June 6, 2025 | This Week in Government: Municipal Leaders Plead for Hazardous Waste Changes in Committee

A handful of metro Detroit municipalities testified in support of hazardous waste legislation in a Senate committee on Thursday after their local disposal sites accepted hazardous waste from an Ohio train disaster and the Manhattan Project.

Without warning, Republic Industrial and Energy Solutions in Romulus accepted toxic debris from the 2023 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, for underground injection. Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy inspections later found violations at the facility related to improperly labeled signs and malfunctioning alarm systems.

Less than a year later, the Wayne Disposal landfill in Van Buren Township initiated a transfer of radioactive soil and concrete from several nuclear test sites as part of a planned hazardous waste facility expansion.

Van Buren, Romulus, Canton, and Belleville filed an injunction after finding out, and a judge subsequently issued a restraining order on the move in September 2024.

Backed by Sen. Darrin Camilleri (D-Trenton.), the community’s leaders since have been working on legislation to manage the toxic materials coming into their backyards.

SB 246, taken up for testimony in the Senate Energy and Environment Committee, would overhaul hazardous waste management in the following ways:

• Hazardous waste disposal (“tipping”) fees would increase from $10 a ton to $25 a ton. Michigan has some of the lowest tipping fees in the country, Camilleri said, which is why it regularly receives waste from across state lines. Canton Township Supervisor Anne Marie Graham Hudak said this would encourage waste to be disposed of at sites in other, less-populated areas.
• Technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive material (TENORM) disposal would be prohibited above extreme thresholds, and its tipping cost would go up. Van Buren Township Supervisor Kevin McNamara said this would still allow things like radioactive medical waste to be thrown away in Michigan but would protect against nuclear waste.
• All hazardous waste facilities and expansions would be postponed for five years to allow for the development of a statewide hazardous waste plan. The plan would restrict the amount of waste dumped in Michigan to the amount of waste it produces and would create stricter siting requirements, Camilleri said.

SB 247 would impose a 0.417 fee per gallon on the type of hazardous waste disposal wells holding materials from the East Palestine derailment in Romulus. Revenue from the fee would then go toward waste management grants for the city, distributed by EGLE.

Last session, a similar bill was sent to the House Government Operations Committee after passing the Senate.

“I’ve had countless conversations with residents and local municipal leaders who are horrified about potentially harmful material being transported to their communities on their roads and disposed of in their backyard,” Camilleri said. “Frankly, it is ridiculous that these facilities are located at dense population centers in the first place.”

Since similar legislation was introduced in 2024, Camilleri said he has negotiated a fair price hike for tipping fees with the governor’s office. Revenue generated by the fee increase would fund resources to enforce the bill and its regulations.

The bill did not receive a vote.

Supporters included the Michigan Environmental Council, the Huron River Watershed Council and the Wayne County Executive. Opponents included the Small Business Association of Michigan, the Detroit Regional Chamber, Michigan Chemistry Council, the Michigan Waste and Recycling Association, and the Michigan Manufacturers Association.

The House filed a lawsuit against Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson on Thursday in the Court of Claims for failing to comply with a subpoena issued by Rep. Jay DeBoyer and the House Oversight Committee.

“Our commitment to bring accountability to Lansing is not just lip service,” DeBoyer (R-Clay) said in a statement. “After going years without legislative oversight, Benson has clearly grown comfortable operating independent of the other, co-equal branches of government.”

Department of State Spokesperson Cheri Hardmon said on Thursday Benson was glad the House had finally taken the issue to court.

“Since the beginning of this saga, Secretary Benson has asked lawmakers to let a court review their request for sensitive election information that, in the wrong hands, would compromise the security of our election machines, ballots and officials,” Hardmon said is a statement. “We are glad they have finally acted accordingly and look forward to a court of law resolving this dispute.”

DeBoyer also said in his statement that the House has attempted to get Benson to cooperate through requests, offers and other legal routes.

“Her continued defiance now brings us to the courtroom, where we will continue to diligently work to deliver government transparency for the people of Michigan,” he said.

