Nine Limbo Bills To Sit In Clerk's Office

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 03/12/2025) House Clerk Scott Starr was instructed on Wednesday by the House to only present bills to the Governor that passed both chambers in the 103rd Legislature, not the 102nd Legislature.

In adopting HR 41 on Wednesday, House Republicans are allowing to die nine bills that would have allowed corrections officers to join the State Police's pension system, freed up school and local government employment to negotiate lower healthcare costs, cleared the way for a Southeast Michigan museum millage and created new restrictions on wage garnishments.

The decision comes after House Republican legal counsel Andrew Fink conducted a "thorough legal review of the situation" that was based, in part, on a Court of Claims decision that the bills should be presented to the Governor, but the court was not going to order their presentment.

"Our legal review did identify some uncertainties that have created confusion and ambiguities after the recent court ruling," said House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Township). "We obviously won the court case, but the House has taken the position that there is value in clarifying those questions for the sake of future precedent and to give the public a unified position. That's why we will be going to the Court of Appeals to get everyone on the same page."

For whatever reason, the Clerk's office was not able to process these nine bills in question prior to Matt Hall winning the election as speaker on Jan. 8. Once Hall got the gavel, he ordered a legal review to determine if he had an obligation to send them.

By not ordering the bills' presentment, Rep. Will Snyder (D-Muskegon) said in a floor speech that the House is not acting on the will of the voters that sent them to Lansing.

Rep. Tyrone Carter (D-Detroit) said it is the obligation, duty and legal mandate of the House to present bills that passed both chambers.

When Rep. Mai Xiong (D-Warren) started her floor speech mentioning "corrections officers, teachers and firefighters," she was gaveled down by Speaker Pro Tem Rachelle Smit (R-Shelbyville) and asked to keep her comments to the content of the resolution. Later, when Rep. Jason Woolford (R-Howell) started a floor speech mentioning President Donald Trump, House Democrats shouted for Smit to follow the same rules and gavel him down, as well.

"House Republicans are working hard to prevent pro-worker bills that provide needed benefits and lower costs for Michigan workers from becoming law," said Michigan AFL-CIO President Ron Bieber. "These actions are unconstitutional and anti-worker. The Michigan Constitution and Court of Claims are clear: the House of Representatives is obligated to send bills that pass the Legislature to the governor. Republicans need to follow our state's constitution and transmit the damn bills to Governor Whitmer."