Connections purpose is to be an avenue for the exchange of information that includes people’s dreams, stories, concerns and successes. Its intent is to connect us all – the individuals who sit around the board room table, our customers, our administrators, caregivers, and our partners in the communities in which we live.

The CMHA BoardWorks program was developed to assist Board members in fulfilling their obligations as CMH leaders, directors of policy, and advocates for those they serve.

Sen. Sarah ANTHONY (D-Lansing), chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee

Sen. Anthony said she’s thought about this issue for a while since the lion’s share of state employees live in her mid-Michigan/Lansing-based district. She said she’s seen what’s taken place with the federal employees and how “an unelected billionaire is literally using a chainsaw” to find efficiencies. 

“As the person who helps negotiate the state budget, I know everything requires a scalpel. We don’t have room for negative consequences to find efficiencies,” she said. “That’s not to say there aren’t areas where we can’t tighten our belts. We can always find ways to be more efficient. We do that on an annual basis. We do have areas of duplication. Now, for anyone who is serious about helping us in those areas, I welcome that. It’s part of good government. But to create chaos among state employees in a way that creates dysfunction and wreaks havoc, I don’t support. The biggest losers end up being the public. 

“From what I’ve seen, these “efficiencies” at the federal level haven’t been realized. I have dug into some of these reports and what we’re finding is that all of this alleged waste and all of these people who apparently aren’t doing anything is fake math. It’s contracts that have already expired, and it’s picking on some employees who the Supreme Court said the way in which they’re being fired is illegal.  

“What we’re going to find is that DOGE is not working, and I’d hate to embrace the same concepts and approaches at the state level.” 

Rep. Ann BOLLIN (R-Brighton), chair of the House Appropriations Committee

“Yes. It’s called BOGE – Budget (Bollin) Overhaul of Government Expenditures.”

Sen. Joseph BELLINO JR. (R-Monroe)

“We 100 percent need one.”

He noted that he’s 64 ½ and is on Medicare. He said he notified the human resources folks that he’d be willing to keep his Medicare as long as the state picks up the costs of his supplemental. Bellino said he was told the state keeps all of its older workers on the state insurance policy.

“My insurance is $2,000 a month for my family because the state doesn’t let its older employees take Medicare. That’s a waste of millions of dollars a year, and that’s one little thing,” he said. “It’s a bureaucracy that costs the state a lot of money. I would go on Medicare tomorrow to save the state money, but they won’t do it.”

Bellino also noted that in his first term, then-House Appropriations Chair Shane HERNANDEZ went back and forth with the Department of Transportation (MDOT) about funding 260 unfilled positions that the department hadn’t used in three years.

“He eventually conked them on the head and got those positions cut, but it wasn’t easy,” he said. “We’re also renting a state plan to Tom IZZO and Michigan State to make recruiting trips. MDOT is saying the state is making money on this deal, but, to me, this looks like we’re taking money out of one pocket and putting it in another.”

Sen. Jeff IRWIN (D-Ann Arbor)

The term-limited Democrat said he teamed up with former Rep. Mark MEADOWS back in the day to introduce legislation to create a performance monitoring and “continuous improvement” effort within state government. The focus, he said, was monitoring and measuring key indicators of success to gear state government toward efficiency and effectiveness.

“I thought at the time that former Gov. SNYDER might pick up on it because it was in line with some of his statements,” Irwin said. “If you recall, his ‘dashboard’ was an attempt to formalize and focus that idea.”

As for a state-level DOGE, Irwin said, “If it’s done well, it would be good,” but it would need to be non-partisan, serious and consistent.

House Minority Floor Leader Bryan POSTHUMUS (R-Rockford)

“No question we need MIDOGE. Extreme excess and abuse of taxpayer dollars isn’t restricted to just the federal government. Until we take control of the governor’s office, the changes the House GOP has made to appropriations, oversight and rules is a step toward that.”

House Minority Floor Leader John FITZGERALD (D-Wyoming)

“If a department like DOGE were to exist in Michigan, its top priority should be to improve efficiency while committing to a high standard of service that prioritizes the health, safety, wellbeing and prosperity of Michiganders. In other words, nothing like the current federal DOGE.”

Rep. Matt MADDOCK (R-Milford), Majority Vice Chair of the House Appropriations Committee

“If you don’t think there’s waste, fraud and abuse in our $84 billion state budget, then you’re either in on the scam or blind.”

Rep. Phil SKAGGS (D-Grand Rapids)

“Though Americans have quickly soured on Elon Musk and his infamous chainsaw, here in Michigan, Republicans remain infatuated with the erratic and corrupt multi-billionaire with a propensity to make Nazi salutes.

“While we must continually look for ways to make state government more efficient and transparent, there is no way we should import Musk’s policies of firing veterans, gutting everything from airline traffic control to life-saving medical research, and endangering Social Security we have all worked hard to earn.

“The last thing Michigan needs is an unaccountable Grand Poobah mindlessly hacking key healthcare and educational services people need – all to pay for tax cuts for billionaires.”

Sen. Jim RUNESTAD (R-White Lake), chair of the Michigan Republican Party

“Michigan’s budget has ballooned by over 40% since Whitmer took office, yet many families still don’t feel the government is working for them. Every budget is riddled with special projects, and nearly every department has offices and programs that waste taxpayer money. Corporate handouts consistently fail, with $670m being spent by the SOAR fund over the last three years, all with zero jobs created.

“Last year, the legislature voted to approve over $4 billion in business subsidies, all while people and businesses leave the state. Earlier this year, a battery maker fled the state after taking nearly $1 million from taxpayers. Creating a Michigan DOGE would allow every dollar to go further, and guarantee taxpayers receive the services they need.”

Rep. Tyrone CARTER (D-Detroit)

“No. What we see at the federal level, I don’t know if it transcends to the state level, and we haven’t really seen any results. I mean, you can say that you found all this fraud, waste and abuse, but I don’t see any documentation.

“And, we still, I hope, unlike the federal level, have co-equal branches of government.”

Sen. Thomas ALBERT (R-Lowell), former chair of the House Appropriations Committee

“Yes, and the first thing it should do is put up a ‘for sale’ sign next to every vacant government building.”

Rep. Julie BRIXIE (D-Okemos)

“We already have one. It’s called the Legislature, and it’s our statutory duty to present a balanced budget to the governor by July 1. I hope no one is suggesting we spend money to pretend to save money.

“It reminds me of when Matt Maddock was looking for waste and fraud but he, his two staffers and an intern couldn’t find any.”

Rep. Phil GREEN (R-Millington)

“Any organization of any size needs individuals who will be focused on eliminating waste and ensuring efficiency. When the organization is a government that is directly accountable to its citizens, transparency and accountability are of the utmost importance.

“A government entity with an $80 billion budget has a monumental task of eliminating waste and ensuring that they are not taken advantage of by unscrupulous scammers. Citizens work hard to fund their government, and they have needs that only the government can provide. Thus, we need to ensure that we, as a government, provide a quality, strong safety net. And the services that we provide actually help the people.

“The concept of DOGE is a common-sense approach to ensuring the maximum amount of dollars gets spent helping the people that need it most. We, as a government, should always be seeking ways to keep our residents and their needs first. Eliminating sloppiness and waste is a good step in ensuring our residents get served!”

