, which have been dominated by corporate handouts, and he said the governor does not have a long-term plan to fix the roads.

“Governor Whitmer’s speech on Wednesday proved she heard nothing the people of Michigan said this past November,” said Nesbitt in an email to CapCon. Nesbitt recently announced that he will run for governor in 2026, when Whitmer will be term-limited out of office.

Michigan Capitol Confidential reported in April that the share of roads assessed as in good or fair condition will drop over the next year.

The Transportation Asset Management Council reports that 25% of Michigan’s roads were in good condition in 2024, while 38% were in fair condition, and 37% were in poor condition.

But the share of roads in good condition will drop to 20% by 2034, the council said. The share in fair condition will drop to 32%, and the share in poor condition rise to 48%.

The council is expected to update those numbers in a new report to be published in the first half of the year.

In the months before Whitmer took office, projections for road conditions showed a slight improvement and then a slight decrease in the percentage of good/fair roads.

“The governor could have improved road quality by spending more of the state’s growing budget on road repair,” said James Hohman, fiscal policy director at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. “She spent gains on corporate welfare and pork instead.”

Shortly after taking office in 2019, Whitmer proposed a 45-cent gas tax increase, an idea that a House Democratic leader declared dead by August 2019. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Michigan received a large cash infusion in federal aid and it had a $9 billion surplus during the 2023-2024 legislative term. Lawmakers spent most of it, though not to ramp up spending on roads. Under a one-term Democratic trifecta, the state promised $4.6 billion in corporate subsidies.

Though the governor is calling again for more taxes, newly elected House Speaker, Matt Hall, R-Richland Township, has other ideas. Hall proposed a plan on Jan. 16 to use $3.1 billion in annual revenue to fix local roads without raising taxes. The plan would pull $1 billion from subsidy programs, $600 million from the general fund, $500 million from legislative earmarks, $500 million from the corporate attraction fund. It also would rely on dedicating to the roads all taxes paid at the pump, expected to raise $945 million.

Whitmer did not respond to an email seeking comment.