Bill would fund virus policies investigation
State Sen. Jim Runestad, R-White Lake Township, introduced legislation Thursday that would fund a special investigator to look into the Whitmer administration’s COVID-19 nursing home policies.
Senate Bill 338 would designate funding to investigate the administration’s nursing home policies, including the number of cases and deaths attributed to transferring patients to and from hospitals, and whether patients died in the hospital or the long-term care facility, according to a release from Runestad.
“The administration’s executive orders put COVID-19-positive patients into the same facilities as our most vulnerable,” said Runestad. “Forty-five other states decided against this dangerous policy. But the Whitmer administration ignored early warnings from health care experts, such as the Health Care Association of Michigan in early March, and our seniors paid the price.
“We owe it to the families of nursing home residents to learn the truth about how this happened, why it was allowed to happen, and why the administration refuses to provide nursing home COVID-19 data. We need to fund a special investigator to get to the bottom of things and get answers for grieving families.”
The measure comes days after Attorney General Dana Nessel denied a request to investigate the administration’s long-term care policies.
Runestad and another Oakland County senator, Ruth Johnson, R-Holly, were among eight Republicans in the Senate who asked Nessel to investigate.
“If our attorney general refuses to do the right thing and investigate, then someone else is going to have to do it,” Runestad said. “Inaction and protecting political allies are apparently more important to our attorney general than standing up for the victims and their families.
“In New York, their attorney general did the right thing and found the truth. That’s what we need to happen for the families here in Michigan.”
The one-time appropriation would designate $250,000 for a special investigator to be placed under the Michigan Legislative Council.
The Whitmer administration has said her orders, which — among other things — required the creation of dedicated coronavirus units within certain nursing homes and established regional “hub” homes with COVID-19 wings, followed federal guidance.
Nessel said suggesting that public health policy decisions by themselves should be investigated because different approaches could have resulted in fewer deaths is “inappropriate” and violates ethical guidelines.
“Though I will not hesitate to act when justified, I also will not abuse the investigatory powers of this department to launch a political attack on any state official, regardless of party or beliefs,” Nessel wrote in a letter to Runestad.
Whitmer and Nessel are both Democrats.
SB 338 has been referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee for consideration.