Rep. Emily DIEVENDORF (D-Lansing)

“Elon’s DOGE is doing a fine job of dismantling democracy, removing checks and balances, raising the cost of living, leaving millions of Americans without a social safety net, tanking the economy, destroying scientific progress, erasing history, endangering national security, and violating our civil liberties . . . all by itself. Let’s learn from the stupidity and not do the same.”

Rep. Mark TISDEL (R-Rochester)

“I was hoping the Auditor General’s office was already doing that. Large organizations often endure ad hoc growth. Every organization benefits from a periodic, top to bottom, dose of re-engineering.”

Rep. Noah ARBIT (D-West Bloomfield)

“Is that a joke? Besides, we already have an incompetent unelected billionaire who fancies herself a policy maven pulling the strings of Michigan government officials; her name is Betsy DeVOS and Michiganders don’t really seem too fond of her, either.

“In all seriousness, I’m all about looking at the efficiency of government; doing a bonfire of silly regulations that stymie development and growth, silly departmental rules that inhibit servicing our constituents . . . and building a state government that is lean, mean, efficient, and solves problems.

“That is not what Musk is doing. This requires real oversight and good-faith efforts of those working within the executive branch to help the Legislature understand what’s wrong and how we can fix it.

“Cutting for cutting’s sake is wrong; but we also know there is a limit to what you can achieve by merely throwing money around. Reforms need to be made – procedural, cultural, technological. So, we need to work in a serious, bipartisan basis to explore what can be done.”

Why Support CMH PAC? 

In the Michigan Legislature there are:

• More new legislators due to term limits.
• Fewer legislators with in-depth knowledge about behavioral health issues.
• More legislative proposals that directly and indirectly impact Michigan’s publicly funded mental health system.
• More aggressive interest groups competing for limited resources.
• Very few legislative champions for persons with mental health, developmental/intellectual disabilities and substance use disorders.

CMH PAC helps overcome some of these obstacles by raising awareness for issues that are important to behavioral health care. The CMH PAC supports legislators/candidates who support and advocate on behalf of Michigan’s publicly funded mental health system.

Connections purpose is to be an avenue for the exchange of information that includes people’s dreams, stories, concerns and successes. Its intent is to connect us all – the individuals who sit around the board room table, our customers, our administrators, caregivers, and our partners in the communities in which we live.

The CMHA BoardWorks program was developed to assist Board members in fulfilling their obligations as CMH leaders, directors of policy, and advocates for those they serve.

Why Support CMH PAC? 

In the Michigan Legislature there are:

• More new legislators due to term limits.
• Fewer legislators with in-depth knowledge about behavioral health issues.
• More legislative proposals that directly and indirectly impact Michigan’s publicly funded mental health system.
• More aggressive interest groups competing for limited resources.
• Very few legislative champions for persons with mental health, developmental/intellectual disabilities and substance use disorders.

CMH PAC helps overcome some of these obstacles by raising awareness for issues that are important to behavioral health care. The CMH PAC supports legislators/candidates who support and advocate on behalf of Michigan’s publicly funded mental health system.

This story, along with the growing list of solutions journalism stories centered around the work of Michigan’s public mental health system, can be found at: https://cmham.org/newsroom/

This partnership, with the Issue Media Group (IMG), is built around the concept of “solutions journalism” – providing news about innovative and concrete ways that communities, across Michigan, are addressing the needs of their residents along a number of dimensions – healthcare, economic development, education, the arts, to name a few. Solutions journalism investigates and explains, in a critical and clear-eyed way, how people try to solve widely shared problems. While news sources and many of us typically define news as “what’s gone wrong,” solutions journalism runs counter to that definition by covering the innovative responses to identified needs and problems.

This partnership ensures that the work of Michigan’s public mental health system is highlighted in IMG’s large suite of solutions journalism-focused publications.

You can subscribe, at no cost, to these publications, on the websites of each of these publications. The list of partner publications and their websites are provided below:

Second Wave – Michigan

Capital Gains – Lansing

Catalyst Midland

Concentrate – Ann Arbor/Ypsi

Epicenter – Mount Pleasant

Flintside

Metromode – Metro Detroit

Model D

Route Bay City

Rural Innovation Exchange

Second Wave -Southwest Michigan

The Keel – Port Huron

The Lakeshore

Upword – UP

Connections purpose is to be an avenue for the exchange of information that includes people’s dreams, stories, concerns and successes. Its intent is to connect us all – the individuals who sit around the board room table, our customers, our administrators, caregivers, and our partners in the communities in which we live.

The Mental Health Code states that Community Mental Health Service Providers are required to distribute Recipient Rights Booklets to each recipient receiving services. To place an order with CMHA please visit our websites bookstore page.

The CMHA BoardWorks program was developed to assist Board members in fulfilling their obligations as CMH leaders, directors of policy, and advocates for those they serve.

Members of the Senate Appropriations Health and Human Service Subcommittee heard concerns expressed by health care officials over future funding if President Donald Trump’s administration and Congress slash Medicaid funding as part of government spending cuts.

Meghan Groen, state Medicaid director with the Department of Health and Human Services, said the department has heard one of multiple items that might be considered to reach budget reconciliation numbers in the federal budget is a reduction in the federal Medicaid expansion match from the current 90 percent.

Groen said if the 90 percent federal match for the Healthy Michigan Program were reduced to the roughly 65 percent federal match for traditional Medicaid, that would result in a funding loss of about $1.1 billion per year to the state.

“Absent an investment to cover that, 30 percent of Michigan’s Medicaid population would lose their health insurance coverage,” Groen said.

Nearly 750,000 people in the state could lose coverage if large-scale Medicaid cuts were to be enacted, she said.

Sen. Rick Outman (R-Six Lakes) asked Groen whether savings could be achieved within the budget, to which she said she is supportive of finding savings. There are programs in place to protect against waste, fraud and abuse including eligibility determination processes and a fraud and control unit within DHHS, she said.

“There’s always more work to be done … and that’s why we have all these robust measures,” Groen said.

Sen. Veronica Klinefelt (D-Eastpointe) asked if DHHS could handle all of those cuts “through rooting out waste, fraud and abuse.” Groen said no.

Julie Tatko, president and CEO of Family Health Care, said a loss of Medicaid funding could lead to critical funding losses, as well as having to reduce staff. People who lose coverage may not pursue needed care and may have to travel further to obtain care and may wait until their health has deteriorated before seeking care, she said

Lisa Rutledge with Western Wayne Family Health Care said any kind of changes or cuts would mean the elimination of jobs.

Philip Bergquist, CEO of the Michigan Primary Care Association, questioned calls for implementing work requirements for Medicaid eligibility.

“Most people enrolled in Medicaid already work and they’re going to continue working,” Bergquist said. “Adding some mechanism really serves as a mechanism of creating a pretty confusing and complex new barrier for people to navigate.”

Of states that have enacted Medicaid work requirements, 13 applied for waivers to enact such policies during Trump’s first term in office. Arkansas implemented a Medicaid work requirement in 2018, but it was halted by a federal judge in 2019. While the requirement was active, more than 18,000 people lost coverage.

Bergquist said the group estimates about 103,000 of its patients would lose care if work requirements were enacted. This would also lead to an estimated $75.6 million reduction in reimbursements to Michigan’s community health centers.