Benson and her staff have turned over some of the requested information but have refused to turn over other materials they argue are sensitive and, if publicly released, could be used to interfere with the chain of custody of ballots, tamper with election equipment, or impersonate a clerk on Election Day.

“To date, the Michigan Department of State has produced more than 3,300 pages of materials and posted them on our website for all to see,” Hardmon said. “Let’s be clear – the Republican chair of the House Oversight Committee is demanding information that could be used to interrupt the chain of custody of ballots, tamper with election equipment of impersonate a clerk on Election Day.”

The lawsuit requests a declaratory judgment from the court that the Michigan House has issued a valid subpoena that Benson must comply with and requests an injunction prohibiting Benson or the Department of State from modifying any relevant records.

“Government actors, regardless of their title, all have a responsibility to uphold their constitutional oath and adhere to the law,” DeBoyer said. “Yet, Jocelyn Benson, one of the most powerful office holders in Michigan, must instead be brought to court and forced to comply with Michigan statute. We will not let her disregard for the law keep us from delivering results to the people we represent.”

Hardmon said the department remained committed to transparency but would not compromise election security.

“We look forward to working with a judge to come to a resolution that will resolve this dispute,” she said.

A coalition of education advocacy groups are looking to put a new option for school funding on the ballot in 2026: raising the state income tax rate on Michigan’s highest earners, with the possibility of generating $1.7 billion annually in K-12 revenue.

The Invest in MI Kids initiative seeks to amend the Constitution to change Michigan’s 4.25% flat income tax rate to require individuals earning over $500,000 and couples earning over $1 million to pay 5% of their income in state taxes. According to taxpayer data compiled by the Department of Treasury, fewer than 60,000 of the 4.9 million people who filed income tax returns in 2021 reported an income over $500,000.

Organizers of the initiative said placing a higher financial burden on the wealthiest residents of the state would help close the funding gap in Michigan’s education system, which advocates estimate is roughly $4 to $5 billion annually. Increased revenue to the School Aid Fund, they said, would allow the state to support new funding for priorities like career and technical education, recruiting and retaining teachers, and reducing class sizes.

“Michigan’s flat tax system was designed for the ultra-wealthy, not working families,” said Molly Sweeney, Organizing Director of 482 Forward, one of the coalition’s founding partners. “That’s why we’re coming together to rewrite the rules so those who aren’t paying what they owe in taxes finally chip in to support the services we all rely on – especially public education.”

Jase Bolger, President and Chief Executive Officer of the West Michigan Policy Forum, today issued the following statement after it was reported that petition language was filed for a ballot proposal that would create a 5% income tax surcharge on individuals who earn $500,000 annually:

West Michigan Policy Forum Chief Executive Officer Jase Bolger in a statement panned the proposal, saying workers and kids deserve better.

“Way too many kids in Michigan can’t read, but it’s clear these adults can’t do simple math. Today in Michigan, the more you make the more you pay,” Bolger said. “But worse is that this proposal would drive Michigan further in the wrong direction. While states that are growing are overwhelmingly cutting taxes on work, or don’t tax work at all, this would double down on Michigan’s lagging policies that have led to the fastest growing unemployment rate in the country.”

Invest in MI Kids is supported by education organizations including the Michigan Education Justice Coalition and Fund MI Future, a coalition of groups including the Michigan League for Public Policy and Progress Michigan.

“This is about fairness, plain and simple,” Fund MI Future organizer Charlie Cavell said in a statement. “When you include sales tax and other taxes, working and middle-class families in Michigan actually pay a higher percentage of their income in state taxes than the top 1 percent. That’s upside-down. Our ballot initiative will restore balance and ensure that those at the very top finally contribute to our schools and communities like the rest of us already do.”

Organizers said the coalition aims to gather 600,000 signatures, exceeding the 2026 requirement of 446,198 signatures for a constitutional amendment measure to appear on statewide ballots.

