April 3, 2026 | This Week in Government: 9 Bills From 2023-24 Term Headed to Supreme Court

The Michigan Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in May that could potentially determine the fate of 9 bills leftover from the 2023-24 term that House Speaker Matt Hall declined to present to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

Both the Court of Appeals and the Court of Claims previously ruled the Constitution required the House to present the bills . The Court of Appeals went further and ordered the House to present the bills.

House Republicans filed the appeal to the Supreme Court in December.

The Senate and the House will have 28 days to file supplemental briefs.

House Republicans, in their appeal, argued the Senate did not have standing in suing the House over the bills, and, by mandating they be presented, the court poses separation of powers concerns.

Among the nine bills in question is one (House Bill 6058 of 2024) that would require local governments, school districts and other public bodies to pay a greater share of their employees’ health insurance premiums.

The remaining legislation still held in the House includes three bills allowing Detroit history museums to seek a property tax millage from Wayne County voters (House Bill 4177 of 2023, House Bill 5817 of 2024 and House Bill 5818 of 2024); bills that would put corrections officers into the State Police pension system (House Bill 4665 of 2023, House Bill 4666 of 2023, and House Bill 4667 of 2023) and exempting public assistance, disability, and worker’s compensation from garnishment to repay debts (House Bill 4900 of 2024, and House Bill 4901 of 2024).

The appeal, prepared by Kyle Asher with Dykema, argues the House is unable to present bills from a previous legislative session.

“The business of the 102nd Legislature ended upon the final adjournment of its second regular session, and did not carry-forward into the 103rd Legislature. The Senate has failed to point to constitutional text, case law or other authority that would support its novel claim that the 103rd Legislature has a duty – much less a clear one, as is needed to prevail on their mandamus claim – to present bills passed by a prior legislature. That is because none exists,” the appeal says. “This court should decline the Senate’s request to make old business new again. The Senate’s attempt to resurrect dormant legislation should be rejected, its motion should be denied, and the case should be dismissed.”

Mark Brewer, who has been arguing for the Senate, said he looks forward to presenting before the Supreme Court.

“I’m looking forward to defending democracy in the Michigan Supreme Court on May 6 in this case where I represent the Michigan Senate against House Speaker Hall over his unconstitutional refusal to send 9 bills which had passed both houses of the Legislature to the governor,” he said on social media. “Both the Court of Claims and Court of Appeals held his action illegal and I’ll be urging the Supreme Court to do the same.”

The case will face the Supreme Court’s 6-1 Democratic majority in its appeal.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer issued an executive order on Thursday declaring a state of energy emergency to allow the sale of higher vapor pressure gasoline, which is typically 10 to 20 cents cheaper, to ease the pressure of climbing gas prices.

Whitmer, signing Executive Order 2026-4, pointed to military action in Iran and federal tariffs as the root cause of expensive gasoline.

“Right now, countless Michigan families are struggling with rising costs on the essentials, from groceries to gas,” Whitmer said in a statement. “As governor, I can’t end a war overseas or undo bad policies at the federal level that led to higher gas prices, but I will do what I can to try to give families a break. To provide relief, I’m issuing an executive order taking a few actions with one aim: saving drivers money at the pump.”

The war in Iran has disrupted global oil markets and shut down the Strait of Hormuz, which is one of the biggest global shipping corridors for fuel, the governor’s office said in a press release. Current gas prices are at their highest point since the summer of 2023, and drivers are paying 97 cents per gallon more than this time last month.

On Wednesday, 25 House Republicans signed a letter urging Whitmer to allow for the sale of E15 fuel, which is a higher vapor pressure gasoline.

Under current statute, gasoline sold in Lenawee, Livingston, Macomb, Monroe, Oakland, St. Clair, Washtenaw, and Wayne counties cannot exceed 7.0 psi vapor pressure during the summer months, which prevents access to E15 in those regions.

The EPA’s emergency waiver provides states with flexibility to allow E15 sales, but action at the state level is required to allow access statewide.

“Michigan families and businesses needed relief, and I’m glad to see action taken to expand access to lower-cost fuel options,” Rep. Jerry Neyer, R-Shepherd, said in a statement Thursday after Whitmer’s order. “This is exactly the kind of step that helps people keep more money in their pockets.”

Whitmer provided a similar waiver in August 2022 after a fire caused an Indiana oil refinery to go offline temporarily.

Thursday’s order suspends the May 1 requirement for lower vapor pressure gasoline in the eight counties affected by statute. According to the governor’s press release, these counties account for approximately 5 million Michigan residents and will translate into savings for nearly half the state.