“We’ll do everything that we can do to serve people with the resource that we’ve got, but, I just want to say plainly, there is no way for us to continue everything that we’re doing right now with that loss of resources and the health of communities will be negatively impacted,” Berquist said.

Dr. Farhan Bhatti, a family physician and CEO of Care Free Medical, said if his facility were to close due to deep cuts to federal funding it would lead to 2,100 patients who rely on Medicaid and 1,700 more patients would lose their access to health care.

“They would have nowhere else to go, and I would venture to guess that at least half of my patients voted for President Trump and believed him when he said that cuts to Medicaid would be off the table,” Bhatti said.

Adam Carlson with the Michigan Health and Hospital Association, objected to arguments relating to waste, fraud and abuse.

“There’s been a lot of talk about waste, fraud and abuse. For the most part, based on the proposals we’ve seen, those are just intended to mask real cuts that could be imposed on the program,” Carlson said.

He pointed to the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage, or FMAP, which is used in determining the amount of federal matching funds for state expenditures are provided to states. A reduction of even 1 percentage point, Carlson said, would reduce funding to the state by about $150 million.

Why Support CMH PAC? 

In the Michigan Legislature there are:

• More new legislators due to term limits.
• Fewer legislators with in-depth knowledge about behavioral health issues.
• More legislative proposals that directly and indirectly impact Michigan’s publicly funded mental health system.
• More aggressive interest groups competing for limited resources.
• Very few legislative champions for persons with mental health, developmental/intellectual disabilities and substance use disorders.

CMH PAC helps overcome some of these obstacles by raising awareness for issues that are important to behavioral health care. The CMH PAC supports legislators/candidates who support and advocate on behalf of Michigan’s publicly funded mental health system.

This story, along with the growing list of solutions journalism stories centered around the work of Michigan’s public mental health system, can be found at: https://cmham.org/newsroom/

This partnership, with the Issue Media Group (IMG), is built around the concept of “solutions journalism” – providing news about innovative and concrete ways that communities, across Michigan, are addressing the needs of their residents along a number of dimensions – healthcare, economic development, education, the arts, to name a few. Solutions journalism investigates and explains, in a critical and clear-eyed way, how people try to solve widely shared problems. While news sources and many of us typically define news as “what’s gone wrong,” solutions journalism runs counter to that definition by covering the innovative responses to identified needs and problems.

This partnership ensures that the work of Michigan’s public mental health system is highlighted in IMG’s large suite of solutions journalism-focused publications.

You can subscribe, at no cost, to these publications, on the websites of each of these publications. The list of partner publications and their websites are provided below:

Second Wave – Michigan

Capital Gains – Lansing

Catalyst Midland

Concentrate – Ann Arbor/Ypsi

Epicenter – Mount Pleasant

Flintside

Metromode – Metro Detroit

Model D

Route Bay City

Rural Innovation Exchange

Second Wave -Southwest Michigan

The Keel – Port Huron

The Lakeshore

Upword – UP

“Mental Health does not discriminate” – unknown

I can honestly say that up until the winter of 2020 I was fortunate to not have struggled with my mental health much at all. It was during the pandemic that my reality quickly shifted. I remember looking outside my window at all of the snow and feeling a deep sense of fear. I felt like the last person on the planet. It was during this time that my mental health 

plummeted. My support system went above and beyond to get me the help that I so desperately needed for months. Unfortunately, what was available locally for mental health recovery, was sparse to say the least. My supports and I worked to secure placement at a residential facility downstate for treatment. It was not a quick solution, it took months and funding . My supports were able to start a GoFundMe we were able to raise the money needed for my placement at the facility. I spent a number of months at this facility, learning and applying skills to improve my mental health. I wish I could say that staying at this facility was the fix all for my mental health. After several months at the facility, my mental health declined once again, to one of the darkest corners of my life. The staff at the facility had to make the difficult decision to hospitalize me. The facility was not able to provide the level of care that I needed at the time. During my time at the hospital, doctors and staff would joke that I made a miraculous recovery. Initially, I had been solely motivated to get out of the hospital. After a couple of weeks at the hospital, I realized I had to shift my mindset and my goals to truly benefit from this hospital stay. After a month and a half, I was discharged from the hospital. I had advocated for myself while in the hospital and stated that I wanted to return back to my home along with strong community supports. Since coming home, I have been involved in a clubhouse for people living with mental illness. The clubhouse has provided a level of stability and community that I was lacking. Additionally, I have been paired with a Peer Support Specialist and a therapist. My mental health recovery journey has not been linear. I am thankful for those who never gave up on me.

Click here to view all Connection publications.

Connections purpose is to be an avenue for the exchange of information that includes people’s dreams, stories, concerns and successes. Its intent is to connect us all – the individuals who sit around the board room table, our customers, our administrators, caregivers, and our partners in the communities in which we live.

The Mental Health Code states that Community Mental Health Service Providers are required to distribute Recipient Rights Booklets to each recipient receiving services. To place an order with CMHA please visit our websites bookstore page.

The CMHA BoardWorks program was developed to assist Board members in fulfilling their obligations as CMH leaders, directors of policy, and advocates for those they serve.

The Senate leader on Tuesday threw in a resolution to the chamber’s standing rules to boot, which would allow the secretary of the Senate to present bills to the governor if passed and enrolled by both chambers.

These actions taken by Brinks (D-Grand Rapids) and the Senate drew a rebuke in a Tuesday letter from House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Township), who stated the House will not present the bills from last session or to the Senate.

On Monday, Brinks and the Senate filed an appeal with the Court of Appeals. Also on Monday, Brinks and the Senate filed a bypass application with the Michigan Supreme Court in a bid to get the high court to supersede the Court of Appeals’ decision and filed to set oral arguments.

It is extremely rare for the Supreme Court to grant a bypass application.

The moves come after a Court of Claims ruling last month in which the judge wrote that the Senate and Brinks have a constitutional right to have the bills presented by the House. The judge also stated she would not interfere with the Legislature’s processes out of respect for the branch and its functions.

In the Senate’s filing, the arguments were again made from previous filings, that the Constitution requires the presentation of passed bills to the governor and that by not doing so would create a situation in which any bill could be held hostage by the leader of one chamber or the other.

The effective date of the nine bills in question was noted in the bypass application.

“It is a virtual certainty that any decision by the Court of Appeals will be appealed to this Court by the losing party,” the filing stated. “But with the April 2, 2025, effective date of the nine bills rapidly approaching, there is not time for considered decisions from both the Court of Appeals and this Court.”

Hall in his Tuesday letter to Brinks renewed his argument that there is nothing in the Michigan Constitution permitting the current House to present bills from the previous session. He also labeled absurd Brinks’ alternative proposal in a recent letter to him to deliver the bills to the Senate so the secretary of the Senate could present the bills.

“Allow me to assure you that the issue here is not the hundred or so paces between our clerks’ offices, but the unconstitutionality of your request and the violation of the clearly expressed legislative rules it would represent,” Hall wrote.

He called on the Senate to join the House in “working on the problems facing Michigan in 2025, rather than attempting to go back in time and erase the failures of 2024.”

