Updates About Lower Court Rulings

A procedural mistake made during Lame Duck when nine passed bills were not presented to the Governor before concluding the 2023-2024 legislative session will finally be put to rest. While the 103rd Legislature was still settling in at the start of 2025, Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Township) made the strategic decision to refuse presenting to the Governor several bills passed during Lame Duck by the previous Democrat-majority House.

After more than a year of ambiguity, the Supreme Court announced last week that they will not be making a decision on the case, instead deferring to the Court of Appeals’ previous ruling. Under the lower court’s ruling, the Michigan House was required to present all nine bills to the Governor.

In a surprising twist, the Governor vetoed all nine bills on Friday. In her veto letter, Governor Gretchen Whitmer reasoned that the bills would create an administrative burden due to other conflicting laws that have since gone into effect, statutory deadlines that have expired, and fiscal impacts that were not accounted for in the newly passed FY 27 state budget.

The bills would have covered a range of issues, including requiring public employers to make greater contributions toward their employees’ health insurance, permission to seek a property tax millage for Detroit history museums, enter corrections officers into the State Police pension system, and offer protections for various public benefits from the threat of debt garnishment.

Related Articles: HOUSE MUST SEND 9 LEFTOVER BILLS FROM PREVIOUS LEGISLATURE TO THE GOVERNOR • SUPREME COURT: SENATE LAWSUIT OVER HOUSE BILLS WILL GO THROUGH USUAL LEGAL PROCESS • BRINKS SEEKS SUPREME COURT RULING AND MAKES SENATE RULE CHANGE IN ONGOING FIGHT OVER HOUSE BILLS • MICHIGAN HOUSE DECLINES TO SEND NINE BILLS TO GOVERNOR • SENATE DEMOCRATS FILE LAWSUIT AGAINST SPEAKER HALL

The Michigan Court of Appeals recently vacated the convictions of Joseph Morrison. Morrison was a member of the Wolverine Watchmen militia group and was convicted in 2022 for providing material support for an act of terrorism, gang membership felonies, and felony firearm charges in connection with the 2020 plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

The three-judge panel was unanimous in their decision that ruled kidnapping does not qualify as a violent felony under the statute that was used to support Morrison’s terrorism conviction. His terrorism conviction was used as the underlying offense for the gang membership and felony firearm convictions, meaning they also had to be vacated. The court sent the case to Jackson County Circuit Court for a new trial, finding that jurors on the original trial may have relied on kidnapping as the underlying violent felony when reaching their verdict.

The decision came under heavy criticism among Michigan’s elected Democratic lawmakers. Attorney General Dana Nessel announced that her office intends to appeal the ruling.

A settlement between Governor Whitmer and House Republicans has been reached regarding the over $370 million in work project funds canceled by House Republicans last year. The settlement, which was resolved in the Michigan Court of Claims, removed the designated funds for all work projects and instead put them mostly back into the State’s General Fund.

The litigation started when Attorney General Dana Nessel issued an opinion, at the request of Senate Democrats, that the original funding blockage was unconstitutional. After this opinion, Governor Whitmer directed the departments to spend the money as appropriated, causing House Republicans to sue in order to block the spending.

The ruling also upheld the rule that allowed a single appropriations committee to act alone in canceling the work project. However, Senate Democrats are interested in working on legislation that would ban this authority.

Both Republican House Speaker Matt Hall (Richland) and Democratic Senate Appropriations Chair Sarah Anthony (Lansing) claimed victory in their statements on the court’s outcome. Hall pointed to the $370.8 million returned to the General Fund as restoring budget flexibility, while Anthony emphasized that only $370 million of the $645 million total they had argued was blocked.

Read past newsletter articles on the work project funding developments here:

Unexpected House Action Shifts Spotlight to Work Project Funding

AG Issues Formal Opinion on Legality of Work Projects, Judge Issues Preliminary Injunction