LANSING — State Representative Adam Zemke (D-Ann Arbor) offered a motion today in the House Appropriations Committee attempting to block the transfer of reimbursement funds for Attorney General Bill Schuette’s fight against the DeBoer marriage case. The case, which eventually made its way to the Supreme Court in the form of DeBoer v. Snyder, was decided earlier this year. SCOTUS ruled in favor of the couple, thus institutionalizing national marriage equality.
“I’m disappointed members of the Appropriations Committee gave their tacit support today for this waste of taxpayer money,” said Rep. Zemke. “There are dozens of more significant and necessary areas to which this money could be applied. We owe it to our constituents to use a funding allotment of this magnitude appropriately.”
The motion the representative put forth would have blocked the transfer of $2 million in funds to the Attorney General’s Office. The request was to increase the funding to the Attorney General’s litigation fund, which supports major legal action involving the governor and attorney general in their official capacity, or for outside legal advice. The money was requested due to the fund having gone over its previous appropriations allotment. The motion did not pass, splitting evenly across party lines.
“It is not the responsibility of Michiganders to reimburse the Attorney General for this wasted use of funds,” Rep. Zemke said. “It should not be on the backs of Michigan taxpayers that he chose to be on the wrong side of equality.”