The Senate adopted changes to its rules Tuesday that would enable the secretary of the Senate to present to the governor any House bill previously enrolled in the other chamber, the latest pushback in the fight between the two chambers over nine bills the House has not presented from the previous session.

Under the change to Senate Rule 1.114 governing enrollment and presentation of bills to the governor, a new section to the rule states that if a House bill has passed both chambers, the House has previously enrolled the bill and the House provides the bill to the Senate for enrollment and presentation to the governor, “the Secretary of the Senate shall present the enrolled bill to the Governor and obtain a receipt verifying the exact date and time the bill was deposited in the Executive Office.”

It was a response by Brinks to Hall’s move to have the House adopt HR 41 Track, directing the House clerk to only present bills passed during the 103rd Legislature to the governor.

Brinks told reporters the move is to bolster the Legislature’s ability to comply with the court ruling.

“We’re just making sure that we have every opportunity to comply with what the judge has said that the Legislature must do what the Constitution says, and present the bills to the governor,” Brinks said.

When asked about how both the Senate and House had claimed victory following the recent ruling, Brinks said the decision was clear that the bills must be presented.

HB 4170 Track would reduce the rate and ensure any reduction in the income tax set in motion under a 2015 trigger law is permanent.

The bill passed 65-45 with some bipartisan support. Rep. Kelly Breen (D-Novi), Rep. John Fitzgerald (D-Wyoming), Rep. Matt Koleszar (D-Plymouth), Rep. Denise Mentzer (D-Mt. Clemens), Rep. Reggie Miller (D-Van Buren Township), Rep. Angela Witwer (D-Delta Township) and Rep. Mai Xiong (D-Warren) voted yes on the bill.

Rep. Kathy Smaltz (R-Jackson), the sponsor of the legislation, said it was about providing relief for Michigan residents.

“Families across Michigan are struggling to afford basic necessities – groceries, gas, housing and child care costs are stretching budget thinner than ever,” she said in a statement. “People need relief, and they need it now. With the state collecting more than enough tax revenue, it’s time to give money back to the hardworking families who earned it.”

Rep. Bryan Posthumus (R-Rockford) said that income tax reduction was money the state owed residents.

“Every dollar the state takes in is a dollar taken away from hard working Michiganders,” he said. “Our state doesn’t need more revenue. It needs less government.”

The legislation is a reaction to the reduction in the income tax triggered by the 2015 law. In 2023, the income tax was reduced to 4.05 percent based on a complex formula in statute triggered after revenues to the General Fund exceeded inflation and an additional amount to account for economic growth.

“This bill is a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” said Rep. Morgan Foreman (D-Ann Arbor). “The wolf being the wealthiest receive yet another tax cut. … We really need to get back to the drawing board and look at what taxation looks like for Michiganders. We want to do our fair share. We want to pay into our taxes so we can have the things we want. We want better roads. We want remarkable schools. We want to pay for the great higher education that we have in the state, but we can’t do that if we’re playing along with these joking tax bills.”

A House Fiscal Agency analysis said the change would cost $539.3 million in the current fiscal year; $713.0 million in the 2025-26 fiscal year; and $727.6 million in the 2026-27 fiscal year.

Republicans have asserted the state has enough revenue to pay for the tax cut.

Although the legislation cleared the Republican controlled House, it’s unlikely to be taken up by the Democratically controlled Senate.

“This is not going to move, so it’s a little bit playing political theater,” Rep. Jasper Martus (D-Flushing) said.

Rather than discussing individual income tax, which Martus said only makes a difference for wealthy Michiganders, lawmakers should be discussing a progressive income tax.

Why Support CMH PAC? 

In the Michigan Legislature there are:

• More new legislators due to term limits.
• Fewer legislators with in-depth knowledge about behavioral health issues.
• More legislative proposals that directly and indirectly impact Michigan’s publicly funded mental health system.
• More aggressive interest groups competing for limited resources.
• Very few legislative champions for persons with mental health, developmental/intellectual disabilities and substance use disorders.

CMH PAC helps overcome some of these obstacles by raising awareness for issues that are important to behavioral health care. The CMH PAC supports legislators/candidates who support and advocate on behalf of Michigan’s publicly funded mental health system.

This story, along with the growing list of solutions journalism stories centered around the work of Michigan’s public mental health system, can be found at: https://cmham.org/newsroom/

This partnership, with the Issue Media Group (IMG), is built around the concept of “solutions journalism” – providing news about innovative and concrete ways that communities, across Michigan, are addressing the needs of their residents along a number of dimensions – healthcare, economic development, education, the arts, to name a few. Solutions journalism investigates and explains, in a critical and clear-eyed way, how people try to solve widely shared problems. While news sources and many of us typically define news as “what’s gone wrong,” solutions journalism runs counter to that definition by covering the innovative responses to identified needs and problems.

This partnership ensures that the work of Michigan’s public mental health system is highlighted in IMG’s large suite of solutions journalism-focused publications.

You can subscribe, at no cost, to these publications, on the websites of each of these publications. The list of partner publications and their websites are provided below:

Second Wave – Michigan

Capital Gains – Lansing

Catalyst Midland

Concentrate – Ann Arbor/Ypsi

Epicenter – Mount Pleasant

Flintside

Metromode – Metro Detroit

Model D

Route Bay City

Rural Innovation Exchange

Second Wave -Southwest Michigan

The Keel – Port Huron

The Lakeshore

Upword – UP

I’ve been thinking about how our Federal and State governments gather information from those of us who because of poverty use services that they fund. I have come to the conclusion that they could do it differently than they do at present and thereby increase the quality of the data captured while making the assessment process easier for persons served.

Since it is funded by Federal and State governments, the public behavioral health system is required to gather a good deal of demographic information. In the private system, taxpayer monies aren’t involved, so such information is not as important.

The government needs good data to analyze the population using its services.  If their data is of poor quality, the results of whatever analyses they do are faulty. Because of this, I wonder why they insist that this data be collected in the initial assessment of a person seeking services. A person in crisis is not a good source of information about anything other than their current experience. High levels of anxiety, deep depression and psychosis are not conducive to clear thinking. Persons dealing with such conditions tend to be operating in a world of internal stimuli, not necessarily that shared by those around them. Because of this, until they are stabilized, they are not reliable sources of data. As someone who lives with psychosis, I can tell you answers to questions asked of me while I am out of touch with reality are very different from those I would give when I can think clearly.

Other circumstances also can influence the quality of data received from assessments. One is the desire to end a lengthy interview.  Assessments are not short affairs. A distressed person may have difficulty sitting through it. One way to move it along is to make up answers to questions about which one is unsure. Also, a well-intentioned person served might say whatever comes to mind when he or she doesn’t know the correct response. Other persons may be uncomfortable with being questioned by a stranger.

I was trained in research and know the dangers of using bad data to form conclusions. Data collected during assessments is not of a quality that I would use myself. I don’t understand how governmental bureaucrats don’t realize that data obtained from people in distress is not reliable. Since this demographic information is important, I think it should be collected after the person served is stabilized and has formed more of a relationship with their clinician.

Persons served by the private behavioral health system are not required to provide non-clinical information in order to receive services. I don’t think it is fair that those of us in the public system must supply a great deal of information having nothing to do with our presenting problem before we can begin treatment. I feel as if we are penalized for being financially depressed, and all for nothing because the data we provide is of uncertain quality.

