Republican leadership in the Michigan House outlined a few more details in a plan for the chamber’s Oversight Committee Thursday.
The biggest announcement was the appointment of second term Representative Jay DeBoyer (R-Clay Twp) as the House Oversight Committee chair.
DeBoyer said he plans to investigate where and how the state spends money.
“We are operating inefficiently and we are losing money to waste, fraud and abuse. So whatever those three things are, or whatever those three things is the reason, they're going to stop. We're going to make an attempt to stop them,” DeBoyer said during a press conference Thursday.
This legislative session, the committee will have the power to issue subpoenas to bring government officials before it. That’s on top of the creation of six new subcommittees to look at issues like public assistance, business incentives, and public health programming.
During Thursday’s press conference, DeBoyer argued too many reports from the state auditor general went without follow-up last legislative session while Democrats led the House.
As far as specific policies or issues he hopes to address, however, DeBoyer said he’s keeping an open mind and basing things on what he and the committee learns.
“This is not going to be a witch hunt. This is going to be a legitimate attempt to bring the state of Michigan back to the citizens and the taxpayers of Michigan. It is too far gone,” he said.
Democrats said they welcome more government transparency but caution against using the committee for political attacks.
Rep. Ranjeev Puri (D-Canton) is House Minority Leader.
“I think what we are waiting to see is how this is going to come together, if this is going to be weaponized, just to have political discussions, then I don't see the purpose of doing that,” Puri told reporters.
One place the new Oversight Committee structure could make an early impact is in the budget process.
House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Twp) has said he plans for the oversight subcommittees to work alongside new appropriations subcommittees.
Both Hall and other Republicans have brought up concerns about cutting waste in state spending and finding road funding.
On Thursday, Hall and DeBoyer waded into discussions about whether to force state employees to come back to work in person full time. Many work schedules include at least some time working from home.
“The direction and guidance I'll give to our committees from Appropriations to Oversight to others is these departments are going to have to justify why these workers are not in the workplace,” Hall said. “The presumption is going to be against them that this is a good idea.”
Whatever comes from those talks, however, will still need to be agreeable to by the Democratic-led Senate and Governor’s office.
