Michigan Democrats’ pension, retirement bills in limbo amid GOP ‘legal review’

• House Democrats did not send all the bills passed last session to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer before Republicans took control of the chamber
• New Speaker Matt Hall said he wants a “legal review” of the situation before deciding whether to end the bills to Whitmer
• It’s unclear what held up Democrats from sending the legislation to the governor

LANSING — Nine bills passed by Democrats last month in the final days of their state House majority are in limbo after new Republican leadership ordered a “legal review” rather than send them to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for her signature.

The bills would place correction officers in the state police pension system, require governments to pay a larger share of employee health care premiums, exempt public assistance from debt collection and allow Detroit historical museums to propose a millage.

Gongwer News Service reported earlier this week that there were 98 bills that passed the House and Senate but for unknown reasons had not yet been sent to Whitmer while Democrats were still in charge. 

New House Speaker Matt Hall, who officially became speaker on Wednesday, hit pause on nine of those bills, all of which Democrats had passed in last month’s lame-duck session.

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Hall, R-Richland Township, told reporters that House clerks had been working Wednesday morning to send the previously passed bills to Whitmer. But once the new Legislature convened, he told them to hold off.

“Can a new Legislature even present what an old Legislature did? You know, I don't have answers to all this stuff,” Hall told reporters. “I don't like to rush. I stopped. I said, ‘We need a legal review.’

“We need to look at this very carefully, understand all the legal ramifications, and then we'll make a decision after that.”

According to the Michigan Constitution, "Every bill passed by the Legislature shall be presented to the governor before it becomes law, and the governor shall have 14 days” to decide whether to sign or veto it.

There is no specification, however, when approved bills must be presented or how long the Legislature has to do so. There’s no modern precedent of a Legislature sending bills to the governor from a prior session.

Hall’s move drew criticism from Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks, D-Grand Rapids, whose chamber had given the measures final approval during a marathon session last month. 

“A self-proclaimed ‘constitutional lawyer’ should be able to understand a very simple sentence in the Constitution that says bills shall be presented to the Governor,” Brinks wrote in a post on X, referencing Hall’s past campaign characterizations of his legal background. 

The final days of Democratic control in the House ended in chaos after Rep. Karen Whitsett of Detroit refused to attend session, killing hundreds of bills after Republicans previously left the chamber in protest. 

The bills under scrutiny now had been passed out of the House in a rush, which in turn forced Senate Democrats to approve them with no changes in order to ensure they would become law without the need for additional House votes.

But the House still needed to enroll the legislation, since it originated in their chamber, in order to send it Whitmer’s way. It’s normally a parliamentary formality but has to be done while the body is in session — which it was on Dec. 31, but only to formally end the year.