Whitmer also took the opportunity to urge the Legislature to pass a budget that prioritized tax cuts for Michigan residents, including the property tax cut for seniors and sales tax holiday on school supplies she proposed in her executive budget recommendation.

“Let’s keep working together to lower costs and provide relief,” Whitmer said.

A recently released report shows that while local governments in Michigan are generally strong fiscally, pressures emerging in recent years continue to persist, and are putting more communities in a more fragile position.

The University of Michigan’s Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy, using local government financial data from the Department of Treasury covering fiscal years 2022-24, found a slight increase in the percentage of local governments experiencing increased fiscal stress.

Results in the report came from responses received from 79 of the state’s 83 counties as well as 274 cities, 241 villages, and 1,191 townships.

A total of 8% of local governments reported high fiscal stress in the center’s 2025 Michigan Public Policy Survey, with was unchanged from 2023.

The percentage of jurisdictions reporting low fiscal stress fell from 63% in 2023 to 56% in 2025, while those reported medium fiscal stress grew from 26% in 2023 to 31% in 2025.

“Although Michigan’s broader economic outlook remains relatively stable, structural challenges continue to make local governments particularly susceptible to fiscal stress and less able to maintain economic agility compared to local governments in other states,” the report states.

Economic pressures listed as putting local governments at risk of additional fiscal stress include inflation, workforce constraints, varying levels of revenue growth, and the end of coronavirus pandemic aid.

Researchers found that local governments are in a strong position to maintain operations for the short term, having cash for daily operations if cashflow is interrupted. Local governments are advised to have enough cash on hand to continue operations for at least 90 days.

While strong, the median amount of cash flow for local governments has declined between fiscal years 2022-24.

Counties had a median of 213 days of cash on hand in fiscal year 2022, which had fallen to 168 days in 2024. For cities, the decline was from 257 days in 2022 to 226 days in 2024.

Villages were at a median of 490 days of cash on hand in fiscal year 2022 but had dropped to 454 days in fiscal year 2024, while for townships the decline was from 692 days in 2022 down to 580 days in 2024.

The report stated that 47% of local officials told researchers they believe their local government was neither better nor less able to meet its financial needs compared to the previous fiscal year. Another 32% said their financial health has improved, and 19% said their financial health has become worse.

One major source of economic stress for local governments is their ability to meet obligations, notably other post-employment benefits and pensions as well as addressing debt.

In fiscal year 2024, pension and OPEB liabilities made up 62.3% of counties’ long-term liabilities, followed by 51.8% for cities, 48.9% for townships, and 35.5% for villages.

Local government officials were asked about their expectations for fiscal health in the years ahead. A total of 49% of officials said they expected their communities to have good fiscal health in 2030, which was down from 56% who reported good fiscal health last year.

Fourteen percent of local officials expected high fiscal stress, up from the current 8%.

“Moving forward, local governments will need to balance cautious financial management with ongoing service demands,” the report concludes. “Continued monitoring of fiscal trends will be critical to maintaining financial stability across Michigan.”

The Public Service Commission on Friday approved initial battery storage facilities required under the contract between DTE Energy Co. and Green Chile Ventures to develop a data center in Saline Township.

The data center battery storage projects approved are the first 332 MW of 1,383 MW of company-owned energy storage facilities that Green Chile Ventures must foot the bill to develop to match the data center’s contracted demand, a statement from PSC said.

Under terms of the approval of the data center, Green Chile Ventures will bear the costs over a 15-year period to develop the energy storage for the project. DTE Electric will develop, own, and operate the facilities to benefit its grid, while Green Chile will receive the value of any market revenues from operating the facilities in the wholesale market.

Additionally, the PSC denied petitions to rehear its approval of special contracts for DTE to provide electric service for the Saline Township data center.

“The commission found that the attorney general and others who petitioned for rehearing lacked standing to petition for rehearing, and that they also did not identify errors, newly discovered evidence, facts or circumstances arising after the hearing, or unintended consequences from the commission’s order necessary to justify rehearing under the commission’s rules,” a PSC statement said. “For the same reason, the commission denied motions to reopen the case filed by the attorney general and the Michigan Environmental Council, Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, and Citizens Utility Board of Michigan.”

Attorney General Dana Nessel said the PSC is denying her office’s attempts to view unredacted copies of the data center contracts, verify claims of affordability, and verify claims of ratepayer protections.

