This week, the Michigan House continued to move many Chamber-supported, pro-growth pieces of legislation through committee and the floor. Looking forward, high-level budget talks are ongoing, with most legislators wanting to leave Lansing before the 4th of July holiday. Most signs point to a budget in mid-July, although Speaker Matt Hall has floated the idea of a short-term budget to get the state through December 2026.
Here are the bills that the Detroit Regional Chamber’s Public Policy and Business Advocacy team were watching this week:
- SB 301 was passed by the House with major bipartisan support and sent back to the Senate for immediate effect. The Chamber-supported bill creates a tax credit for paid leave for organ donation.
- HB 5646 and HB 5697 require Michigan elementary teachers and student teachers to complete LETRS training, a course on the science of reading. These two bills were reported out of committee on June 10. The Chamber supports both bills.
- HB 5819 through HB 5821 move up the date for the Michigan Department of Education to adopt a literacy curriculum focused on systematic phonics, language comprehension, vocabulary development, and evidence-based teaching practices. These bills were passed by the House on tight margins and sent to the Senate. The Chamber also supports these bills.
- HB 5815 and HB 5816 amend Michigan’s Administrative Procedures Act to eliminate judicial deference to state agencies, mandating that courts review laws de novo. This shifts power to the judiciary, aligning Michigan with a national trend to level the legal playing field for those challenging state regulations. Both bills were passed by the House, mostly on Republican votes, and sent to the Senate.
- HB 5817 and HB 5818 enact a REINS-style overhaul of regulations, shifting regulatory power from executive agencies to the legislature. It requires legislative approval for “major rules,” which are economic impacts of $1 million or more, and imposes an automatic five-year sunset on all new regulations, curbing executive overreach through mandatory cost-benefit scrutiny and direct lawmaker consent. Both bills were passed by the House on thin margins and sent to the Senate.
- HB 5932 through HB 5935 address bureaucratic roadblocks in the construction permitting process by requiring government agencies to act more quickly on permits. The Chamber supports these bills, which moved with overwhelming bipartisan support from the House to the Senate.
- HB 5139 shifts the burden of short-term rental tax collection to the marketplace facilitator instead of the owner of the short-term rental. The Chamber supports this bill, as it streamlines tax collection, ensuring fairness in the short-term rental marketplace. The bill heard testimony on June 11 in the Economic Competitiveness Committee.