The Michigan Senate voted Wednesday to let its Democratic leadership sue on behalf of the chamber to have nine bills that passed the Legislature last session forwarded to the governor.
The bills deal with topics like corrections worker pensions, state employee health insurance premiums, and museum millages.
They passed both chambers of the state Legislature last session but procedurally never made it to the governor’s desk before party control of the Michigan House switched from Democratic to Republican.
Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks (D-Grand Rapids) said there’s no timetable yet for filing a lawsuit to have the bills sent over, and what comes next depends on the new speaker of the House Matt Hall (R-Richland Twp).
“We'll make that decision as facts become clearer about how the speaker intends to respond. Ideally, he would take this opportunity to do the right thing and send those bills to the governor without us having to pursue further legal action,” Brinks told reporters Wednesday.
The House Clerk’s Office was in the process of presenting the final bills passed during the 2023-2024 legislative session to the governor when the new lawmakers were sworn in. After taking charge, Hall said he asked the new House clerk to pause pending a legal review.
Brinks said Wednesday that the review has taken long enough.
“I believe there's an obligation if legislation has been passed properly by both bodies, it should be delivered to the governor's desk,” Brinks said.
Hall views things differently.
“There’s just a lot of legal and constitutional questions and, the more we look into it, the more we find,” Hall said during a press conference Wednesday afternoon. He added, “The Senate has no role in telling the House what to do.”
Hall and other Republicans have blamed Democrats for dragging their feet in sending the bills along in the first place, arguing the problem is their fault.
He said he felt like a lawsuit from the Senate would be, “wasting taxpayer dollars.”
It’s unclear what specific legal arguments any potential lawsuit would make in a court. But Brinks said she feels the Senate, and other state employees who could see their benefits plan costs go down, are harmed parties.
Brinks said the Senate has both internal and outside legal counsel at its disposal.
The state constitution doesn’t outline a timeline for forwarding bills on to the governor after passing the Legislature.
