Policy Issues

Rising health care costs are becoming one of the most significant threats facing Michigan small businesses, according to Small Business Association of Michigan (SBAM) President and CEO Brian Calley.

Evoking the CIA officer she was following the 9-11 terrorist attacks, U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Holly) can't help but view Chinese vehicles crossing American borders as "surveillance packages on wheels."

Both political parties in the Michigan House have a property tax relief plan. The GOP passed theirs without Democratic support, and the Democrats unveiled their blueprint, which the R's don't buy because it does not include all taxpayers.

Two Michigan Department of Transportation workers were killed Tuesday afternoon after being struck by a vehicle while patching potholes on U.S. 127, an Ingham County Sheriff’s spokesperson said.

Rising gasoline and diesel prices tied to geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and continued instability from the war in Ukraine are expected to push Michigan energy costs higher this summer, according to the Michigan Public Service Commission’s 2026 Summer Energy Appraisal.

After nearly eight hours of session, lawmakers, staff members and reporters stared at the House voting board, waiting to see which legislator would give Republicans the vote they needed to pass their property tax reform package.

A Democratic lawmaker on Tuesday called for the state's Department of Corrections (MDOC) director to resign after a second inmate death was reported at Women's Huron Valley Correctional Facility (WHVCF).

Rep. Penelope Tsernoglou (D-East Lansing) said Tuesday afternoon that she is "done asking" House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Township) to investigate Jeffrey Epstein's connections to the Interlochen Center for the Arts, demanding an immediate vote on a resolution creating a special House committee to examine the matter.

Lansing will empty out next week for the annual week-long migration to Mackinac Island, prompting pundit questions about the theme and feel expected at the 2026 policy conference in the long shadow of national politics, as well as the chatter of changing who is — or isn't — elected in state politics.

News reporters and members of the public who find and expose “waste, fraud, abuse, misappropriation, or other misuse of taxpayer dollars,” could win a financial award after Rep. Joseph Aragona (R-Clinton Township) announced his new bill yesterday.

Rep. Matt Maddock (R-Milford) asked the state demographer Friday during the Consensus Revenue Estimating Conference (CREC) if killing Michigan's income tax could bring 1 million people back to the state.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed bipartisan bills Thursday to remove the mandatory essay portion of the Michigan Merit Exam given to mostly 11th graders and end the requirement to place test scores on school transcripts.

Rep. Penelope Tsernoglou (D-East Lansing) directly challenged the chair of the House Oversight Subcommittee on whether he would support Senate-passed legislation that would stop the Unemployment Insurance Agency (UIA) from collecting non-fraud payments improperly paid out during COVID.

The 2026 Detroit Regional Chamber Mackinac Policy Conference will host a debate between the three Democrats running for U.S. Senate and will play host to the policy discussion over data centers.

The House Government Operations Committee is scheduled for 9 a.m. Thursday to take up the 10 bills and a resolution that makes up the House Republicans' $5 billion property tax reduction plan that has received the acronym HELP UP (Hall Effectively Lowering Property Taxes and Utility Payments).

While the House last week passed a budget slashing 62% of state funding from Michigan State University (MSU) and the University of Michigan (UofM), a national survey came out suggesting 78% of college grads believe their degrees were worth the cost.

President Donald Trump’s acting attorney general signed an order reclassifying state-licensed medical marijuana as a less-dangerous drug.

Term-limited Sen. Jeremy Moss (D-Bloomfield Twp.) sponsored his last-ever Holocaust Remembrance Day resolution, SR 105, in the Michigan Capitol Tuesday. He said that in today's politics, both parties have an antisemitism problem.

If lawmakers were expecting a slow return from spring break, they didn’t get it. The Republican-led House opened its first session back by advancing one of its most polarizing proposals — the bill requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote.

If legislators don't grant the Selfridge Air National Guard Base funding by early May to construct a new runway accommodating the new fighter jets the President assigned to the base last year, House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Township) doesn't believe the new aircraft will come at all.