LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Michigan Democrats had a singular mission last month: cram as many progressive policies as possible through the legislature as they could before the holiday break – and before they lost full control of the state House. It was an ambitious, some say reckless, endeavor. They managed to rush through nearly a hundred bills in their lame duck session.

From taxpayer-funded government health plans to anti-gun laws and corporate welfare schemes, they left no stone unturned in their quest for sweeping reforms.

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But, as they say, haste makes waste – and waste they did. In their rush to pass as many bills as possible, Democrats failed to complete the simplest step for nine of them: sending the legislation to Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s desk to get signed into law.

Speeding towards the exits.

The end-of-session chaos morphed into a political comedy of errors when nine bills that were enrolled after clearing both chambers, somehow failed to land on the governor’s desk before the Republicans took over the House.

Speaker Matt Hall responds.

During a media roundtable on Thursday, January 9th, Michigan House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Township) said that the Democrats had so many bills they rushed to get passed, they didn’t get through presenting them all. He was asked by the new clerk, Scott Starr, whether he should consider presenting them to the governor. Hall said, “No, let’s stop and let’s review this legally because it is unprecedented.” He added that the Democrats were coming up with “weird stuff” and said aloud to the media, “Can a new legislature even present what an old legislature did?” He explained that he doesn’t want to rush things and that he would look at everything “carefully” and make a decision after that.

A House Republican source told Michigan News Source that in looking into the legal issues, there is a constitutional component as well as other issues that Speaker Hall spoke about. In Article IV, Section 33 of the Michigan Constitution, it says “Every bill passed by the legislature shall be presented to the governor before it becomes law, and the governor shall have 14 days measured in hours and minutes from the time of presentation in which to consider it.”

Because the Constitution, statutory law, and the Joint Rules of the Legislature don’t specify a deadline for when a legislative house must present a bill, one of the central issues is how the term “shall” should be legally interpreted in this context.

The source called the blunder by the Democrats in not presenting the bills to the governor “mismanagement” by previous House Speaker Joe Tate (D-Detroit) in terms of governmental operations and said that Republicans are trying to “restore trust in government.”

Democrats push back on legal review.

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In a joint statement reported by the Detroit Free Press, House Democrats shifted the blame from their own incompetence to the Republicans saying, “House Republicans have a constitutional obligation to present these bills to the Governor for her review and signature. Instead, they are choosing to exploit hard working Michiganders who are trying to provide for their families because they care more about playing political games and delivering wins to their wealthy stakeholders.”

What are the nine bills about?

Among the casualties? A bill, HB 6058, to force taxpayers to foot heftier healthcare costs for government workers. Michigan Democrats have been all over X begging for something to be done about this, blaming the new speaker from holding back the legislation from the governor.

The other bills at issue that passed the Michigan House and Senate, largely along party-line or near party-line votes, include three measures allowing Detroit history museums to propose a property tax millage to Wayne County voters (HB 4177 of 2023, HB 5817 and HB 5818 of 2024) and a package (HB 4665, HB 4666, and HB 4667 of 2023) that would integrate corrections officers into the State Police pension system. Additionally, included are two bills (HB 4900 and HB 4901 of 2024) that aim to shield public assistance, disability benefits, and worker’s compensation from being garnished to repay debts.

What about the rest of the bills that weren’t submitted until after the first of the year?

According to the Gongwer News Service and Rescue Michigan, there were also about 90 bills that weren’t sent on to the governor until January 7th or 8th.

Rescue Michigan Coalition listed all of the lame duck bills here and they say, “Bills marked with an asterisk were passed in the final day of the 2023-2024 term and may not have been submitted to the governor for a timely signature. They are listed on the Legislature’s website saying: ’12/31/2024: HJ 90 Pg. 0 presented to the Governor 01/08/2025 [various times of day]’ This is extremely suspicious and these bills may not have been presented to the governor before the new year, and if presented after the new year, may have been without authorization.”

Rescue Michigan says this shows that someone apparently tried to post-date their legislative homework. The organization says, “In fact, for almost all of these bills, they are listed on the official state legislature website as ‘Presented to the governor 1/8/25’ – in posts dated December 31, complete with fabricated timestamps and references to non-existent journals.”

Hall wouldn’t be contesting these bills according to our source. The new Legislature under House Speaker Hall formally took place right before 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, January 8th, finalizing the transfer of power from the Democrats to the Republicans – and the bills submitted by previous clerk, Richard J. Brown, appear to have been submitted to the governor before that time.

In their frantic dash to secure last-minute victories, Michigan Democrats seem to have overlooked a fundamental lesson of legislative success: it’s not just about passing bills – it’s about delivering them. Hopefully the new Republican-led House will do better.