Michigan Legislature Passes Only Seven Bills in First Three Months of 2026 as Campaign Season Looms

Michigan's politically divided Legislature and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer finalized just seven new laws in the first three months of 2026. That is a slight increase from last year — when lawmakers finalized six bills in the first six months of session — but it is the slowest pace in an even-numbered year this century, according to a review by Bridge Michigan.

With lawmakers expected to leave Lansing this summer to hit the campaign trail ahead of fall elections, experts predict the glacial pace could continue.

"We may, in fact, really not see much movement other than a budget all this year, unless we see a deal on property taxes," said Republican strategist John Sellek, founder and CEO of the Lansing-based Harbor Strategic communications firm.

The slow start follows a historically slow 2025, when lawmakers passed the fewest bills since the Civil War. Michigan Information and Research Service Inc. reported that Whitmer signed 76 of the new laws into law in 2025, making it the lowest performing legislative year since 1842. Nearly half of the new laws — 36 — were signed in December during a year-end flurry.

LANSING — Michigan's politically divided Legislature is off to another historically slow start, sending Gov. Gretchen Whitmer just seven bills through the first three months of 2026. That's according to a review by Bridge Michigan.

Among the seven bills signed into law so far this year:

• Two bills to ban smartphones from public school classrooms, a long-running effort of lawmakers from both major political parties
• Two bills dealing with death certificates, streamlining the certification process and requiring certificates be filed within 48 hours of a death
• A bill to renew an interstate medical compact that Michigan participates in, keeping approximately 8,000 doctors licenses from expiring
• A measure allowing Harsens Island in St. Clair County to utilize tax incremental financing for downtown development purposes, approved as part of a deal on the medical compact bill
• A bill to designate the wood duck as Michigan's first official state duck

More than 2,600 bills have been introduced between the Republican-led House and Democratic-led Senate since the current, two-year term started on Jan. 1, 2025.

As of 2026, five of the seven bills signed into law this year originated in the Republican-led House, where House Speaker Matt Hall has at times vocally opposed passing legislation from Senate Democrats.

Both chambers are off on legislative spring break this week, with both expected to return to the Capitol on Tuesday.

House Speaker Matt Hall has defended the minimal lawmaking in Lansing, arguing quality matters more than quantity. In a statement, he told Bridge he's optimistic the Legislature can get "a property tax cut deal done this year."

Hall has also personally blocked a top priority for Senate Democrats, who last year advanced a government transparency proposal to expand Michigan's Freedom of Information Act by subjecting the governor and lawmakers to public records requests.

Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks of Grand Rapids pointed to laws Democrats passed in 2023 when they were still in charge, including elimination of the so-called "retirement tax" and expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit for lower-income residents.

But there is "certainly more we can get done" this year, Brinks said, telling Bridge that other top priorities for her caucus include lowering child care costs and prescription drug prices.

"We certainly hope to have willing partners in the House on all of those things," Brinks said in a statement.

The budget process proved contentious last year, the first since Republicans won back the state House to end a short-lived Democratic trifecta. Lawmakers blew past a July 1 budget deadline written into state law and then missed an Oct. 1 deadline mandated by the state Constitution, passing a stopgap spending measure to avoid the first state government shutdown in 16 years.

Experts say property tax reform could be the key to breaking the legislative gridlock. Property taxes are also on the chopping block for Republicans, whose plans would likely require significant state spending cuts.

Gubernatorial candidate Perry Johnson has proposed eliminating the state income tax, claiming it would save taxpayers $4,747 annually. But analysis by Bridge Michigan shows most families would not save as much as he claims.

After exemptions, subtractions and credits, single and joint filers who earn between $110,000 and $120,000 paid an effective Michigan income tax rate of 3.01% in 2021. Filers with gross incomes of $111,691 paid an average state tax of $3,406 that year — about 30% less than Johnson claimed.

"Treasury data is a better way to look at it," said Bob Schneider, a state budget expert with the non-partisan Citizens Research Council of Michigan.

According to the most recent US Census Bureau data, Michigan's median income for a four-person household is currently about $123,010. Filers who earned that much in 2021 paid an effective tax rate of 3.11%, or about $3,826.

Some candidates are also proposing property tax cuts or elimination, which would likely require significant state spending cuts to balance the budget.

The second year of two-year terms are typically more productive than the first because lawmakers have learned to work together and already introduced many bills. But so far, 2026 is the slowest start to the second year of a term since at least 1998, which is as far back as legislative records are immediately available.

Among other initiatives facing an uncertain future in the politically polarized Capitol include a medical debt relief plan approved by the Democratic-led Senate, funding for a new runway and infrastructure upgrades at the Selfridge Air National Guard Base approved by the Republican-led House, and a potential business incentive deal that Whitmer and Hall teased last year.