I am not against the collection of demographic data: I realize its importance. I simply would like it to be collected at a different time in the journey of the person served than it is now. It would be better for persons served as well as for the those who use the information.

Click here to view all Connection publications.

A longtime partner of CMHA, the Wayne State University’s Center for Behavioral Health and Justice (CBHJ), has been at the center of  much of the AOT-movement throughout Michigan. The most recent AOT effort being led by the CBHJ involves the creation of a comprehensive report on the state of AOT in Michigan—what is working, what isn’t, and what needs attention.

To ensure that their findings accurately represent AOT in our state, CBHJ is reaching out to everyone involved: individuals at courts, community mental health agencies, and those with first-hand experience— whether they have personally been on an AOT order or have served as a natural support for someone on an AOT order.

CBHJ has created a virtual survey designed to capture both lived experience and natural support perspectives of being on an AOT order in Michigan.

Please share, with individuals who have personally been on an AOT order in Michigan (currently or within the last five years) or who have provided natural support to someone on an AOT order, the flyer providing additional information on this survey and the link to this survey.

The online survey consists of 23 questions and will take approximately 10-15 minutes to complete. Participation in this survey is entirely voluntary, and you may stop at any time without any consequences. All responses will be entirely anonymous, ensuring your privacy is fully protected.

This flyer is found here.

Connections purpose is to be an avenue for the exchange of information that includes people’s dreams, stories, concerns and successes. Its intent is to connect us all – the individuals who sit around the board room table, our customers, our administrators, caregivers, and our partners in the communities in which we live.

The Mental Health Code states that Community Mental Health Service Providers are required to distribute Recipient Rights Booklets to each recipient receiving services. To place an order with CMHA please visit our websites bookstore page.

The CMHA BoardWorks program was developed to assist Board members in fulfilling their obligations as CMH leaders, directors of policy, and advocates for those they serve.

Why it matters: The ongoing saga of nine House Bills that were passed at the end of 2024 that have yet to be presented to Governor Gretchen Whitmer, added a new chapter this week, with the House announcing it will not send the nine bills to the Governor. While a Court of Claims judge ruled the other week that the constitution requires the House to transmit the bills to the Governor, it opted to not order the House to do so. Adoption of House Resolution 41is the latest escalation in the ongoing feud between Republicans and Democrats, with House Republicans making it known there is no intention to send the bills to Governor Whitmer.

The House adopted House Resolution 41along party lines on Wednesday. The resolution directs the House clerk to only present bills to Governor Whitmer that were passed by both chambers of the103rd Legislature, and not any previous Legislature. The fight between Republicans and Democrats in Lansing over nine bills passed at the end of 2024 that were not presented to Governor Whitmer before the103rdLegislatureconvened in January 2025was ruled upon by Court of Claims judge last month. Judge Sima Patel ruled that the Michigan Constitution requires the Legislature to present bills passed by both chambers to the Governor. Specifically, Judge Patel said that Article  IV, Section 33 of the Michigan Constitution, mandates the nine bills passed at the end of last year be presented to Governor Gretchen Whitmer with sufficient time for the Governor to review before the earliest date that the bills could take effect.  However, Judge Patel also ruled that the Constitution did not specify the person or entity responsible for presenting the bills and the Court of Claims will neither rule on it nor force the House to present them.

Given the ruling, House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Township), who has previously stated the bills were not being presented due to legal review, provided the following statement on House Resolution 41,“I directed our attorneys to conduct a thorough legal review of the situation and this court ruling. It was a very unprecedented situation, and there has been a lot of confusion. Today, the House gave us clear direction on how to proceed. We are going to follow that direction. Our legal review did identify some uncertainties that have created confusion and ambiguities after the recent court ruling. We obviously won the court case, but the House has taken the position that there is value in clarifying those questions for the sake of future precedent and to give the public a unified position.”

Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks (D-Grand Rapids)also released a statement, saying, “He lost in court, so now he wants to change the rules. It’s not a good look for him and certainly not helpful for the thousands of people who are counting on these bills getting to the governor.”

House Democrats opposed the House Resolution before it was adopted. Representative Tyrone Carter(D-Detroit)said in a statement, “It flies in the face of something at the heart of our state, our Constitution.

Parent Support Partner training

 The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, in partnership with the Association for Children’s Mental Health, is issuing this invitation to apply for the upcoming Parent Support Partner (PSP) Certification Cohort. The PSP model in Michigan is designed to support parents and caregivers whose children and youth are receiving services within the public mental health system through an intervention-based, skill development approach.

Certification includes five days of training. Trainings are structured with an initial three-day segment with two additional days occurring approximately a month and a half later.

The next scheduled PSP training for Cohort 56 will be May 13 – 15, 2025 and June 17 – 18, 2025. New PSP Supervisors must attend on May 15, 2025. Additional certification components include monthly coaching calls, quarterly technical assistance meetings and supervision consultation and support.

Individuals who are seeking certification must be:

• 18 years or older.
• A parent or day-to-day primary caregiver who has lived experience and is currently raising, or has raised a child with emotional, behavioral, mental health challenges and/or intellectual/developmental disabilities.
• Directly hired and employed by a CMHSP or a contracted agency (family run organization or other CMHSP contract agency).

To reserve a place in the upcoming certification cohort, please send a completed Organizational Readiness Assessment and Agency Readiness Checklist found at http://www.acmh-mi.org/get-information/acmh-projects/parent-support-partner-project/ April 21, 2025 to:

Krissy Dristy
Program Manager Youth Peer Support and Parent Support Partner
Association for Children’s Mental Health
office 517-372-4016
cell 517-643-3314
kdristy@acmh-mi.org

If you have questions, please contact Justin Tate at TateJ7@Michigan.gov

Youth Peer Support Specialist training

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS), in partnership with the Association for Children’s Mental Health, is issuing this invitation to apply for the upcoming Youth Peer Support Specialist Training Cohort 36. The Youth Peer Support (YPS) model in Michigan is designed to support children and youth with serious emotional disturbance who are receiving services within the public mental health system through an intervention-based, skill development approach. YPS is a State Plan covered Medicaid service.

Certification includes five days of training in the MDHHS approved curriculum and an ongoing training model, specific to the peer population served. Trainings are structured with an initial three-day segment with two additional days occurring approximately a month and a half later.

The next scheduled YPS training for Cohort 36 will be June 10 – 12, 2025 with the second segment occurring on July 22 – 23, 2025. New YPS Supervisors must attend on June 12, 2025. Additional certification components include monthly coaching calls, quarterly technical assistance meetings and supervision consultation and support.

Individuals who are seeking certification must be:

• Young adults, ages 18 through 28, with lived experience with mental health challenges as a youth and who received mental health support as a youth or young adult.
• Willing and able to self-identify as a person who has or is receiving behavioral health services who is prepared to use that experience to help others (experience as a youth preferred).
• Experience receiving services in one or more systems as a youth or young adult is preferred (child welfare, justice, special education, etc.).
• Employed by PIHP/CMHSP or its contract provider (family organization or other contract agency).

