Michigan House resolves to disclose enhancement grants, recipients

The Michigan House passed a resolution Jan. 29 to identify lawmakers who request “enhancement grants” that are used during the budgeting process to introduce pork spending with little scrutiny.

House Resolution 14 responds to the 2025 budget, which, as Michigan Capitol Confidential has reported, will spend $1 billion pork projects.

The enhancement grants supported projects such as stadiums and sports complexes ($25 million), electric vehicle charging stations ($25 million), the Potter Park Zoo in Lansing ($10 million), and incentives to purchase e-bikes ($3 million).

Rep. Ann Bollin, R-Brighton Township, sponsored the resolution that amends Rule 52 of the Standing Rules of the House of Representatives.

The resolution requires that each grant list its legislative sponsor and co-sponsor, the name and location of the grant recipient, the state funding involved, and how it will benefit the public.

Grants to not-for-profit entities have specific requirements as well. The entity receiving a grant must have operated in Michigan for at least 36 consecutive months. It must have had a physical office in the office for the previous 12 months, and the fact that it has a board of directors and officers must be verified.

In addition, the resolution quotes language in Article 4 of the Michigan Constitution that prohibits grants ”for a local or private purpose.”

House rules bind only the House, not the Senate.

Taxpayers should be able to track how their money is spent, Chris Douglas, associate professor of economics at the University of Michigan-Flint, told CapCon in an email. Douglas is a member of the Mackinac Center Board of Scholars.

“I think taxpayers should know where their tax dollars are going and what the public benefits of these grants are,” Douglas said to CapCon in an email.

In past years, lawmakers have skirted the state constitution’s requirement that state awards to private companies receive a two-thirds vote from the House and Senate. Lawmakers have instead given vague descriptions of recipients, invoking population numbers rather than specifying who will receive taxpayer funds.

CapCon reported on one $2 million grant: “From the funds appropriated in part 1 for community enhancement grants, $2,000,000.00 shall be awarded to a teacher collaborative located in a county with a population between 600,000 and 700,000 according to the most recent federal decennial census to support programming.”

Bollin, who sponsored the change to House rules, is the chair of the House Appropriations Committee. In a November 2024 email to CapCon, she described the pork-granting process as “trickery,” noting that vague language often obstructs transparency and accountability.

Sen. Sarah Anthony, D-Lansing, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, told MIRS News in June 2023 that all enhancement grants would be clearly labeled with the sponsoring legislator’s name.

“In any department that has enhancement grants, you will see a legislative sponsor attached to that,” said Anthony.

Legislators have not responded to CapCon’s past attempts to uncover how specific enhancement grants were awarded.

Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks, D-Grand Rapids, welcomed the resolution’s spirit but urged House Speaker Matt Hall, R-Richland Township, to pass Freedom of Information Act reform.

“I understand why he feels the need to adopt this measure, given the way that past GOP speakers have been plagued by budget scandals of their own making,” Brinks wrote in an email to CapCon. “That said, if we’re going to talk about transparency, let’s put some muscle behind it. House Republicans can show an honest commitment by finally opening up the Legislature and governor’s office to FOIA requests.”