Updates About Public Health

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) is offering $5 million through the Michigan Civil Money Penalty Reinvestment Program to fund projects that enhance services and improve quality of life for nursing home residents. Eligible applicants include hospitals, nursing facilities, nonprofits, academic institutions, private businesses, and Tribal organizations.

The grant period runs Oct. 1, 2026 through Sept. 30, 2027. Agencies must register in EGrAMS and request an application by 5:00 pm, April 17. Applications are due electronically by 3:00 pm, April 24. Technical support is available through the EGrAMS Help Desk until noon, April 24.

A pre-application conference will provide details on the grant program and instructions for using the EGrAMS system. It will be held at 10:00 am, Thursday, March 11 and is set to last approximately 90 minutes. The presentation can be accessed here.

In 2024, two bills passed by the Michigan Legislature requiring schools to adopt cardiac emergency response plans were signed into law (Publict Acts 36 and 37). However, the bills were contingent on the Legislature appropriating sufficient funding to implement the response plans. As of now, the current $321 million school safety budget lacks dedicated funding for the cardiac response plans. A Senate proposal to allocate $25 million for safety measures, including AED devices, was also not included in the final FY 25-26 budget.

In the absence of a sufficient appropriation, the law cannot be enforced and school districts cannot be not required to comply. With approximately 5,000 public and nonpublic schools statewide, adoption varies based on local capacity and resources. Currently, just under 1,000 schools hold the state’s MI HEARTSafe designation, a title earned by schools with cardiac response plans, annual cardiac emergency drills, and enough employees trained to respond to a cardiac emergency.

Governor Whitmer’s $88 billion budget proposed in her recent executive recommendations for the upcoming fiscal year also omitted specified funding for cardiac emergency response plans.

Recently, Governor Whitmer signed SB 495 (Polehanki, D-Livonia) and HB 4141 (Tisdel, R-Rochester Hills) into law with immediate effect. Representative Tisdel’s bill, now Public Act 1 of 2026, bans the use of cellphones by students during instructional periods in all Michigan schools. The bill champoined by Senator Polehanki, now Public Act 2 of 2026, requires schools to develop protocols for when and how students may use their cellphones during an emergency. The legislation passed both chambers with broad bipartisan support.

The previous law allowed districts to create their own policies regarding cellphones. Whitmer called for the ban during her State of the State address last year. The Governor hopes the ban will help students with overall ability to learn, reduce behavioral issues, support higher test scores, and improve students’ mental health. The law applies only to instructional time, and future changes could be considered based on feedback from school leaders.