Nessel Says Work Project Denials Unconstitutional; Hall Plans To Sue

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 01/07/2026) The law the Republican-led House Appropriations Committee used to deny $645 million in carryover funding from the prior fiscal year through the "work project" process is unconstitutional, Attorney General Dana Nessel opined Wednesday.

Nessel's opinion has the force of law unless the courts overturn it.

House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Township) said he plans to sue to preserve what he's called many times his "favorite law.” Deputy Budget Director Kyle Guerrant alerted department heads within a half hour after Nessel's press release that it agrees with the Attorney General. He said departments can fund the denied work projects as long as officials take the proper procedural steps.

Nessel wrote in her 29-page opinion that the law empowering a single legislative committee to negate the state Budget Director’s work-project designations creates a “legislative committee veto” that unconstitutionally “interferes with the executive branch’s core function of executing the laws.”

Nessel said that under the Constitution, “when an appropriation is enacted, the Legislature’s role ends, and the executive branch’s duty to faithfully execute the law begins.”

Nessel’s formal opinion – which comes in response to Senate Appropriations Chair Sarah Anthony (D-Lansing)’s request following a December vote from the House Appropriations Committee to “disapprove” nearly $645 million in state funding that had already been enacted into law – held that the “disapproval” mechanism allowing one legislative committee to unilaterally terminate funding previously appropriated by the full Legislature and the Governor is unconstitutional.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer also arguably expressed concern in a letter about the committee’s “unilaterally stripping away previously authorized appropriations.”

Anthony called Wednesday’s opinion a “lifeline for the countless non-profit organizations and local governments that have been left in limbo for weeks.”

House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Township) called the opinion a “rigged political decision” from the AG. He promised legal action, saying in a statement Wednesday afternoon that, “We are going to sue, because Michigan taxpayers need someone to fight for them and stop this absurd and incorrect interpretation of Michigan law. And we'll win very easily, because Dana Nessel ALWAYS loses in court.”

The law in question is MCL 18.1451a(3), contained in the Management and Budget Act (MBA). The statute allows funding approved by the Legislature and the Governor for a prior fiscal year to continue to be used for its intended purpose for a new fiscal year.

The state budget director, who oversees spending for the state on behalf of the executive branch, is allowed to approve this continued use of previously approved funding as “work projects.” The same statute also authorizes either the Senate or House appropriations committee, acting alone, to disapprove those work projects.

The AG concluded that this disapproval mechanism violates the separation of powers, bicameralism and presentment requirements in the Michigan Constitution. The latter requirements reflect the constitutional mandate that laws must be debated and passed by both houses of the Legislature and presented to and signed by the governor.

Nessel also concluded that the unconstitutional legislative committee veto disapproval mechanism is severable from the rest of MCL 18.1451a. Therefore, the remaining portions of the statute pertaining to work projects, including the Director’s authority to designate work projects, temporal limits, substantive criteria and reporting requirements, remain intact and enforceable.

House Minority Leader Ranjeev Puri (D-Canton) described the House Republicans' rejected work project denials as “another losing attempt by (Republicans') washed-up Speaker to grab more power."

Puri added that this is "on brand for a man so self-obsessed he’d brag about naming a bill after himself while doing nothing to make groceries or health insurance more affordable."

Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks (D-Grand Rapids) reacted by saying she's not surprised that Republicans’ “heinous” attempt to “steal money from the people of Michigan” was unconstitutional.

“When they can't win in the Capitol, they try to bend the rules or break the law, hoping no one notices,” Brinks said. “But this time, people noticed.”

In his response, House Appropriations Committee Vice Chair Matt Maddock (R-Milford) said “Drunk Dana” is pretending the Legislature surrenders its authority the moment a budget is signed.

“It did not. The work-project statute is a conditional appropriation framework, not a legislative veto,” he said. “Under Nessel's trashy zine, the Governor alone decides when taxpayer money stops being subject to legislative control. That is not separation of powers. It is a theft of appropriations and the process from the people’s elected representatives to the Governor.”