To reserve a place in the upcoming certification cohort, please send a completed Organizational Readiness Assessment and Agency Readiness Checklist found at http://www.acmh-mi.org/get-information/acmh-projects/youth-peer-support/ before May 12, 2025, to:

Sara Reynolds
Youth Peer Support Statewide Coordinator
Association for Children’s Mental Health
office 517-372-4016
cell 517-643-3544
sreynolds@acmh-mi.org

If you have any additional questions, please contact Justin Tate at TateJ7@Michigan.gov

Why Support CMH PAC? 

In the Michigan Legislature there are:

• More new legislators due to term limits.
• Fewer legislators with in-depth knowledge about behavioral health issues.
• More legislative proposals that directly and indirectly impact Michigan’s publicly funded mental health system.
• More aggressive interest groups competing for limited resources.
• Very few legislative champions for persons with mental health, developmental/intellectual disabilities and substance use disorders.

CMH PAC helps overcome some of these obstacles by raising awareness for issues that are important to behavioral health care. The CMH PAC supports legislators/candidates who support and advocate on behalf of Michigan’s publicly funded mental health system.

This partnership, with the Issue Media Group (IMG), is built around the concept of “solutions journalism” – providing news about innovative and concrete ways that communities, across Michigan, are addressing the needs of their residents along a number of dimensions – healthcare, economic development, education, the arts, to name a few. Solutions journalism investigates and explains, in a critical and clear-eyed way, how people try to solve widely shared problems. While news sources and many of us typically define news as “what’s gone wrong,” solutions journalism runs counter to that definition by covering the innovative responses to identified needs and problems.

This partnership ensures that the work of Michigan’s public mental health system is highlighted in IMG’s large suite of solutions journalism-focused publications.

You can subscribe, at no cost, to these publications, on the websites of each of these publications. The list of partner publications and their websites are provided below:

Second Wave – Michigan

Capital Gains – Lansing

Catalyst Midland

Concentrate – Ann Arbor/Ypsi

Epicenter – Mount Pleasant

Flintside

Metromode – Metro Detroit

Model D

Route Bay City

Rural Innovation Exchange

Second Wave -Southwest Michigan

The Keel – Port Huron

The Lakeshore

Upword – UP

A longtime partner of CMHA, the Wayne State University’s Center for Behavioral Health and Justice (CBHJ), has been at the center of  much of the AOT-movement throughout Michigan. The most recent AOT effort being led by the CBHJ involves the creation of a comprehensive report on the state of AOT in Michigan—what is working, what isn’t, and what needs attention.

To ensure that their findings accurately represent AOT in our state, CBHJ is reaching out to everyone involved: individuals at courts, community mental health agencies, and those with first-hand experience— whether they have personally been on an AOT order or have served as a natural support for someone on an AOT order.

CBHJ has created a virtual survey designed to capture both lived experience and natural support perspectives of being on an AOT order in Michigan.

Please share, with individuals who have personally been on an AOT order in Michigan (currently or within the last five years) or who have provided natural support to someone on an AOT order, the flyer providing additional information on this survey and the link to this survey.

The online survey consists of 23 questions and will take approximately 10-15 minutes to complete. Participation in this survey is entirely voluntary, and you may stop at any time without any consequences. All responses will be entirely anonymous, ensuring your privacy is fully protected.

This flyer is found here.

Connections purpose is to be an avenue for the exchange of information that includes people’s dreams, stories, concerns and successes. Its intent is to connect us all – the individuals who sit around the board room table, our customers, our administrators, caregivers, and our partners in the communities in which we live.

The Mental Health Code states that Community Mental Health Service Providers are required to distribute Recipient Rights Booklets to each recipient receiving services. To place an order with CMHA please visit our websites bookstore page.

The CMHA BoardWorks program was developed to assist Board members in fulfilling their obligations as CMH leaders, directors of policy, and advocates for those they serve.

To ensure statewide consistency and continuity of care, MDHHS has determined all changes approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) within the Children’s Waiver Program (CWP) and Serious Emotional Disturbance Waiver (SEDW) renewal applications will go into effect upon the approval of the forthcoming policy bulletins. PIHPs and CMHSPs will continue to utilize guidance previously provided in the October 7, 2024, memo: Wraparound / Intensive Care Coordination with Wraparound (ICCW) Update. No additional guidance regarding the integration of changes will be issued until the bulletins are promulgated with the exception of additional guidance on the use of the MichiCANS for the SEDW. The guidance on the MichiCANS for the SEDW will be issued in the future.

BCCHPS anticipates it will take 4-6 months to fully promulgate the bulletins and finalize the policy. As part of the promulgation process, PIHPS and CMHSPs will have the ability to review the bulletins and submit public comments for consideration.

PIHPs and CMHSPs should anticipate a switch from H2022 to H2021 for waiver enrollees who access Wraparound on April 1, 2025. That switch will impact billing only. Service provision and requirements as outlined in the Medicaid Provider Manual (MPM) will remain in place until the approval of the forthcoming policy bulletins. Additional guidance specific to the H2021 billing code will be issued at that time. MDHHS will align all other code chart changes with the effective date for the bulletin.

Parent Support Partner training

 The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, in partnership with the Association for Children’s Mental Health, is issuing this invitation to apply for the upcoming Parent Support Partner (PSP) Certification Cohort. The PSP model in Michigan is designed to support parents and caregivers whose children and youth are receiving services within the public mental health system through an intervention-based, skill development approach.

Certification includes five days of training. Trainings are structured with an initial three-day segment with two additional days occurring approximately a month and a half later.

The next scheduled PSP training for Cohort 56 will be May 13 – 15, 2025 and June 17 – 18, 2025. New PSP Supervisors must attend on May 15, 2025. Additional certification components include monthly coaching calls, quarterly technical assistance meetings and supervision consultation and support.

Individuals who are seeking certification must be:

• 18 years or older.
• A parent or day-to-day primary caregiver who has lived experience and is currently raising, or has raised a child with emotional, behavioral, mental health challenges and/or intellectual/developmental disabilities.
• Directly hired and employed by a CMHSP or a contracted agency (family run organization or other CMHSP contract agency).

To reserve a place in the upcoming certification cohort, please send a completed Organizational Readiness Assessment and Agency Readiness Checklist found at http://www.acmh-mi.org/get-information/acmh-projects/parent-support-partner-project/ April 21, 2025 to:

Krissy Dristy
Program Manager Youth Peer Support and Parent Support Partner
Association for Children’s Mental Health
office 517-372-4016
cell 517-643-3314
kdristy@acmh-mi.org

If you have questions, please contact Justin Tate at TateJ7@Michigan.gov

Youth Peer Support Specialist training

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS), in partnership with the Association for Children’s Mental Health, is issuing this invitation to apply for the upcoming Youth Peer Support Specialist Training Cohort 36. The Youth Peer Support (YPS) model in Michigan is designed to support children and youth with serious emotional disturbance who are receiving services within the public mental health system through an intervention-based, skill development approach. YPS is a State Plan covered Medicaid service.

Certification includes five days of training in the MDHHS approved curriculum and an ongoing training model, specific to the peer population served. Trainings are structured with an initial three-day segment with two additional days occurring approximately a month and a half later.

The next scheduled YPS training for Cohort 36 will be June 10 – 12, 2025 with the second segment occurring on July 22 – 23, 2025. New YPS Supervisors must attend on June 12, 2025. Additional certification components include monthly coaching calls, quarterly technical assistance meetings and supervision consultation and support.