A similar surcharge was approved by voters in Massachusetts in 2022, requiring taxpayers who make over $1 million annually to pay more towards public education and transportation infrastructure.

A draft petition will likely come before the Board of State Canvassers at the board’s June or July meetings.

Superintendent of Public Instruction Michael Rice and State Board of Education President Pamela Pugh responded to a volley of criticisms from Republican members of the House Oversight Committee on Tuesday, defending the Department of Education’s budgetary requests and progress made in student achievement in recent years, even as many areas still require improvement.

Rice and Pugh gave a presentation to the committee on MDE’s Top Ten Strategic Education Plan and the state’s progress in meeting each one, noting improvements that include a record high graduation rate in 2024, progress toward Gov. Gretchen Whitmer‘s 60 by 30 goal for postsecondary education and increases in both Advanced Placement course enrollment and Advanced Placement test scores.

They also emphasized record enrollment in the Great Start Readiness Program and Michigan’s #1 rating in preschool quality, as well as the successes seen in teacher recruitment and retention upon continued investment in the Grow Your Own program. Rice said these improvements to Michigan’s education system in recent years reflect legislative changes and budgetary attention being paid after decades of neglect.

“There was precisely no money in the state school aid act, nothing to address the teacher shortage, even though it was rife, from fiscal year 2020 and before. It wasn’t until fiscal year 2021 that you invested anything in addressing the teacher shortage, and those were small dollars in ’21 and ’22,” Rice said. “It wasn’t until ’23, based on the recommendation of the department, that you began to consider and ultimately invest in addressing the teacher shortage, $1 billion in the last three years to teachers.”

Still, Rice said, most of the investments in addressing teacher retention and other aspects of education improvements are in their infancies and can only provide partial or rudimentary evidence for their impact.

“What have the results been? Well, the results are fledgling, because the funding is fledgling,” Rice said.

The main ask MDE currently has for the Legislature is mandating Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling, or LETRS training. Rice and Pugh said it would be a significant step in improving literacy proficiency for younger students.

Upon the presentation’s completion, the committee’s Republican members were quick to critique MDE and its leadership for Michigan’s low spot in national rankings for literacy proficiency. Rice noted that the most frequently cited test result by legislators, the National Center for Education Statistics’ Assessment of Educational Progress, NAEP, is based on only a small sample of students from each state and has different metrics for proficiency than other standardized tests taken by students in Michigan.

On the College Board’s PSAT testing that most 8th graders in the state take, 64% of Michigan students score at or above proficiency for their grade level, compared to 25% on the NAEP test.

Republican committee members, however, called the scores “unacceptable” and representative of “failure” on behalf of the department, arguing that Rice and Pugh should not have come to the Legislature asking for additional funding without concrete evidence of improvement in literacy metrics.

“The funding asks that you have made today have been not an education-related fund requests,” Rep. Steve Carra (R-Three Rivers) said. “You can focus on reading, writing, and arithmetic and getting back to the basics. I encourage the department to focus on that.”

Tensions rose when Rep. Jay DeBoyer (R-Clay) inquired about a resolution the board passed in March condemning executive orders from President Donald Trump seeking to ban diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in schools. Pugh defended the resolution, which she brought before the board.

“When we talk about diversity, equity, and inclusion, I’m talking about the superintendents who said at the end of our board table and talked about the special needs children who they are concerned will not be able to get the education that they need and deserve, educators who sat at the end of our board table from all over the state, from rural areas, talking about if they don’t have diversity, equity, and inclusion reflected up in the budget, or that has to be cut, that they may not be able to transport their children to the classroom,” Pugh said. “Reading the resolution and comprehending it, I know that’s a little difficult, but education is about making sure that our children have safe spaces where they can be supported to be able to learn, and that is what we’re talking about when we talk about DEI.”

Pugh said many of the initiatives that the federal government currently defines as DEI are critical to meeting children’s needs in school.

“Their needs are to be able to read and do math,” DeBoyer shot back. “That’s what their needs are, and we’re failing.”

