(Source: MIRS.news, Published 01/03/2025) Michigan's 2023-24 Democratic trifecta is over, but the Governor is still waiting on 111 bills from last term to be presented to her for signing.  

MIRS found numerous bills enrolled from Dec. 10-31, following passages in the Senate and House. However, the bills must be officially presented to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Once presented, a 14-day period will begin, and if not passed within those days, the legislation cannot become law.  

On Dec. 23 alone, 86 House bills were enrolled. The presentation consists of the House Clerk's office constructing the formal format for the Governor to sign, and legislative staff do not currently face rules concerning how long they can take to finish making the official presentation of a bill.  

"There are no rules regarding it," Peter Ruddell, the lead government relations partner for Honigman LLP. told MIRS. "Budget bills generally take longer, particularly in this age of the omnibus and school (omnibus), where you've got thousands of pages with lots of numbers and decimal points that need to be proofread perfectly."  

He said there's only so many clerk staff able to prepare the bills, and, with a large number of them being forwarded to Whitmer in late December, "the process takes just a little bit longer to work through the volume of bills necessary to reach the Governor's desk."  

"The Legislature went much later in the year than it normally does…and so you've got a couple of state holidays mixed in," Ruddell said. "The volume, the calendar and the lateness of the legislative session would absolutely play into a small delay in getting bills to the Governor's desk."  

However, once a presentation is finished by staff, the 14-day window to sign a bill will be measured "in hours and minutes," according to the state Constitution.  

Because the 2023-24 Legislature is adjourned, a bill that is not signed within those two weeks will become "pocket-vetoed," rejected by the Governor without her veto pen hitting the paper. 

"What we've seen normally happen is that the Legislature tries to get bills to the Governor's desk 14 days prior to their sine die date, so that there are fewer opportunities for a pocket veto," Ruddell said. "That just wasn't an opportunity this year."  

According to Michigan Justice Advocacy, if the Legislature is still in session for the year, including recess days, a bill can automatically become law 14 days following presentation if the Governor does not veto it or return it to lawmakers for adjustments. However, now that the year is over, the opposite will happen.