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While much attention is being paid to the brewing constitutional crises in Washington D.C., a possible state constitutional crisis (albeit with smaller stakes) is underway in Lansing.
The issue: whether a chamber can sit on a bill without sending it to the governor after it has been adopted by the House and the Senate. The School House Rock version is a bill gets sent to the executive’s desk once both chambers approve it. But that does not take into account partisan intrigue and inter-chamber rivalries in the legislative branch.
Let’s get caught up: when the state House of Representatives ended its session last year in chaos, nine bills that the Democrat-controlled chamber had passed never got sent to Governor Gretchen Whitmer. When Republican House Speaker Matt Hall took charge of the House in January, the chamber’s new clerk let him know that these bills had not been transmitted to Whitmer and were, thus, in legislative limbo. Before deciding what to do (including whether or not to send the bills to Whitmer) Hall asked for a legal review.
The Democrat-controlled Senate sued and in a brief filed this week on behalf of Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks accused Hall and Republicans of “a brazen attempt to place themselves above the law - indeed, above the State Constitution.”
This all leads to a multitude of legal and state constitutional questions that haven’t had to be asked in recent Lansing memory including: whether there’s a loophole (or is it a feature?) that allows one chamber to indefinitely hold onto bills even after they’ve been passed by both the state House and Senate. And, what role and power does one branch of government (the judiciary in this case) have over another (the legislative).
Senate Democrats say all bills adopted by both chambers must go to the governor and that refusing to forward the bills is effectively a veto, which is a power exclusively exercised by the governor.
“The constitution is clear: Every bill passed by the Legislature shall be presented to the governor before it becomes law,” said Brinks in a statement. “And there is no shortage of precedent: For at least 150 years, Michigan governors have signed bills after the adjournment of the legislative session at which they were passed.”
Brinks was referring to the House Republican argument that one session of the Michigan Legislature cannot bind a future legislature.
"If there is any obligation at all to present a bill to the governor, that obligation must belong to the legislature that passed the bill — not a subsequent and wholly distinct legislative body, which cannot be legally bound by its predecessor,” reads the House Republican argument filed earlier this week.
Hall has said there is no controversy because the House is holding the bills to review for possible technical flaws, although there would be no way to fix any problems without new legislation in this new term. The House Republicans also argue that Hall cannot be sued for actions taken in his role as speaker and that this is an internal controversy within the legislative branch and the judiciary courts should stay out of it.
Under the Michigan Constitution, the governor has 14 days to sign or veto a bill once it is delivered to her desk. But there is no specific deadline for the Legislature to send the bill once it is adopted. Why is that?
“It seems like the constitution should have some guideposts about this eventuality, but you can’t think of everything,” says University of Michigan law professor Nicholas Bagley. “That’s a dispute that’s informed not only by the constitution’s text but by norms that have arisen by the houses of the Legislature over time.” That is, the culture of the Legislature and expectations built into the process could play a role in resolving the dispute.
These issues are set to be reviewed by Michigan Court of Claims Judge Sima Patel, who ordered oral arguments to take place on February 24th. To be continued.
Digging Deeper: So what are the nine bills currently in limbo? The policies at stake include exempting public assistance payments from debt collection, public employee pensions and health benefits and allowing a voter-approved regional millage for Detroit museums.
Have questions about Michigan politics? Or, just want to let us know what you want more of (less of?) in the newsletter in 2025? We always want to hear from you! Shoot us an email at politics@michiganpublic.org!
What we’re talking about at the dinner table
Pot for potholes: It’s Just Politics pod listeners know that Governor Gretchen Whitmer released her much-anticipated road funding plan this week. The $3 billion dollar plan includes a proposed $1.6 billion dollar tax on Big Tech like Amazon, X, Facebook and TikTok, half a billion dollars in unspecified cuts to the state budget and a $470 million dollar wholesale tax on marijuana products. Years ago in Michigan there was a running joke about funding the state’s deteriorating infrastructure through taxes on pot and it quickly got dubbed “pot for potholes”’ Well, half a decade (and some number of edibles later), the idea is back. However, math enthusiasts will note, the proposed tax amounts to only about 30% of the total plan. Meantime, if you’re asking yourself just how a tax on Facebook and TikTok would work, you’re not alone. Bridge Michigan’s Simon Schuster joined us to explain how a tax like this in other states is already being challenged in court.
Minimum wage moves: The question over what will happen in the ongoing fight over the state’s minimum wage, tipped wage and paid-sick leave laws continues as the state Senate worked late into Thursday night to pass a bipartisan bill to supplant a Michigan Supreme Court ruling that’s set to take effect next Friday. Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks, a Democrat, put up the changes to the state’s tipped and minimum wages but it was Republicans who put up a majority of ‘yea’ votes. As the Michigan Public Radio Network’s Colin Jackson reports, “While the Senate passed a minimum wage proposal Thursday, it held off on possible changes to the state’s sick leave law, which is also supposed to take effect next Friday. Wording in the Senate minimum wage bill stops it from taking effect unless lawmakers also pass a House sick leave proposal, too. That House bill has been before the Senate for weeks. But negotiations on what a final version will look like are still ongoing.” House Speaker Matt Hall told reporters this week that he’s let his caucus know to expect to be in Lansing next Thursday and possibly into a rare Friday session as negotiations continue.
Valentine’s Day pressure campaign: Michigan Senate Republicans continue their push to have Governor Gretchen Whitmer call a special election to fill the state Senate seat left vacant by the election of Congresswoman (and now former state senator) Kristen McDonald Rivet. The Michigan Thumb district is a swing seat that could easily flip to Republicans. This matters in an already tight 19-18 Senate make-up because a GOP pickup would put the Senate in a 19-19 tie (Democratic Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist would be the tie-breaking vote). With Whitmer out of the country on an overseas trade trip, Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt sent a letter this week to Gilchrist asking him to call the special primary and general election to fill the seat. And today Republicans went social to post a little Valentine’s Day message:
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Happy Valentine’s Day! (We’re thinking we might just order in pizza.) Yours in political nerdiness,
Rick Pluta & Zoe Clark
Co-hosts, It’s Just Politics
