(Source: MIRS.news, Published 02/25/2025) Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Township)'s empowered House Oversight Committee kicked off on Tuesday morning with news of a public tip line folks could use to anonymously submit suggestions for a state investigation. 

Oversight Committee Chair Jay DeBoyer (R-Clay) said MIOversight.com could also be used by government employees who want to report government misconduct. He said his committee wants to hear it all. 

“Legislative oversight is an important feature of government by the people and for the people,” DeBoyer said. “We cannot have that without including the people in this process.” 

The House voted to give the Oversight Committee blanket subpoena power, marking the first time in recent history this has occurred as opposed to a committee receiving subpoena power on a case-by-case basis. Hall has repeatedly emphasized that the committee will be very active this term, and DeBoyer expressed his desire to use information and insight from tip line submitters for that activity. 

Rep. Angela Rigas (R-Caledonia) said the committee members and staff will look into every submission sent and “listen to every whistle blown until no stone is left unturned.” 

Over at Michigan Democratic Party headquarters in Lansing, Chair Curtis Hertel and Democratic lawmakers were dubious. 

He said he remembers the last time the House Oversight Committee was operating under Republican leadership, Saturday Night Live ran a cold open with Mikey Day playing Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Township) in the infamous hearing with Rudy Giuliani. 

“Mikey Day has played other esteemed characters such as Elon Musk, Dr. Oz and MTV’s Butthead,” Hertel said. 

Hertel named Rigas and fellow committee members Reps. Steve Carra (R-Three Rivers) and Josh Schriver (R-Oxford) as right-wing extremists, proof that their appointments to Oversight were not done in good faith. 

Rep. Carrie Rheingans (D-Ann Arbor) said compared to previous runs of Oversight, the subpoena power granted to the committee will contribute more to political theater rather than productive change. 

Hertel said he’s in favor of oversight and that bureaucrats need to be held accountable, but he said this committee will do neither of those things. 

Rep. Phil Skaggs (D-Grand Rapids) said he sees Oversight Committee meetings becoming similar to “Soviet-style show trials.” 

“We’re going to get a series of exciting media events that will solve none of those problems,” Skaggs said at the press conference. 

“Even a passing look at Mall Hall’s extremist committee members makes it clear that they’re not interested in the well-being of Michiganders, but simply garnishing headlines,” Skaggs said. 

Rheingans said it’s important to ask what the committee could be distracting attention away from, naming the federal funding freeze as an example. 

“Why would we want to look at that when our job paid for by the taxpayers is to address those problems, when we could be distracted with some entertainment by the Prince, Matt Hall, who’s trying to work for his king, Donald Trump,” Rheingans said.