April 4th-17th, 2026

This week the Michigan House Appropriations Subcommittees released their budget recommendations for Fiscal Year 2026-2027 (FY 27). The Health and Human Services (HHS) portion of the budget recommends $6.6 billion ($1.4 billion General Fund), a 3.5% reduction in spending overall with a 5.9% general fund increase from the current fiscal year. The HHS recommendations also recommended 5% fewer full-time employee (FTE) positions, allocating 855.8 FTE positions for FY 27.

The House Public Health Subcommittee recommended a budget of $1.1 billion ($322 million GF), a reduction of 8.7% in spending overall and 8.2% in the general fund from the current year. They also suggested cutting 123 FTE positions, a 14.3% reduction, for a total of 735.4 FTE’s.

Recommendations for the Medicaid and Behavioral Health portion of the budget include $22.9 billion ($5.9 billion GF), a 4.7% increase in overall spending and a 2.7% general fund increase from FY 26. The recommendation also allocated 44.5 less FTEs, or 1.1% fewer positions, from the current fiscal year.

In total, the House budget recommendations for the department is $30.71 billion ($7.3 billion General Fund), which is a $691.7 million increase ($198.9 million GF). The House recommendation sits about $10 billion ($310 million GF) below Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s executive recommendation.

The Senate has yet to release their recommendations.

Reminder that these are just the initial House budget recommendations. The budget is developed in conjunction with the House, Senate, and Governor, so we do not anticipate that these recommendations will reflect the final budget.

Below is the full list of RHTP Advisory Council Members:

• Alan Bolter, Community Mental Health Association
• Andrea Wendling, M.D., Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, Boyne Area Medical Center (affiliated with Munson Healthcare Charlevoix Hospital)
• Andrew Chosa, Upper Peninsula Health Care Solutions
• Angela Madden, Michigan Association of Ambulance Services
• April Kay Osburn, Central & Western Area Health Education Center / Central Michigan University
• Catherine A. Macomber, Saginaw Valley State University
• Crystal Barter, Michigan Center for Rural Health
• Elise Marie Bur, Northern Michigan University
• Heidi Britton, Northwest Michigan Health Services, Inc.
• Jeremy Cannon, Kalkaska Memorial Health Center
• Julie Kay Yaroch, D.O., ProMedica
• Kim Bachelder, Michigan Health Information Network (MiHIN)
• Lauren LaPine, Michigan Hospital Association
• Megan Murphy, Superior Health Foundation
• Nicholas Cushman, Indian Health Service / University of Michigan College of Pharmacy
• Phillip Berquest, Michigan Primary Care Association
• Robert Walter Mach, Schoolcraft Memorial Hospital
• Sarah Oleniczak, Northern Michigan Community Health Innovation Region / District Health Department #10
• Stephanie Winslow, PACE Association of Michigan
• Wilbert Morris, Sanilac County Community Mental Health Authority

More info about the RHTP can be found here.

On May 5th, Saginaw area voters will decide who represents them in the State Senate in the 35th district special election. The seat has been vacant since January of last year when the former incumbent, Kristen McDonald Rivet (D-Bay City), resigned when she was sworn into the U.S. House. The district encompasses parts of Bay, Saginaw, and Midland counties. The Democratic candidate is Chedrick Greene, a former Marine and the current Saginaw Fire Captain. The Republican is Attorney and Businessperson Jason Tunney from Saginaw. The winner of the race will serve for the remainder of the year and face re-election in the November 3rd general election.

The race is of particular interest given the current composition of the Michigan Senate. Currently, Democrats have a slim 19-18 majority in the Senate. A Greene victory would strengthen their lead, but if Tunney comes out ahead, the chamber would have 19 Democrats and 19 Republicans. In such a case, tie-breaker votes would need to be cast by Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist.

In 2022, McDonald Rivet won the seat with 53% of the vote.

Recently, SB 296 and SB 297, sponsored by Stephanie Chang (D-Detroit) and Ed McBroom (R-Vulcan), passed the Michigan Senate. The two bills aim at limiting mandatory nurse overtime, and hope to improve patient care and reduce nurse burnout by requiring hospitals to provide nurses with at least eight hours off after a 12-hour shift. This excludes shifts served during public health emergencies, state of emergencies, and mass casualty events. Senators McBroom and Joseph Bellino (Monroe) were the only Republicans to join the Democrats for a final vote tally of 21-16.

Some of Governor Whitmer’s latest appointments to boards and commissions include:

Michigan Board of Medicine

• Aurelia Gooden, of Riverview – reappointed, member of the public

Michigan Board of Marriage and Family Therapy

• Angela Miller, of Livingston – appointed, succeeds Bernard Lawler
• Natasha Wippel, of Okemos – appointed, succeeds Nadia Bazzy

Michigan Board of Nursing Home Administrators

• LaTosha Agee-Gussman, of Southfield – reappointed, general public member

Board of Interpreters for the Deaf, Deafblind, and Hard of Hearing

• Randa Hermez, of Troy – appointed, succeeds Linda Sykora

Certificate of Need Commission

• Sarah Spannbauer, of Royal Oak – appointed, succeeds Gregory Salwin

Michigan Council for Rehabilitation Services

• Justin Caine, of Holt – appointed, succeeds Todd Culver