LANSING – When the Michigan Legislature returns to session Thursday it opens an almost unique lame duck session, and the question comes down to what will be accomplished?

The current legislative leaders differ on how much the agenda of the lame duck session can be set or accomplished. Senate Majority Leader Ken Sikkema (R-Wyoming) laid out an ambitious agenda of six items, including a replacement for the Single Business Tax.

How the lame duck will shape out will be up to the governor, House Speaker Craig DeRoche (R-Novi) said Wednesday.

“There’s a lot of different numbers in that equation,” DeRoche said of the governor weighing whether to move on proposals she may have an easier time getting through next term with Democrats in charge of the House.

Granholm, through spokespersons, said she wants to see the Legislature complete action on the $4,000 Merit scholarship. The proposal has already passed the Senate.

Republicans are ready to hunker down and work on policies in cooperation with Democrats that move Michigan forward, DeRoche said, though he wouldn’t commit formally as to which issues the chamber would take up.

DeRoche said he had only sent a note to the governor Wednesday morning and would have to sit down with her in the coming days to sort through what will get done. At this point, replacement to the SBT got a “we’ll wait and see answer” from DeRoche, as did movement on the cable franchise bill (HB 6456 ).

He did say that he had made a commitment to Granholm that work would begin on her Merit Award proposal, and that was something he did intend to work on now that the election was over.

In a press conference, Sikkema said he thought the key issues in the lame duck session would be HB 6456, the video franchising bill; a replacement for the SBT; school employee health insurance reform (SB 895 , SB 896 , SB 897 and SB 898 ); the elimination of preliminary examinations, welfare reform legislation and passage of the capital outlay budget.

Of those, he thought video franchising, the end of preliminary examinations and capital outlay were in the best position for passage.

In terms of the SBT, Sikkema said he was not wed to an overall tax cut so long as the replacement tax helps spur competition and growth. Ms. Granholm has insisted that the replacement tax be revenue neutral.

He also has not come out in favor of a specific proposal, but he liked the idea of also eliminating the state’s personal property tax.

The state does have 14 months in which to act on an SBT replacement, but Sikkema was hopeful it could act more quickly.

And he acknowledged the political difficulties in passing school employee health insurance changes, but he said it was a proposal the state must act on eventually.

House Minority Leader Dianne Byrum (D-Onondaga) said a meeting will have to take place between the quadrant of Republican and Democratic leaders and the governor before she could speculate as to what lame duck would look like – a meeting she expected would occur in the next several days.

“It could be a short lame duck,” she said. “I think that would be possible.”

Jobs and the economy will continue to be priority number one, Byrum said, but also commented that attention will be placed on education via Granholm’s Merit plan and increased accessibility to healthcare.

“Our future depends on an educated workforce,” she said.

Asked whether the issue of drug immunity, discussed many a time on the campaign trail, would rear its head this lame duck, Byrum said that would likely happen in the next term. She also said that Democrats will be focused on addressing the trash issue in a reasonable way.

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