Michigan News And Capitol Report, Week Ending Friday, September 25th, 2026

House Oversight Subcommittee Completes UIA Investigation, Recommends 10 Bills

A yearlong House investigation into the Unemployment Insurance Agency ended with a 3-0 vote to approve the panel's findings and recommend 10 bills aimed at preventing fraud and improving how the agency handles benefit claims.

The proposals would restrict when the UIA can shut down fraud-detection software, require it to check its records against other government databases and make it report benefit error rates annually. Other measures would address notices sent to claimants, fees charged to people who received overpayments without committing fraud and penalties for organized unemployment fraud.

“Oversight without reform is just another government report,” said Rep. Jason Woolford (R-Howell), chair of the House Oversight Subcommittee on State and Local Public Assistance Programs. “Great, you’ve uncovered the fraud, but now what’s next? So we’re proposing actual safeguards.”

He said the 10-bill package contains changes directly identified by an Office of Auditor General report, such as strengthening penalties against organized unemployment fraud, saving unemployment applications for seven years, and giving clear notices that explain the decisions made by the UIA.

The UIA would be responsible for cross-checking their database against other governmental agencies to try to find any problems. The UIA would also be responsible for reporting benefit error rates every year. 

“We need to find the problem, determine how it happened and then change the law so it can’t simply happen that same way again,” Woolford said.

The subcommittee started without a quorum and a letter was read into the record from House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Township) that Rep. Penelope Tsernoglou (D-East Lansing) would no longer be a sitting member on the panel.

Woolford raised Sarah Lightner (R-Springport) to sit in as vice chair for Rep. William Bruck (R-Erie). With Steve Carra (R-Three Rivers) voting, the three were able to pass the investigation out of committee on a 3-0 vote.

Cheaper Auto Insurance, But At What Cost? Committee Questions PIP Bills

House Insurance Committee members pressed sponsors of a three-bill auto insurance package over whether to allow drivers the option to drop their personal injury protection (PIP) coverage to $50,000 from $250,000, saying that the quest to lower premiums is coming at the expense of leaving survivors catastrophic after a car wreck.

Rep. Brenda Carter (D-Pontiac) said she stayed up all night before the hearing looking for the safety net in legislation that would lower the minimum personal injury protection, or PIP, coverage available to all drivers to $50,000.

HB 5886, HB 5887, and HB 5888, sponsored by Reps. Jennifer Wortz (R-Quincy), Joe Tate (D-Detroit) and Nancy Jenkins-Arno (R-Clayton), respectively, are aimed at giving drivers cheaper auto insurance options.

Wortz’s HB 5886 would allow any driver to select $50,000 in PIP coverage, while Jenkins-Arno’s HB 5888 would lower minimum bodily injury liability coverage from $50,000 per person and $100,000 per accident to $25,000 and $50,000. Tate’s HB 5887 would eliminate the requirement that drivers repeatedly reselect lower coverage levels each time their policy renews. 

But Carter questioned what would happen if someone with $50,000 in PIP suffered injuries costing $1 million and exhausted both their own coverage and the at-fault driver’s bodily injury coverage.

“We cannot do this at the cost of the ones who are catastrophically injured,” Carter said. “What happens to the person who opts in to get the PIP at $50,000? And they are struck by a driver who could only afford $25,000 BI? What happens to that person that’s requiring long-term care?” 

Rep. Sarah Lightner (R-Springport) became emotional while describing her own family’s experience with catastrophic injury. Lightner said her nephew suffered a traumatic brain injury in a serious car crash and will never live alone or drive again. His family had maintained unlimited PIP coverage.

She then asked Insurance Alliance of Michigan General Counsel Shanda Greco to walk through what would happen if a 21-year-old instead carried only $50,000 in PIP and suffered injuries requiring part of his skull to be removed, months in a hospital and long-term care. 

Greco said auto insurance would cover bills until the PIP limit was exhausted, after which health insurance could begin picking up costs. But overall, she acknowledged she couldn’t promise that families in similar situations would not face difficult choices about long-term care.

Greco estimated that a driver moving from unlimited PIP and higher bodily injury coverage to the proposed lower limits could save about 18% to 20% on the overall premium, while acknowledging it would vary by driver.

The majority of the hearing consisted of a back-and-forth over whether reducing required coverage would lower costs at the expense of shifting some medical expenses elsewhere. When Rusty Merchant, representing McAlvey Merchant & Associates, spoke, the atmosphere began to soften.

