Passes nine bills and then neglects to send them to Governor Whitmer for signature
By Patrice Johnson | January 16, 2025
The Democrat majority of Michigan’s lame duck legislature had passed a trove of last-minute bills this past December. Both chambers had voted approval. The Senate and House versions were reconciled. For nine bills, all that remained was to give them a final proofread and transmit them to the governor for signature into law. But a strange thing happened on the way to the governor’s mansion. House Leader Joe Tate (D) neglected to send the nine bills to Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D). She never signed them, so they were not enacted into law. Now, the new Republican majority says it is too late.
“In Michigan’s 200 years of legislative history, this has never happened before,” said former state representative Paul Opsommer. “This shows the great incompetence of the leadership in the prior legislature. The Democrats were in complete control, and Joe Tate (D) was Speaker of the House. This failure sits squarely on his shoulders and on the shoulders of the House clerk.”
Existing law is clear. It prohibits past legislatures from telling the new legislature what to do. The old can’t encumber the new.
The 102nd legislative session declared Sine Die on Dec. 31. In other words, it adjourned with no appointed date for resumption, so the 102nd Legislature is history. Its business is kaput. Finished.
Meanwhile, the 103rd Legislature has commenced. Democrats still hold the majority in the Senate, but House majority control switched to Republican as the result of the Nov. 5, 2024, election. Representatives were sworn into office on January 8, and the new Speaker of the House is Rep. Matt Hall (R).
A new sheriff is in town.
Sen. Jim Runestad (R), who had voted in opposition to each of the bills, said, “It appears that Speaker Hall will have the final say as to whether these forgotten bills are sent to the Governor. In that case, I hope that the Speaker will not feel the need to clean up the Democrat’s mess. These bills were passed out of the Senate during the Democrat’s lame duck bonanza, and most were not properly vetted in committees.”
Rep. Rachelle Smit (R) expressed frustration amid rumors that Democrats have asked Attorney General Dana Nessel to intercede and try to push the bills over the finish line. “Democrats cheat in elections, and they even cheat in legislating. It’s why they can’t be trusted with power. The people who will use sophistry and aggressiveness to convince you a girl is a boy don’t feel that they have to obey any rules that slow down their radical agenda” Smit, the new Speaker Pro Tempre, is next in line to wield the gavel in Hall's absence.
One of the forgotten bill packages, House Bill 4177, 5817 and 4818, imposed a Detroit Museum tax, authorizing counties to create History Museum Authorities, which could tax local residents with no guarantee that their tax dollars would be spent locally.
“Supporters of the plan want to force people to pay for museums they have no interest in visiting,” Opsommer said, and he added that museums are already funded by private donations and user fees. “Once the authority and tax are created, nothing would stop a rogue authority from sending taxpayer money outside the county of origin, like Oakland County paying for museums in Detroit.” State representatives Tyrone Carter (D-Detroit) and Rep. Samantha Steckloff (D-Farmington Hills) sponsored the bills.
The process broke down somewhere between the copy editor’s desk and attaching a file to an email.
“Before sending the bills to the governor, they have to proofread the bill, comma by comma, to be sure the enrolled bill is the bill they voted on,” Opsommer said.
Proof-reading the bills was going badly during the pre-Christmas lame-duck marathon after the legislature stayed in session for 29 hours. “People were making mistakes.”
Passed but not enacted bills
The bills not transmitted to the governor included:
HB 6058 gives public employees more collective bargaining power to set their members’ health insurance rates.
HB 4665, HB 4666 and HB 4667 allow corrections officers, motor carriers and some other state employees to rejoin the Michigan State Police pension system.
HB 4177, HB 5817 and HB 5818 give Southeast Michigan voters the ability to increase their property taxes to fund the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History and the Detroit Historical Society.
HB 4900 and HB 4901 reduce the amounts or streams of income that could be garnished from a person to settle a debt.
If Rep. Joe Tate ever hoped to make history as the 102nd legislature's Speaker of the House, he may have cause to remember the adage, Be careful what you wish for.
Patrice Johnson, chairs Michigan Fair Elections (MFE) and Pure Integrity Michigan Elections (PIME). A former teacher and entrepreneur, Patrice has founded five successful companies and served as senior executive with a Fortune 100 technology company. In 2017, she authored the book, the Fall and Rise of Tyler Johnson, the basis of a PBS documentary film, Finding Tyler. Questions or comments? Contact patrice@mifairelections.org.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author's and do not reflect the official position of Pure Integrity Michigan Elections. Every article written by an PIME author is generated by the author or editor alone. However, links or images embedded within the article may have been generated by artificial intelligence.
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