State needs to pay its bills

The Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission has sued the Legislature, demanding that lawmakers appropriate $3.1 million to help the commission contest lawsuits the commission faces after it redrew legislative districts for this yearís elections, according to the Detroit Free Press.

The Free Press says lawmakers did not include the commission in the current budget and have not passed a supplemental funding bill to give the commission money.

We say thatís shameful.

The state constitution requires the commission to keep working while lawsuits are pending, and the constitution requires lawmakers to give the commission funds to do so.

One can argue the merits of the commissionís work, whether it drew fair maps or not, as those are part of the questions still pending in two ongoing lawsuits in which the commission is the defendant.

But one cannot argue that the commission — created by voters in 2018 — is doing anything but working as it is required to work, and therefore incurring expenses.

The state has to pay its bills and we call on lawmakers to fund the commission.

Lawmakers have finished their work for the year, so the question will be left to the new Legislature that gets sworn in in January.

We say funding the required functions of state government is lawmakersí most basic job, and we hope the new Legislature will quickly pass a supplemental funding bill to get the commission the money it needs to do its work.