A month after unanimous passage in the legislature, Michigan Senate Democrats blocked an attempt to override Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s veto of a whistleblower protection bill.
Senate Bill 686, sponsored by Sen. Tom Barrett, R-Charlotte, would have banned a state department, senate or house supervisor from punishing state employees “for communicating with certain individuals in the legislative branch.”
The bill passed 37-0 in the Senate on Feb. 26 and 108-0 in the House on June 24. Whitmer vetoed it on July 8, saying it would violate the state constitution.
“Whether and how to discipline employees is a core executive power entrusted in part to the Governor and in part to the Michigan Civil Service Commission,” she said in a statement. “Because this legislation violates the constitutional separation of powers... I am vetoing it.”
Whitmer vetoes bills that would have protected whistleblowers, delayed local tax collection
The 22-16 vote was along party lines, failing to reach the two-thirds majority needed to override the veto.
Sen. Jeremy Moss, D-Southfield, said he didn’t know when he first voted in favor of the bill that the proposal would protect a state employee who lied to a lawmaker.
Senate Republicans said the failure to override will have a “chilling effect on government accountability.”
“Fear of retribution can keep some employees from blowing the whistle on criminal or unethical behavior,” the Michigan Senate GOP posted to Twitter shortly after the vote was official. “@MISenDems also fear retribution from @GovWhitmer and refused to override her veto, even after they unanimously supported the bill when it passed,”
Barrett pointed to the bipartisan nature of the bill when the veto was originally announced two weeks ago.
“It’s highly disappointing,” he said. “The legislature passed unanimously. We really worked in a bipartisan fashion to furnish this bill and to protect state employees that bring forth credible information for us to review in the legislature... We have to be willing to protect people that come forward to their legislature.”
Whitmer pointed out at the time that she signed an executive order in January 2019 that offered whistleblower protections to state employees reporting health, safety, or welfare issues within their agencies. While protections for reporting criminal behavior within agencies are already on the books, Barrett argued the legislation would have protected “other concerns brought forward.”
“This would have protected state employees bringing forward any other concerns to the legislature to consider,” he said.
Rep. James Lower, R-Cedar Lake, was also pushing this week for a veto override of a bill that sought to defer property tax collection by municipal governments to the summer of 2021. Whitmer shot down that bill due to constitutional concerns over local governments exceeding state limits on borrowing.
GOP lawmaker pushing to override Whitmer veto of tax deferral bills
Senate Bill 943, sponsored by Sen. Peter MacGregor, R-Rockford, removed those concerns, Lower said in a statement. It was passed in the House on Wednesday by a 57-47 vote and returned to the Senate for review due to the changes made.
“The governor expressed several concerns with our earlier plan,” Lower said in the statement. “While we disagree on the alleged issues with the prior bill, the Legislature nevertheless removed the provisions the governor pointed to in her veto letter. It’s impossible to overstate how important this legislation is to the people of the state of Michigan. Many families are hurting and we owe it to them to come up with a solution. We’ve come up with at least two so far. Our new plan allows local flexibility, while still offering help to those who need it.”
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