Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel on Monday reversed course on her threat to prosecute lawmakers who walked out of last year’s lame duck session.

“On the House Republicans and Dem Rep. Whitsett, who did not attend the final House sessions of last term, Nessel said she will NOT charge either with willful neglect of duty, and said her remarks during lame duck were based on frustration,” Gongwer Michigan reporter Ben Solis posted to X.

Nessel’s comments came at a year-end roundtable with the Capitol press corps on Monday, when she also weighed in on transparency reforms for the governor and legislature that failed to gain approval last year.

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“It’s wildly inappropriate for the state attorney general to falsely accuse lawmakers of committing a crime, out of frustration,” Michigan House Republicans posted to X in response to Solis.

All House Republicans, along with Rep. Karen Whitsett, D-Detroit, walked out of the lame duck session in disgust last month after Democrats refused to address a looming crisis for the restaurant industry and other top priorities like the state’s $3.9 billion road funding shortfall.

Instead, Democrats focused on LGBTQ issues, early release for felons, driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants, new labor laws, prisoner voting and other “crazy, divisive issues,” incoming Michigan House Speaker Rep. Matt Hall, R-Richmond Twp., said in a series of press conferences last month.

The walkout effectively paralyzed the Democratic majority, leaving Speaker Rep. Joe Tate, D-Detroit, unable to move legislation for the remainder of December.

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“Article IV of the Michigan Constitution defines the role of the Legislature and how it is to be construed,” Nessel lectured in a post to X. “The chief purposes of the Legislature are to enact new laws and amend or repeal existing laws.”

Nessel pointed to MCL 750.458, which states “every willful neglect to perform” that doesn’t involve a special provision “constitutes a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for not more than 1 year or a fine of not more than $1,000.”

“What Rep. Whitsett and the MI House Republicans have chosen to do today is literally criminal,” Nessel wrote.

Nessel’s implied threat prompted an immediate backlash from lawmakers in both parties, as well as a notice for Nessel from Hall.

“House Republicans, we’re not going to be bullied by the attorney general. We’re a separate branch of government, and we’re the legislative branch, and under Michigan’s laws and constitution we have the authority to look at her budget. We set her budget,” Hall said.

“And her office is out of control, so there’s a lot of changes we’re going to have to make to her budget to stop her from going after innocent Michiganders time after time after time,” he said. “There will be oversight hearings, trying to get her to justify all of these radical things she’s doing.

“I mean, she’s spending your tax dollars to lose frivolous lawsuits. People should be outraged by that. So we’re not going to stand for it, we’re not going to be bullied by her, and it’s unbelievable she would even make that threat.”

A new Republican majority will be sworn in to the House on Wednesday, and a Republican source told The Midwesterner preparations are already in place to follow through on Hall’s promise.

Hall is planning an expansive oversight committee that will scrutinize Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration and other aspects of state government, including Nessel’s office and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson.

The oversight committee, according to the source, will include six subcommittees: Weaponization of State Government, Child Welfare System, Corporate Subsidies and State Investments, Public Health and Food Security, Homeland Security and Foreign Influence, and State and Local Public Assistance Programs.

The source tells The Midwesterner Hall’s focus is on changing the culture of Lansing to ensure that taxpayer dollars are being used solely for the public benefit.