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Last spring and summer in Lansing was a budget slog, but this year could be more of a sprint with less money to fight over and a Legislature filled with candidates who’d rather be back home and campaigning. Wrapping up the budget, nevertheless, will be influenced by political considerations heading into an election season crowded with consequential races.
The House this week detoured into a brazenly partisan fight as the Republican majority muscled through a bill that would require people registering to vote for the first time to show proof of citizenship such as a birth certificate, passport or naturalization papers. The bill was adopted on a party-line vote over the objections of Democrats and voting rights groups who argue requiring everyone to dig up their birth certificate or other documents is a needless hardship to exercise a constitutional right and, in some cases, intimidating. Republicans argued the hardship is trivial compared to its value in ensuring only citizens vote.
The bill now goes to the Senate, which is controlled by Democrats, where it will no doubt languish in committee.
But, after that diversion, Representative Bryan Posthumus (R-Rockford), the House majority floor leader, said he expects pocketbook issues to dominate the to-do list, including efforts to rein in property taxes and housing costs. But he said the window to get things done is small as elections loom.
“Gloves start coming off real quickly, and so the filing deadline comes up in the next week, I think,” he said. “So the idea is that sometime over the next month or two, we really have to hammer down and get things done and then it’s going to be campaign season for a lot of people.”
“I don’t think we have a tremendous amount of time to get meaningful things done,” said Representative Ranjeev Puri (D-Canton), the House minority leader. Puri has been a particular target of House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Township), who has said Puri is an ineffective leader. For his part, Puri said Hall has poisoned the environment for bipartisan cooperation.
“Why the partisanship needs to continue to dictate how the House is run is beyond me,” Puri said. “There is still an opportunity to do meaningful work, but that takes two parties to come together to do that work together.”
Senator Sam Singh (D-East Lansing), the Senate majority floor leader, said people are focused right now on the cost of living and the agenda will reflect that.
“We’ll have legislation focused on auto insurance, on housing, on healthcare,” he said. “We’ve already done a number of items on some of those issues already, but we’ll continue to do that work. Affordability continues to be one of the top priorities for Senate Democrats.”
In terms of lawmaking, 2026 has been a slow year in Lansing. Only seven new public acts have been signed into law so far this year. Part of that dynamic is the House is controlled by Republicans and the Senate by Democrats.
At a stop in Kalamazoo, Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer said the Legislature has one job heading into the spring session.
“The budget. Full stop. Like, that’s the bare minimum,” she said. “We’ve got to get the budget done. We don’t want schools and municipalities to be wondering up until the last minute in the fall what they’re working with.”
That is, however, exactly what happened last year as budget negotiations dragged past the July 1 statutory deadline and past the October 1 constitutional deadline, leaving schools, local governments, and some state departments scrambling.
Whitmer signed the current budget seven days into the fiscal year. But this year, lawmakers will want to get home to campaign. Michigan remains a purple state and the stakes include control of the Legislature as well as choosing a new governor, attorney general, secretary of state and a U.S. senator. We’ll have lots to talk about this 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
Whitmer and Trump: The Atlantic has a new in depth piece about Governor Gretchen Whitmer that’s making its way around political circles. Titled “The Conciliator: Why did Gretchen Whitmer go soft on Trump?” writer Elaine Godfrey profiles the governor’s decisions about her relationship with President Trump after the 2024 election. “Had Whitmer gone soft on Trump? For more than half a decade, she’s been ‘Big Gretch,’ the Bell’s-drinking, fuchsia-lipstick-wearing, sometimes-performative badass from up north. She became governor during the peak of the anti-Trump resistance. Then her clash with the president during the pandemic sent her rocket into orbit… But if Democratic voters are looking for someone to confront Trump directly, Whitmer might not be their candidate. In his second term, she has instead looked for ways to collaborate with him…” Godfrey writes.
Dem convention: Michigan Democrats are gathering this weekend for their party’s endorsement convention. Party leaders will endorse candidates for Secretary of State and Attorney General and others on the November ballot. “The state’s chief law enforcement officer, Attorney General Dana Nessel, and its top election official, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, are term-limited,” Crain’s Detroit Business’ David Eggert explains. “The midterm will test Democrats’ ability to hold onto the open seats, which they last did in 1998, when Jennifer Granholm was elected attorney general, and in 1970, when Richard Austin was elected secretary of state. An estimated 5,000 to 8,000 delegates will gather Sunday in Detroit’s Huntington Place to get behind candidates. The winners will be formally nominated at a convention in the summer, but Sunday’s endorsement convention is the main event.”
Utility rates: A Michigan Senate committee heard testimony this week on legislation to stop public utilities from raising their rates multiple times within a three-year span. “Current law lets them apply for higher rates every 12 months.
Bill supporters argue that frequency has led energy rates to constantly rise. Michigan’s largest utilities did not weigh on the bill during Thursday’s hearing. But one of them, D-T-E Energy, says it is working to keep prices affordable while also improving the energy grid,” Michigan Public Radio Network’s Colin Jackson reports.
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Yours in political nerdiness,
Rick Pluta & Zoe Clark
Co-hosts, It’s Just Politics