Merchant argued the choice should also be viewed against the number of drivers who may otherwise carry no insurance at all. Greco said 88% of PIP claims fall below $50,000, according to the Insurance Alliance of Michigan.

“Right now, you have a choice between people having no insurance, or 88% of those people being covered for anything under 50,000,” Merchant said. “Those aren't perfect numbers, but they're better numbers. 88% is better than zero. That's lobbyist math, I get it, but that is true. 88 is better than zero.” 

The bottom line, Merchant said, was that there is no perfect answer.

“The other side of that coin is we all have instances in our life where our families have had to make decisions about other family members who get sick, who have nothing to do with an auto accident, and it alters your life completely,” he said. “And it's not fair. And it's not easy, but you make those decisions.”

The comment helped bring more than a half-hour of sometimes tense questioning to a close, with Chair Mike Harris (R-Clarkston) and Wortz following with a moment of levity.

“If anyone would like to pay my $6,261, six-month auto insurance bill, that’d be great,” Wortz said.

“We should all sit down and have a comparison party,” Harris responded. “It would be very interesting.”

The committee took testimony on the bills but did not vote to report them Wednesday. 

DTE Proposes Two New Gas Plants As It Plans To End Coal Use By 2032

DTE Electric is proposing two new natural gas plants with a combined 2.1 gigawatts of capacity as part of a 20-year plan to replace its remaining coal generation with a mix of gas, renewable energy, storage and nuclear power.

The utility submitted its integrated resource plan to the Michigan Public Service Commission Thursday. It keeps DTE’s previously approved schedule to close the Monroe Power Plant in two stages, in 2028 and 2032. The closures would retire about 3 gigawatts of coal-fired capacity.

DTE also proposes adding 15 gigawatts of renewable generation and 4.5 gigawatts of energy storage over the life of the plan. An upgrade to the existing Fermi 2 nuclear plant would add 177 megawatts of capacity beginning in 2036. The plan includes programs that pay or encourage customers to reduce electricity use during peak periods and a proposed “virtual power plant” that would draw on batteries in participating homes and businesses.

DTE estimates the new plan would cost $3.5 billion less than the plan it filed in 2022, citing changes in prices, market conditions and energy laws. That is a comparison of the two long-range plans; the company did not provide an estimate in its announcement of what the difference would mean for a typical customer’s bill.

“As we retire coal in 2032, our job is to replace that power with resources that work together around the clock,” said Matt Paul, president of DTE Electric. He said the company chose the mix to meet reliability needs while keeping costs down.

DTE projects the plan would reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 84%. It says the reduction would exceed 90% once carbon capture and storage is implemented. The company did not specify in its announcement when that technology would be in place.

The filing starts a regulatory review that will include analysis and stakeholder input. The MPSC can take up to 360 days to decide whether to approve the plan.

MSU Survey: 70% Oppose Data Centers In Their Communities

Seven in 10 Michigan adults oppose building a data center in their community, according to a Michigan State University survey that found opposition among Democrats, Republicans and independents.

The State of the State Survey found 52% strongly opposed a local data center and 18% somewhat opposed one. Eleven percent expressed support, while 19% neither supported nor opposed construction. Opposition was highest among Democrats at 76%, followed by independents at 72% and Republicans at 58%.

The findings come as communities across Michigan weigh proposed data center projects and lawmakers debate what conditions should accompany development. The survey suggests residents distinguish between allowing projects and subsidizing them: 46% opposed state financial incentives for data centers, while 35% supported incentives if operators met certain requirements. Another 5% supported incentives without conditions, while 13% said they did not know.

The most widely shared concern was the potential effect on household electric bills. Seventy-seven percent expected data centers to raise their home energy costs, including 55% who expected them to rise “a lot.” Seventy-one percent were at least somewhat concerned that a data center in their community would attract additional large developments, such as solar energy facilities.

Respondents were also more likely to see data centers as harmful than helpful to Michigan’s environment and economy. Seventy-one percent said they would be bad for the environment, including 51% who said “mostly bad.” Fifty-nine percent said they would be bad for the economy.

Residents favored a local role in deciding where projects go. Eighty-three percent said local governments should have at least some say in permitting data centers, including 52% who said they should have “a lot” of say.

The findings are from the summer 2026 State of the State Survey, conducted by MSU’s Institute for Public Policy and Social Research using telephone interviews with a stratified random sample of Michigan adults. The report presents responses from approximately 1,000 people; it does not specify a margin of error.