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The Legislature is about to take on a messy, difficult and very consequential problem that touches the real lives of pretty much everyone in Michigan.
This week, a state judicial task force called for a local court funding overhaul so that judges will have fewer incentives to squeeze defendants for revenue.
It is part of a plan to bring courts into compliance with an 11-year-old Michigan Supreme Court decision that money from the fines and fees that defendants are ordered to pay after being found guilty can’t be used to fund courts’ day-to-day operating costs.
Yes, right now, revenue from fines and fees helps local courts fund their operations and, in many cases, local elected officials also look to that money to keep the rest of their non-judicial budgets balanced.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan says that violates at least two constitutional principles.
“The obligation to tax, assess, [and] to fund the operation of the government is a responsibility of the legislature, not the judiciary, and so that’s a constitutional concern. And, second, it raises serious due process concerns,” Bonsitu Kitaba-Gaviglio, the acting legal director of the ACLU-Michigan, told Rick this week.
She says defendants cannot be guaranteed impartial treatment when judges have a vested financial interest in imposing fines and fees.
State Court Administrator Tom Boyd (a former district court judge) says a lot of Michigan communities still rely on what’s essentially a speed trap system to help fund their operations.
“It isn’t that folks that come before the courts aren’t paying their fair share, it’s that they’re paying way more than their fair share,” he said. “So, the report tries to get at a mechanism to ensure that people pay the right amount and that the people that assess that revenue aren’t motivated by profit,” Boyd told Rick.
The report has a lot of recommendations, but, after covering the issue of court funding for decades, two in particular stand out to Rick:
One is to create a state fund for all fines, fees and court cost orders that are imposed by local court judges. That fund would fall within the purview of the Michigan Treasury, which (and this is thing two) would be responsible for collecting the fines and fees. That would relieve local governments of the costs of tracking down defendants who haven’t paid.
In theory, at least, that would also eliminate the perverse incentive to levy excessive fines, costs and fees.
The state Legislature has actually been working on this, but progress has been slow because it would require the state to ante up some money and ratify a system to collect and redistribute the revenue. That brings into play competing notions of fairness and responsibility. The work also stalled when the COVID-19 crisis basically put the brakes on almost everything else.
Boyd, the state court administrator, says it will likely take many years and multiple legislative sessions to fix the problem.
That work will start next week when the report is formally presented to state legislative committees.
“At the end of the day, we are responsible for taxpayer dollars and want to make sure we’re using those dollars effectively and efficiently to administer justice,” State Representative Sarah Lightner (R-Springport), chair of the Michigan House Judiciary Committee, told Rick.
“It’s a super-important issue that I’m hoping that the Legislature can finally get resolved,” said State Senator Stephanie Chang (D-Detroit), chair of Senate Civil Rights, Judiciary and Public Safety Committee.
There is bipartisan, bicameral interest in taking major steps before the end of this legislative session next year.
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Have questions about Michigan politics? Or, just want to let us know what you want more of (less of?) in the newsletter? We always want to hear from you! Shoot us an email at politics@michiganpublic.org!
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What we’re talking about at the dinner table
Detroit + Lansing: Much of the 2025 election focus this week was on the Democrat’s gubernatorial wins in Virginia and New Jersey, and New York City’s new Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, but Michigan also saw history Tuesday night as Detroit City Council President Mary Sheffield was elected the first female mayor of Detroit. After twelve years of transformative change - both within the city and its relationship with the state Capitol - under current Mayor Mike Duggan, we’re really interested in what the relationship between Detroit and Lansing will look like moving forward, particularly under divided government. Former Michigan Treasurer and Detroit economic development chief Nick Khouri (who’s worked for two governors and Duggan) joined us this week on the pod to share his thoughts: “We always used to say, you campaign in poetry and you govern in prose,” Khouri told us. Take a listen.
Second plea: There’s another plea deal in connection to former Republican state House Speaker Lee Chatfield’s corruption case. Last month, we brought you the news that Anne Minard, a one-time aide and fundraiser for Chatfield, had grabbed Lansing’s attention by deciding to testify against her former boss. But we didn’t yet know what her husband and former Chatfield Chief of Staff Rob Minard would do. On Thursday, the news came down that Rob Minard pleaded guilty to two charges “and agreed to testify against [Chatfield] in a deal with prosecutors who have accused Chatfield of embezzling money from political accounts to fund a lavish lifestyle,” Crain’s Dave Eggert reports. The trial is set for next year with a list of potential additional witnesses that includes former lawmakers, Lansing lobbyists, and political donors.
Bipartisan MEDC bashing: As controversy continues to swirl around the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, the quasi-government entity was in the spotlight again this week at the state Capitol and in the race for governor. In Lansing, Republican lawmakers introduced legislation this week to do away with the MEDC entirely as “it’s faced criticism for providing grants, tax incentives, and other funding to get businesses to locate projects in Michigan,” Michigan Public Radio Network’s Colin Jackson reports. But it’s not just the GOP eyeing the MEDC. After a campaign speech Thursday evening in Royal Oak, Democratic candidate for governor - and current Michigan Secretary of State - Jocelyn Benson told The Detroit News that the MEDC needs to be “reformed, significantly.” The News’ Beth LeBlanc notes that Benson “did not provide specific details on the types of changes that might be needed at the agency… In recent months, the MEDC has come under scrutiny after some of its massive cash-for-jobs incentives have failed to deliver promised jobs in a timely manner, were downsized, or collapsed altogether. Additionally, the agency's handling of legislatively directed earmarks has come under scrutiny, leading to an attorney general raid of the department in June.”
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Yours in political nerdiness,
Rick Pluta & Zoe Clark
Co-hosts, It’s Just Politics
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