Nine bills approved during Democrats’ chaotic lame duck session have yet to move to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer nearly a month later, with no explanation for taxpayers.
The unprecedented delay has raised questions about what happened, and who was responsible, but Democrats who bungled the bills refuse to discuss details.
The Detroit News confronted former House Speaker Joe Tate, D-Detroit, about the situation last week, which he said was caused by a “proofing and processing” delay.
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Tate did not elaborate.
“We were in the process of proofing and sending the bills over,” he said.
Tate’s House clerk Rich Brown, who now serves as deputy clerk under Scott Starr, refused to even discuss the hang-up.
“You have to ask them,” Brown said, referring to Starr and a new Republican House majority that took over on Jan. 8. “They’re the ones that held them up so you have to talk to them.”
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Gov. Gretchen Whitmer told reporters on Wednesday her office wasn’t involved. A reporter asked Whitmer if she had any insight into what caused the delay, according to The News.
“I don’t,” she said.
An unidentified source with knowledge of negotiations on the bills in limbo told The News Whitmer is “at best lukewarm” on the legislation.
The legislation in limbo includes bills to increase the burden on taxpayers for state employee health care, shift corrections officers to the state police pension system, authority to tax downstate residents for museums, and an exemption for public assistance from deb collections, Bridge Michigan reports.
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In recent weeks, Democrats have attempted to blame the new Republican majority, despite records that show the bills were ordered to be presented to Whitmer on Dec. 23.
“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,” HB 6058 sponsor Rep. Mai Xiong, D-Warren, posted to X. “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.”
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.
House Speaker Matt Hall, R-Richland Twp., told reporters he was unaware of the legislation in limbo until Starr called to inform him after the two took office on Jan. 8.
“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.
“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.’”
The careful review is not sitting well with Democrats, who have sparred with their Republican counterparts on social media over what should happen next.
“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.”
Steven Liedel, former legal counsel for Democratic former Gov. Jennifer Granholm, told CBS News 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.”