Michigan Democrats are blaming a new Republican House majority for nine bills last year’s Democratic majority neglected to send to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for her signature.

“Michigan Teachers, Firefighters, and Police Officers: If you’re not angry right now – you’re not paying attention,” Sen. Dayna Polehanki, D-Livonia, posted to X Sunday, linking to another post by state Rep. Mai Xiong, D-Warren.

“Thousands of Michigan Public Employees (teachers, police officers, firefighters, municipal and state employees) will see their health insurance $$$ go up if HB 6058 doesn’t get signed into law,” Xiong wrote. “Even though the bill passed both Chambers, the Republican House Speaker is now unconstitutionally holding my bill back from being presented to the governor for consideration.”

Xiong’s post was accompanied by a video of the lawmaker complaining about the situation created by House Speaker Joe Tate, D-Detroit.

“My legislation would lower health insurance costs for thousands of public employees, including teachers, fire fighters and police officers,” she said. “It is so critical that we get this legislation signed into law.”

Xiong’s bill and others are in legal limbo as a result of a chaotic conclusion to Michigan’s first Democratic government trifecta in 40 years. Records show HB 6058 and eight other bills were ordered to be presented to Whitmer on Dec. 23, and that never happened, The Detroit News reports.

All nine bills initially passed the House, and were sent to the Senate, where they gained approval during an overnight session that stretched from Dec. 19 to Dec. 20. Tate adjourned the House on the morning of Dec. 19 after all Republicans and Rep. Karen Whitsett, D-Detroit, refused to vote on a slate of Democratic bills they claimed would hurt Michiganders.

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After current House Speaker Matt Hall, R-Richland Township, and his clerk Scott Starr, took office on Jan. 8, they were confronted with the nine bills that were never sent to Whitmer.

“When I leave the office of speaker someday, I’m going to make sure that every bill that is passed under my speakership is going to get presented to the governor before I leave,” Hall told reporters last week. “That’s a lesson that I just learned.”

Hall said he was unaware of the situation until Starr called to inform him.

“I said, ‘Let’s stop and let’s review this legally because it is unprecedented,” Hall said, adding that Democrats adjourned without a quorum and without a sine die resolution that typically concludes legislative sessions.

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“Can a new Legislature even present what an old Legislature did?” Hall questioned. “I don’t have answers to all this stuff. … I don’t like to rush. I stopped. I said, ‘We need a legal review. We need to look at this very carefully, understand all the legal ramifications. And then we’ll make a decision after that.'”

It’s unclear why the bills were not presented to Whitmer, and Tate did not return a request for comment from The News. Whitmer’s office also declined to comment about the situation when contacted by CBS News Detroit.

An unidentified source with knowledge of negotiations on the bills in limbo told The News Whitmer is “at best lukewarm” on the legislation.

Other neglected bills include legislation to allow Detroit’s Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History and the Detroit Historical Museum to tax residents of Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb counties, as well as an exemption for public assistance from debt collections, Bridge Michigan reports.

Hall’s legal review is rankling Michigan Democrats, who are sparring with the Republican counterparts on social media over the unprecedented situation.

“A self-proclaimed ‘constitutional lawyer’ should be able to understand a very simple sentence in the Constitution that says bills shall be presented to the Governor,” Senate Leader Winnie Brinks, D-Grand Rapids, posted to X, referring to Hall.

“Perhaps you should finish the sentence,” Rep. Jay DeBoyer, R-Clay Twp. fired back. “ … presented to the governor before it becomes law, and the governor shall have 14 days” to decide whether to sign or veto it.

“Any self-professed grammar teacher knows that sentence does not mean ‘must be presented,’” DeBoyer wrote, referring to Brinks’ tenure working in Grand Rapids schools.

The Michigan Constitution states, “Every bill passed by the Legislature shall be presented to the governor before it because law, and the governor shall have 14 days measured in hours and minutes from the time of presentation in which to consider it.”

Hall has noted the Constitution does not provide a deadline for presenting bills.

“If we take her argument ‘shall,’ it doesn’t say I ‘shall’ do it on Jan. 8 or Jan. 9,” Hall told reporters in response to Brinks’ X post, according to The News. “ … I’m just saying, I want to do a legal review.”

Steven Liedel, former legal counsel for Democratic former Gov. Jennifer Granholm, told CBS Detroit he believes the bills will ultimately die without action from the new majority.

“The new legislature has nothing to do with what was done by the last legislature, and the last legislature cannot enact things or do things that binds the next legislature,” he said. “So that’s the added complication here.”