Individuals who are seeking certification must be:

• Young adults, ages 18 through 28, with lived experience with mental health challenges as a youth and who received mental health support as a youth or young adult.
• Willing and able to self-identify as a person who has or is receiving behavioral health services who is prepared to use that experience to help others (experience as a youth preferred).
• Experience receiving services in one or more systems as a youth or young adult is preferred (child welfare, justice, special education, etc.).
• Employed by PIHP/CMHSP or its contract provider (family organization or other contract agency).

To reserve a place in the upcoming certification cohort, please send a completed Organizational Readiness Assessment and Agency Readiness Checklist found at http://www.acmh-mi.org/get-information/acmh-projects/youth-peer-support/ before May 12, 2025, to:

Sara Reynolds
Youth Peer Support Statewide Coordinator
Association for Children’s Mental Health
office 517-372-4016
cell 517-643-3544
sreynolds@acmh-mi.org

If you have any additional questions, please contact Justin Tate at TateJ7@Michigan.gov

Do you know a dynamic parent leader interested in helping other parents of children with special health care needs? I am excited to share an opportunity that we are hoping you will help disseminate. We are recruiting members for open spots on the Family Leadership Network (FLN).

Michigan Family to Family and the Family Center for Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs have partnered to develop a group of family leaders from across Michigan called the Family Leadership Network (FLN). This group brings together family leaders to provide valuable input on programs and special projects, identify and share community resources, and represent a regional voice for families of children and youth with special health care needs. Families do not have to be enrolled in Children’s Special Health Care Services to apply for a position on the FLN.

They are currently seeking individuals to join the FLN, who have personal experience as:

Parents or guardians of a child (birth-26) with special health care needs (including physical, developmental, emotional, and behavioral)

Young adults (18-26) with a disability or diagnosis

To see open positions and obtain an application, visit: https://f2fmichigan.org/who-we-are/family-leadership-network/

We hope that you will share this opportunity with your networks and encourage individuals to apply. A flyer can be found here.

Feel free to print and post the flyer if you are able to.

If you have any questions or would like further information, please reach out to Kristen Reese at the Family Center at reesek1@michigan.gov or Molly Martzke at Family to Family at mmartzke@mphi.org.

Legislation Previously Championed by Former Michigan U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow

U.S. Senator Gary Peters (MI) introduced bipartisan legislation previously championed by former Michigan U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow to expand access to mental health care in areas experiencing shortages of mental health professionals. The More Behavioral Health Providers Act – which Peters introduced with U.S. Senator Steve Daines (R-MT) – would expand the eligibility for health care professionals to receive bonus incentives from the Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) Physician Bonus Program to include physician assistants, nurse practitioners, mental health counselors, and other specialists who provide mental health or substance use disorder services in a Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA). A HPSA is an area experiencing a shortage of primary care or mental health providers needed to adequately meet the needs of a community, specifically when the population to mental health provider ratio is at least 30,000 to 1. With an increasing number of Americans diagnosed with mental health disorders, this bipartisan legislation aims to incentivize health professionals to work in HPSAs to ensure all communities have access to mental health care.

“I’m proud to carry this torch for my good friend and mentor, Debbie Stabenow, who throughout her career was a champion for expanding access to mental health care for folks in Michigan and across our country,” said Senator Peters. “This bipartisan bill will help ensure that no matter where you live, mental health care is an option for those who need it, while providing extra support to our health care professionals who deliver this essential care. With the demand for mental health support higher than ever before, I’m going to work to see this commonsense legislation passed into law.”

Across Michigan, more than 355,000 adults suffer from a serious mental illness. Despite 1 in 7 Michiganders living with a mental health disorder, over 4.2 million Michigan residents live in an area experiencing a shortage of mental health professionals. In 2023, there were 257 mental health HPSAs designated across the state. According to the independent health research organization, KFF, Michigan requires about 144 additional psychiatrists in each shortage area to meet local mental health needs. This bipartisan bill would grow Michigan’s behavioral health care workforce and promote access to mental health services across the state.

The More Behavioral Health Providers Act is supported by numerous key stakeholders including the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, the American Association of Physician Associates, American Psychological Association Services, and the National Association of Social Workers.

Directed Payments in Medicaid Managed Care In 2016, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) updated the regulations for Medicaid managed care and created a new option for states, allowing them to direct managed care organizations (MCOs) to pay providers according to specific rates or methods. These directed payment arrangements can be used to establish minimum or maximum fee schedules for certain types of providers, to require participation in value-based payment (VBP) arrangements, or to make uniform payment rate increases. Several states use the directed payment option to require MCOs to make large additional payments to providers similar to supplemental payments in fee for service (FFS).1 In 2024, CMS released a managed care rule that made additional updates intended to improve the oversight and transparency of directed payments (CMS 2024). This issue brief discusses the history of directed payment policy, highlights changes made in the 2024 managed care rule, and examines the use of directed payments based on MACPAC’s review of directed payments approved as of August 1, 2024. MACPAC’s recommendations for improving the transparency and oversight of directed payments is included in Chapter 2 of MACPAC’s June 2022 Report to Congress on Medicaid and CHIP (MACPAC 2022a).

2023-2024 Student Basic Needs Survey Report

Our long-awaited report shares findings from 91 institutions across 16 states that participated in Hope Impact Partnerships (HIP) and fielded The Hope Center Student Basic Needs Survey between Spring 2023 and Summer 2024.

The rates of basic needs insecurity among students enrolled in higher education continue to be unacceptably high, with students from structurally marginalized identities being most likely to experience obstacles in obtaining a college credential. Black, Indigenous and students belonging to gender and sexual minorities are also the least likely to access campus supports.

Our report also outlines policy recommendations and steps institutional leaders can take to better support their students. Meeting students’ basic needs assures their long-term health, improves their educational outcomes, and in turn, contributes to a more robust workforce and society. By prioritizing basic needs security, we take a meaningful step toward a more equitable, compassionate world where every student has the resources and opportunities to thrive.  

The full study can be found here.

Governor Whitmer has signed Public Acts 1 & 2 of 2025 which provide significant improvements to the Earned Sick Time Act (ESTA) and preserve the tipped wage system. The bipartisan legislation provides more flexibility for employers while ensuring employees continue to receive earned sick time benefits. These updates take effect February 21, 2025, and impact businesses of all sizes. 

Key Changes to ESTA

Small Business Flexibility

• Employers with 10 or fewer employees must now provide 40 hours of paid sick time per year (eliminating the previous 32 unpaid hours).
• These small employers have until October 1, 2025, to comply.
• New businesses are exempt from ESTA for the first three years.

Streamlined Processes

• Employers can now frontload sick time instead of tracking accrual.
• One-hour increments are the smallest amount of sick time that can be used.
• Accrual-based sick time can carry over up to 72 hours, unless the employer opts to pay out unused time at year-end.
• PTO policies can be used instead of separate sick time banks for easier management.

Notification and Exemptions

• Employers can require written policies for sick time use, ensuring more accountability.
• ESTA now exempts youth workers and unpaid interns.
• Seasonal employers benefit from a 120-day waiting period for new hires to use sick time. If an employee is rehired after two months, the waiting period resets.

