Michigan Legislature's Historic Slow Start as Campaign Season Looms

Michigan's politically divided Legislature and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer finalized seven new laws in the first three months of 2026, continuing a historically sluggish pace that has lawmakers eyeing campaign season as a potential end to legislative activity.

The slow start follows a historically slow 2025, when lawmakers passed the fewest bills since the Civil War, according to a review by Bridge Michigan. With campaign season looming, experts predict legislators may not do much more than pass a budget, which is constitutionally required.

"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 seven bills signed into law this year originated from both chambers, but five came from the Republican-led House where Speaker Matt Hall has at times vocally opposed passing legislation from Senate Democrats.

What's been signed into law so far:

• Two bills to ban smartphones from public school classrooms, a long-running effort of lawmakers from both major 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 Michigan participates in, keeping 8,000 doctors licenses from expiring
• A measure allowing Harsens Island in St. Clair County to utilize tax incremental financing for downtown development purposes
• A bill to designate the wood duck as Michigan's first official state duck

Both chambers wanted to renew the medical compact, but the legislation stalled for months amid a political debate over which lawmakers would get credit.

Hall has defended the minimal lawmaking in Lansing, arguing quality matters more than quantity. In a statement, he told Bridge Michigan 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 Michigan 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 those things," she said in a statement.

While lawmakers are off on their legislative spring break this week, both chambers will be back in the Capitol on Tuesday.

The scale of activity is still considerable despite the slow pace. 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, 2026.

Whitmer signed 76 of those bills into law in 2025, making it the lowest performing legislative year since 1842, according to the Michigan Information and Research Service Inc.

Nearly half of the new laws — 36 — were signed in December during a year-end flurry.

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 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.

What's on the table:

Property tax reform has been high on the to-do list for several lawmakers, including House Speaker Matt Hall, R-Richland Township. But he has not yet introduced a plan, and his public comments suggest the forthcoming proposal will be complicated.

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 all face uncertain futures in the politically polarized Capitol.

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.

Hall has defended the minimal lawmaking in Lansing, arguing quality matters more than quantity.