Nine bills passed by Democrats but stalled by Republican House Speaker Matt Hall at the start of the year’s legislative session should be sent to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s desk for signature, a Michigan Court of Appeals panel ruled. The ruling marks a victory for Democrats in a court battle that’s spanned much of the year.
In the ruling, published Monday, Oct. 27, Judge Thomas Cameron said a lower court correctly interpreted the law when it said the measures — approved by Democrats at the end of the 2024 session but never sent to the governor to be signed into law — should have been advanced when Hall and House Republicans assumed majority control of the chamber. While Court of Claims Judge Sima Patel sided with Senate Democrats earlier this year, she declined to order the House to present the bills, saying it’s not been the historical role of the court to enforce legislative rules. The newly published appellate ruling sends the case back to the Court of Claims, this time with an order to issue mandamus, or to compel the House to present the bills to Whitmer’s desk.
“We conclude that the Court of Claims erred in denying plaintiffs’ request for a writ of mandamus,” Cameron wrote, with Judge Daniel Korobkin concurring. Cameron is a 2017 appointee to the court by former Gov. Rick Snyder, while Korobkin was appointed earlier this year by Whitmer.
In a separate opinion, Judge Christopher Murray agreed the bills should have been presented, but wrote the time period to present the bills had already passed and there was no legal remedy for Senate Democrats. Murray was appointed to the court in 2002 by former Gov. John Engler.
The appeals court didn’t order the Court of Claims to issue mandamus in a specific timeframe, instead opting to allow the court to determine when the bills must be presented.
The stalled bills include measures to increase government contributions to public employees’ health care costs, allow corrections officers and other law enforcement personnel to opt in to the Michigan State Police retirement programs, exempt certain public assistance benefits from debt collection and allow Wayne County to ask voters to levy a millage to fund history museums in Detroit.
The bills were passed during the so-called lame duck session after the November 2024 election and before Republicans took control of the House in January. Hall, at the start of the year, said the bills had not been presented by House clerks and ordered a legal review before determining the bills did not need to be presented, arguing it’s not the job of a current legislative body to carry out the tasks of a previous one. Hall’s decision prompted a lawsuit from Senate Democrats.
Michigan’s constitution states that in order to become law, a bill must be passed by both chambers and then be presented to the governor’s office for consideration. The governor then has 14 days to decide whether to sign the bill once it’s presented.
“At a time when Republican leaders across the country are breaking the law and getting away with it, this is a particularly meaningful win,” Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks, D-Grand Rapids, said in a statement. “No matter how deep our political differences, the Constitution must be followed. Skirting the law is bad enough, but it’s so much worse that they did it in the name of stopping bills that would have helped thousands of their constituents make ends meet.”
A request for comment sent to Gideon D’Assandro, director of communications and operations for House Republicans, wasn’t immediately returned Oct. 27. House Republicans hold the right to appeal the ruling to the Michigan Supreme Court for consideration.
Barring an appeal, the case returns to Patel, the Court of Claims judge, to order the House to present the bills to Whitmer.
Whitmer’s communications director Bobby Leddy did not say whether the governor intends to sign the legislation. “We are reviewing the decision,” he wrote in a text message to the Free Press.
Staff writer Clara Hendrickson contributed.
Contact Arpan Lobo: alobo@freepress.com
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Leftover bills from previous session must go to Whitmer, panel rules
Reporting by Arpan Lobo, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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