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There’s no question that Republican leaders engaged in an unprecedented display of raw political power when they took control of the state House in January and promptly blocked nine bills from going to Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s desk for her to sign or veto.
That is despite the fact that the bills had been adopted by the House and the Senate last year and probably would have been sent Whitmer’s way had the House remained under Democratic control. But, upon taking the gavel, GOP House Speaker Matt Hall ordered the House clerk to sit on the bills and they remain still in legislative limbo nine months into the current session.
This week, attorneys for Senate Democrats faced off against House GOP lawyers in a Michigan Court of Appeals courtroom in Detroit to argue constitutional law, legislative prerogatives and who is ultimately responsible for ensuring that bills get moved to the governor’s desk.
The nine bills deal with letting Detroit historical museums seek a regional property tax millage, allowing corrections officers to join the Michigan State Police pension system, increasing local government contributions to employee health care costs, and prohibiting debt collectors from garnishing public assistance payments.
But the salient question argued before the three-judge appeals court panel on Tuesday was whether the House is required to transmit the bills to the governor after they were adopted by both chambers.
Mark Brewer, the attorney for the Senate Democrats, argued the House GOP leadership’s power grab violates the Michigan Constitution, which requires all bills adopted by the House and Senate to go to the governor.
“They insist that there’s no deadline, that this duty is completely unenforceable, that it’s simply up to the Legislature to decide,” he said. “That would cause chaos and other problems.”
But would it?
Kyle Asher, the attorney for the House Republicans, argued this has never been argued before because these issues have always been settled in legislative negotiations rather than courtrooms.
“So, this court should leave it to the Legislature to resolve its own disputes as it's done in every other instance in the past,” said Asher.
Or maybe, said Brewer, it’s because no legislative leader has been so brazen until now to derail bills on their constitutional path to the governor.
Brewer argued sending bills adopted by both chambers to the governor is not discretionary, but a required responsibility of the clerks who process legislation. He said the fact that the Legislature adjourned last year before that work was finished is irrelevant.
Transmitting these nine bills to the governor was a final bit of unfinished business this year when the House Democrats handed off the gavel to the new Republican majority.
It is still not clear why or how that work was left undone before the new session began in January. It’s also interesting that Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer has declined to weigh in. (On this week’s It’s Just Politics, we dig into the Lansing mystery of just why a pretty standard clerical function didn’t get done and why Whitmer, who has at least some interest as the person who signs and vetoes bills, hasn’t engaged.)
This case was in front of the Court of Appeals this week because back in February Michigan Court of Claims Judge Sima Patel ruled that, yes, the state constitution says the House should send the bills to Whitmer’s desk. But, she split the difference by declining to issue an order to enforce the determination because the judicial branch shouldn’t tell the legislative branch how to do its job.
We don’t know when we’ll get a decision from the Court of Appeals panel, but it’s a near certainty that this will go to the Michigan Supreme Court for the final word.
What’s not certain: will Lansing ever know, on the record, why the nine bills weren’t transmitted? If you have any clues, email us at politics@michiganpublic.org.
Get caught up:
- Is Lansing headed toward its own constitutional crisis?
- Is Lansing headed toward its own constitutional crisis? Part II
- Is Lansing headed toward its own constitutional crisis? Part III
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A judge dismisses charges against Michigan’s 2020 so-called ‘fake electors’, the ‘nine bills’ lawsuit between the state House and state Senate is back in court, and three weeks before a possible partial government shutdown, there’s no obvious signs of a budget deal in Lansing.
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What we’re talking about at the dinner table
Whitmer engages: With less than three weeks before a possible partial government shutdown, Governor Gretchen Whitmer will deliver what her office is calling a major economic speech Tuesday in Lansing to try and sell her stalled budget plan to the Legislature and the public. She is expected to say a state budget deal will help alleviate some of the economic uncertainty stoked by federal tariffs and soft nationwide jobs numbers. Michigan’s new unemployment report comes out next week and it’s probably not going to be great. Michigan’s 5.3% jobless rate in July was among the highest in the nation.
School bills: Adding to that budget tension, some school districts are starting to look at short-term loans to carry them if a partial government shutdown means they don’t get their monthly payments from the state. Because the House and Senate remain far apart on the budget, school officials are operating right now with pretty much no idea what their state assistance will be after October 1. K-12 schools are already two and a half months into their fiscal years. They could be facing dramatic changes in their funding, depending on what lawmakers come up with when they come up with it.
Possible fake electors appeal: Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is considering an appeal after an Ingham County judge tossed felony charges against 15 Republicans who signed false certificates declaring Donald Trump the winner of Michigan's electoral votes in 2020 when Joe Biden actually won the state. Lansing District Court Judge Kristen Simmons said the prosecution was unable to show criminal intent by the fake electors to commit fraud. The Democratic attorney general will have 21 days to file an appeal once the judge shares the written decision with the parties. The case has lingered for two years. One of the accused false electors, 84-year-old John Haggard, died shortly after the judge’s ruling.
Rick Pluta & Zoe Clark
Co-hosts, It’s Just Politics
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IJP ON THE ROAD:
Michigan Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist says there was a credible bomb threat on his home in Detroit this week. Gilchrist urged people to commit to ending what he called an escalating pattern of political violence. The announcement came just two days after conservative activist Charlie Kirk was killed. Gilchrist was a guest on this week’s Off the Record. Zoe was a panelist. They discussed the outbreak of political violence in the United States, stalled state budget negotiations and Gilchrist’s run for governor.
