Legislative Republicans want Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to stop using a rare procedure to shift state spending through an administrative process before sending her followup budget bills - but Whitmer says she’s not interested in limiting executive power.

After Whitmer signed the budget with 147 line-item vetoes, members of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration agreed to a series of department budget transfers, shifting roughly $600 million as part of Whitmer’s overall plan to retool the $59.9 billion budget sent to her by the Republican-led legislature.

The little-used procedure allows the State Administrative Board - made up of the governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general, state treasurer, state superintendent and the Department of Transportation director - to transfer appropriated funds among a particular department.

The board’s authority to do so was previously upheld by the Michigan Supreme Court, according to Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office.

The move remains a sticking point between Whitmer and Republican lawmakers, who remain at odds over how to move forward on spending leftover funding from Whitmer’s 147 line-item vetoes. Whitmer contends the shift was necessary to improve upon a budget she felt was a mess.

“I’m not going to apologize for using every tool in my office to fix the problem,” she said.

But Republicans are concerned about the precedent the administrative shifts set. Shirkey spokesperson Amber McCann said this week the caucus is worried any future funding sent to Whitmer could be moved around or leveraged, regardless of legislative intent.

“There’s a process that exists right now where the legislature has basically zero input in terms of ensuring budget dollars remain with budget programs as intended,” she said.

Chatfield said Tuesday he’s not ready to send more money to the governor without assurances she won’t shift it elsewhere.

“The bottom line is this - the governor wants more money and wants an attempt to fix the budget without giving any real assurance that the money will go where the legislature intends,” he said. “We can’t do that right now.”

Whitmer told reporters Thursday she’s not interested in changing the scope and powers of the executive office.

“I think it’s really important that the governor is able to fund state government,” she said. "Using ad board powers is one way to ensure that where we have crises, we are able to be nimble and to address them."

Both Republicans and Democrats have introduced versions of supplemental spending bills that would restore some of the funding line-item vetoed by Whitmer.

The Republican bills would restore about $264 million in funding for programs Whitmer vetoed, while the Whitmer-backed supplemental introduced by Sen. Curtis Hertel, D-East Lansing, would put an additional $475.7 million into the budget, including $48.5 million in spending Whitmer vetoed.

Shortly after Chatfield and Shirkey met with Whitmer for a meeting on Tuesday, the two Republican leaders told the Associated Press and other reporters following the meeting they’re eager to shift focus away from the budget and move on towards bipartisan policy issues.

MLive reporter Emily Lawler contributed to this report.

Read more about the Michigan budget:

Michigan Republicans introduce spending bills that would restore funding to some Whitmer vetoes

Whitmer aims to re-ignite budget discussions, but signs of stalemate persist

Whitmer signs budget bills with 147 line-item vetoes

In rare move, Whitmer administration shifts roughly $600 million in budget funds

11 winners and losers in Whitmer’s budget vetoes

Read Michigan’s 16 budget bills

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