Congress and the State Legislature: Is There a Difference?

By Daniel Miller, DDS Grand Rapids WMDDS E ditor

“Control of the state legislature flipped from republican to democrat” and “The US Congress now is split between republicans and democrats” were common talking points following the 2022 elections. What does this mean? What is the difference between the state legislature and Congress? As dentists, the last time many of us learned about government was in our high school civics course. However, with the ever-increasing role that government plays in our lives, it’s important that we have a basic understanding of our governmental structure. This article is a refresher course on basic civics. Let’s call it “Civics for Dentists!”

Both the state government and the federal government have a legislature. The state legislature is normally referred to as the Michigan Legislature while the federal legislature is referred to as Congress. These two governmental bodies are “bicameral,” which means they are composed of two chambers: a house of representatives and a senate. Bicameral also means that in order for a bill to pass, it must pass both chambers by a simple majority vote.

The Michigan Legislature has 148 members. This is comprised of 110 members in the House of Representatives and 38 members in the Senate. The Congress has 535 members, with 435 serving in the House of Representatives and 100 in the Senate. Michigan has a total of 15 members of Congress: 13 members in the US House of Representatives and two members in the US Senate.

Term lengths vary by chamber and whether the position is state or federal. The term length for the House of Representatives is two years in both the Michigan Legislature and Congress. The term length for the Senate is four years in Michigan and six years in Congress.

There are no term limits for members of Congress. However, in the Michigan Legislature, a person is limited to serving a total of 12 years in either the House of Representatives or the Senate (or a combination of 12 years between the two chambers).

State legislatures tend to be able to move faster. State legislators are also more accessible because they can spend more time in the community, not just in Lansing. This is different from federal officials who are in Washington DC a large portion of time. The locality of state officials can make lobbying at the state level more effective. This means that the ability to drive change is easier at the local/state level, which is why local advocacy events are important. Given the current make up of leadership in the Michigan legislature, local advocacy is more important than ever. West Michigan’s own Sen. Winnie Brinks (D) is the senate majority leader; Sen. Aric Nesbitt (R) is the senate minority leader; and Rep. Bryan Posthumus (R) is the house minority floor leader. These are all important positions, which means that West Michigan legislators have a lot of influence.

While state legislators may be more accessible, that does not mean lobbying does not occur with federal officials. In order to better address national needs, the ADA has set March 5–7 as ADA Dentist and Student Lobby Day. The MDA team plans to meet with all Michigan legislators in DC. Look for a report on Lobby Day in the next Bulletin.