Employer Protections & Compliance Adjustments

• Eliminates presumption of employer guilt in complaints filed with the state.
• Removes employees’ ability to sue employers directly for violations.
• Provides exemptions for employers with employment contracts effective January 31, 2025.

What’s Next?

As businesses adjust to these changes, employees can begin using sick time as soon as it is accrued. Employers have 30 days to issue written notices informing employees about their earned sick time and related policies.

Meanwhile, the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity (LEO) is actively updating its compliance resources. While full enforcement is not yet underway, businesses should begin preparing now. An updated FAQ and revised workplace posters are already available on LEO’s website to assist employers in meeting these new requirements.

Key Highlights

The Governor wants to focus on the basics: making life more affordable, creating more opportunities for jobs, and making government work better for the people it serves. She addressed the legislature and asked them directly to enact long-term road funding strategies to continue to fix the roads. She also highlighted how the state’s permitting processes are broken and new laws are needed to speed up the permit process. Additionally, the Governor called for the elimination of duplicative exams and for the state to honor trade licenses. This comes from an extensive review of the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs with the hope that entrepreneurs in Michigan will have more flexibility and a more streamlined reporting process.

Whitmer also discussed “hard truths” our state needs to face related to education, noting that only 24% of fourth graders are at a proficient reading level, the same percent of eight graders are proficient in math, and Michigan invests more per-pupil than most states but sits at the bottom of the list in terms of overall outcomes. She proposed a smartphone ban in schools and an increase in taxes for vaping products to better protect Michigan’s kids.

Whitmer also touted “firsts worth celebrating in Michigan” such as:

• Michigan Tech was just named an R1 research university, joining MSU, U of M, and Wayne State as one of the world’s 150 best research colleges. 
• RxKids, the nation’s first-ever program that puts money directly in the pockets of new moms and babies to improve their finances and health. 
• Breaking ground on the Joan Secchia Children’s Rehabilitation Hospital in Grand Rapids, the first of its kind in Michigan. 
• Palisades will become the first restarted nuclear power plant in American history, protecting 600 local union jobs and clean, reliable power for hundreds of thousands of people. 
• Detroit reopened Michigan Central, hosted the largest NFL Draft ever, and grew its population for the first time in 67 years.
• Later this year, the Gordie Howe International Bridge will open. 

With Republican control of the House and Senate, they can now use last night’s budget resolution passage to move forward with their stated goal of crafting and passing legislation aimed at significantly cutting spending for federal programs – including Medicaid. While we have seen President Trump’s iteration of support for the Medicaid program, the level of spending cuts in the House Budget Resolution would have implications far beyond addressing “waste, fraud, and abuse.”

To be clear, nothing changed in Medicaid overnight. But it’s no exaggeration that the program as we know it is at great risk.

But this is just the beginning. We have a tremendous opportunity in front of us to hammer home how important Medicaid is to providing mental health and substance use care, how many people rely on it for lifesaving services, and how significant cuts will not only kick millions off of their health coverage but also endanger lives, decimate provider organizations’ ability to serve their communities, retain staff and stay open, and blow a hole in states’ economies.

Over the next few months, Republican lawmakers in both the House and Senate will hash out their different budget priorities and determine what specific changes to Medicaid ultimately go into their legislation – and we need to be in their ear every step of the way.

It’s time to roll up our sleeves and get loud. When we raise our voices together – through letters, phone calls, in-person meetings, social media – lawmakers listen. The National Council is taking action, and we are asking you to take action alongside us.

Please see the below for more details around what we know RE: potential proposed cuts, what the timeline looks like, and action you can take today to make your voice heard.

This is just the beginning.

What’s At Stake for Medicaid?

• In short, the House resolution passed last night proposes $880 billion in funding cuts from programs under the Energy & Commerce Committee’s jurisdiction. While Medicaid isn’t the only program in this category, it is by far the largest. If the Senate agrees with the House’s plan, we can assume the bulk of the $880 billion in cuts would come from Medicaid. What this looks like exactly has yet to be determined. There have been several Medicaid changes floated by House Republicans, though not yet put into draft legislation. Proposals include mandatory work requirements, scaling back the financial incentive for the Medicaid expansion in 40 states and imposing per capita caps on individual Medicaid enrollees. Check out the fact sheets below for more information on the impact of these potential changes:
  
  • Block grants and per capita caps
  • FMAP and provider taxes
  • Work requirements

Any of these changes would be enormous Medicaid cost shifts to state and county budgets and dramatic spikes in the number of people losing their healthcare coverage. Just scaling back Medicaid expansion alone could cause more than 20 million Americans to lose their Medicaid coverage.

Why Does It Matter?

• Reductions in federal Medicaid spending would mean many people across our country lose their health coverage. Impacts of the identified proposals will vary across states and communities, this could include seeing reduced state budgets, diminished workforces at community-based providers, and an increase in costs related to more emergency room visits and uncompensated care.

What’s Next?

• Senate and House leadership must now reconcile their different budget resolutions before crafting legislation that specifically proposes Medicaid cuts. After that, the Senate Finance Committee and the House Energy & Commerce Committee must draft the actual policy changes to Medicaid necessary to generate truly huge savings.
• This could take weeks, or months. Every day along the way is an opportunity to reach out to your elected officials to demand they oppose significant cuts to Medicaid.
• The National Council and other leading organizations collaborated on a press statement via the Modern Medicaid Alliance. Check it out here, and feel free to share far and wide.

National Council President and CEO Chuck Ingoglia shared a column on the proposed cuts and how to act. Check it out here.

How Can I Take Action?

• If you have five minutes free:
  • Customize and send a letter to your elected officials and share the link the colleagues, family, and friends: https://thenationalcouncil.quorum.us/campaign/107658/
  • Share messaging on social media:
    • X:The latest House vote breaks a vital promise to more than 70 million Americans who depend on the #Medicaid program and now face the potential for unprecedented cuts to their coverage and access to care. @ModernMedicaid’s statement on the impact of cuts: https://bit.ly/4hTCnVI
    • LinkedIn/FB:The latest House vote breaks a vital promise to more than 70 million Americans who depend on the #Medicaid program and now face the potential for unprecedented cuts to their coverage and access to care. Read @Modern Medicaid Alliance’s statement on the impact of cuts: https://bit.ly/4hTCnVI

• If you have 15 minutes free: Pick up the phone and dial your elected officials. Use the below resources:
  • Look up your officials’ phone numbers
  • Call script

• If you have 1 hour free: In-person or virtual meetings with staff from your elected officials’ offices are invaluable. Email the National Council to help coordinate next steps.

If you have any questions, ideas you want to share, or items you want to flag and discuss with our policy & advocacy team, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Why Support CMH PAC? 

In the Michigan Legislature there are:

• More new legislators due to term limits.
• Fewer legislators with in-depth knowledge about behavioral health issues.
• More legislative proposals that directly and indirectly impact Michigan’s publicly funded mental health system.
• More aggressive interest groups competing for limited resources.
• Very few legislative champions for persons with mental health, developmental/intellectual disabilities and substance use disorders.

CMH PAC helps overcome some of these obstacles by raising awareness for issues that are important to behavioral health care. The CMH PAC supports legislators/candidates who support and advocate on behalf of Michigan’s publicly funded mental health system.