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Raise the age, ballot selfies, and other issues fall victim to the five-day rule

LANSING, MI (MPRN)--   It’s the final stretch of the state Legislature’s lame duck session, and some bills won’t make it to the Governor’s desk. 

Because of a procedural rule, some pieces of legislation are effectively dead.

Before a bill can move from one chamber to another, the Legislature has to wait five days. That means any bills in their original chamber that didn’t pass last Thursday were effectively dead.

Some lawmakers had hoped to change regulations on recreational marijuana, but it was too heavy a lift since changes to measures passed during an election require a three-quarters majority.

Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof had hoped to prevent people from growing recreational cannabis in their homes.

Michigan will also continue to ban ballot selfies. And a package of bills that would let 17-year-old criminal offenders into the juvenile justice system was not passed during the House’s last session day last week.

Before becoming the newest Capitol reporter for the Michigan Public Radio Network, Cheyna Roth was an attorney. She spent her days fighting it out in court as an assistant prosecuting attorney for Ionia County. Eventually, Cheyna took her investigative and interview skills and moved on to journalism. She got her masters at Michigan State University and was a documentary filmmaker, podcaster, and freelance writer before finding her home with NPR. Very soon after joining MPRN, Cheyna started covering the 2016 presidential election, chasing after Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and all their surrogates as they duked it out for Michigan. Cheyna also focuses on the Legislature and criminal justice issues for MPRN. Cheyna is obsessively curious, a passionate storyteller, and an occasional backpacker. Follow her on Twitter at @Cheyna_R