“The Michigan Public Service Commission continues to perform a grave disservice to the State of Michigan and the utility customers of this state, to the only apparent benefit of the utility corporations and their new billion-dollar AI customers,” Nessel said in a statement. “Since these secret contracts were first filed in October, I have requested and demanded that my office and other consumer advocates be able to review these contracts and ensure adequate protections for existing utility customers. At every opportunity the commissioners have shut out everybody, choosing instead to keep DTE’s contract terms top secret, fast track their approval, and play fast and loose with the meager terms they claim to put in place. I have never seen, in the long history of our state, a process so secretive, rushed, and ripe for disaster as what the commission rammed through here. My office will continue to explore our remaining options to protect the people of this state.”

The PSC also approved three other battery storage projects, saying it’s “going big on batteries.”

The other three projects outside of the date center related storage facilities will provide a combined 1,000 MW of energy storage capacity to fulfil the settlement agreement in DTE’s most recent approved integrated resource plan.

“Battery energy storage provides multiple benefits to the grid, by storing excess energy created when it’s cheaper to produce and using the stored energy to provide power during times of peak demand,” a PSC press release said. “Energy storage helps ensure grid resilience and speeds up the transition to cleaner sources of electricity. Energy from renewable sources paired with energy storage is significantly cheaper than energy produced from coal or natural gas, reducing costs to customers.”

The leader of the Michigan College Access Network asked lawmakers last week to consider a task force on the Tuition Incentive Program, which provides financial aid for students on Medicaid, in lieu of adopting changes recommended in Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s budget.

The Tuition Incentive Program was launched in 1987 to encourage low-income Michigan students on Medicaid to graduate high school by providing financial aid for postsecondary education, according to the House Fiscal Agency.

In the last two decades, the program has grown from 9,046 awards and $14.7 million in the 2005-06 fiscal year to 39,929 awards and $118.5 million in the 2024-25 fiscal year, a document from the HFA said.

Phase I of the program provides tuition and fees toward an associate degree or certificate. Phase II provides $2,000 toward a bachelor’s degree.

Earlier this year, Whitmer’s budget for universities recommended cap Phase I costs for use at public universities at 2.5 times the average in-district community college tuition rate and called for the elimination of Phase II awards for new participants.

MCAN Executive Director Ryan Fewins-Bliss, however, cautioned lawmakers from immediately jumping on that recommendation during a Senate Appropriations Universities and Community Colleges Subcommittee last week.

“We … would recommend creation of a tuition incentive program task force so that they could recommend updates,” Fewins-Bliss said. “We know the governor’s office has proposed some changes in their budget to the Tuition Incentive Program. I think we should take some time to learn about that and study that before we jump into any solutions.”

Fewins-Bliss said it is “definitely clear” that there should be changes in the program because of the community college guarantee.

“I think we just need a year to look at that,” he said. “I think it would be great to bring some experts together and say, is the Tuition Incentive Program working? I’ll cut to the headline there: it is. But, what does it look like in light of having the community college guarantee as well?”

In an interview with Gongwer News Service, Fewins-Bliss said there is overlap in the population served by Phase I TIP and the community college guarantee.

“If there is a way to use that TIP money for something different or something more that seems like a smarter move,” he said.

On the executive budget recommending a sunset of Phase II for new students, he cautioned that funding for four-year institutions is the hardest for students to come up with.

Students are eligible for TIP if they received Medicaid for 24 months within a 36-month period between age 9 and high school graduation. Students must also graduate from high school or earn an equivalency certificate before turning 20, submit the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, enroll at least half-time at a post-secondary institution, and be at Michigan resident for at least one year before applying.

TIP-eligible students have a four-year window after high school graduation to enter the program, and there is a 10-year window of eligibility following the first scholarship payment.

The HFA noted the program has increased in size because of an increase in Medicaid caseloads. During the pandemic, there were more Medicaid recipients due to relaxed rules. HFA said that could result in 144,000 additional students being eligible for TIP.

Students attending community colleges receive the majority of Phase I payments, but public universities have seen an increased share, up from 26% in the 2005-06 fiscal year to 30% in the 2024-25 fiscal year.

HFA noted one reason TIP expenditures have increased is the lack of a cap on reimbursement rates, particularly for public universities, which generally have higher tuition and fee rates than community colleges.

In documents outlining the budget, the State Budget Office said the cap for Phase I costs and sunsetting Phase II awards after the 2026 academic year would save $17 million and help ensure the long-term sustainability of the program.