Rep. Josh Schriver (R-Oxford) appeared to argue in favor of large class sizes after Rice detailed the department’s requests for the Legislature to address class sizes becoming exorbitantly large in recent years.

“The greatest generation, 1920, you know, the classroom sizes were 30, 40, 50 kids,” he said. “That produced the greatest generation. And if you’re worried about crowded classrooms, I think I offer this as a solution. Offer a voucher program and let parents choose to spend their money on programs, home school, programs with no strings attached, and that will reduce the amount of individuals in public education, because more families will be using their money to seek alternative means that might be more effective.”

Rep. Dylan Wegela (D-Garden City) said he “has a problem” with referring to an age of school segregation and widespread illiteracy as an example to emulate in 2025.

“Literacy rates are higher today than they were in 1920,” Wegela said.

Rice reiterated several times the past four years of increased school funding, after decades of chronic underfunding, cannot be expected to yield immediate results without ongoing and increasing support from the state. Pugh likened Michigan’s history of education funding to dropping a brick on someone’s foot – “once you lift the brick off, the bones don’t go back together right away.”

Rice and Pugh cited the state’s new literacy and dyslexia laws as proof of the drawn-out nature of education policy showing results – negotiation and work during the lawmaking process took years, and the policies won’t be fully implemented in all Michigan schools until the 2027-28 school year, they estimated. Still, they argued, it’s worth continuing to invest in additional support and offer targeted funding to address specific problems.

“We’ve shown many metrics that have increased, that’s number one. Number two, all metrics have not increased, and we’ve acknowledged where those metrics haven’t increased relative to literacy,” Rice said. “We’ve pushed forward a plan with the legislature in concert. We’ve said we need every teacher to provide the state to do LETRS training without exception.”

Wegela asked Rice to assess what impact a budget process exceeding the statutory deadline of July 1 might have on local school districts. Rice said if the Legislature continues to drag its feet, schools will be forced to make staffing decisions based on an incomplete financial picture for the upcoming fiscal year.

“Local school districts have a responsibility to pass a budget by June 30. They don’t get to punt, and they’re going to pass budgets that are going to be unduly conservative because they don’t know what’s going to come out of this institution,” Rice said. “The result of that is going to be some real challenge in terms of staffing up classrooms. People who have opportunities elsewhere are going to take those opportunities and go, whether they’re in the private sector or in another state.”

Michigan could become a leader in producing sustainable aviation fuel that airlines want moving forward as they eye lower emissions by approving tax incentives to get the market off the ground, officials said during committee meetings in both the House and Senate.

On Tuesday, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee discussed HB 4424 and HB 4425, sponsored by Rep. Jerry Neyer (R-Shepherd) and the Senate Natural Resources and Agriculture Committee discussed SB 235, and SB 236, sponsored by Sen. Sam Singh (D-East Lansing) and Sen. Joe Bellino (R-Monroe).

The bills would create a sustainable aviation fuel incentive program to provide corporate income tax credits to produce the product in Michigan. The program, which would sunset after 10 years under the bills, would be capped at $4.5 million in the first year and $9 million in subsequent years.

Supporters said the bills would benefit Michigan farmers and rural communities as it would provide another use for corn and other crops, as well as a financial incentive. Airlines would also benefit as they look to limit their emissions in the next 30 years.

“Our airline industry can either buy this product out of state or have it blended it out of state, or we can provide the opportunity … for our farmers and ethanol producers to enter this market,” Neyer said.

Major airlines are all hoping to decrease emissions in the coming decades and other states have already passed tax incentives for sustainable aviation fuel, Sarah Gonzales with the Delta Airlines told the House panel.

Gonzales said Delta alone purchases 4 billion gallons of fuel annually and in the next 30 years wants all 4 billion gallons to be sustainable fuel. She said no state has cornered the market yet on the fuel type.

“We truly imagine Michigan has all the right tools at our fingertips to …be the leader in the market,” she said.

John Delmotte, president of the Michigan Corn Growers Association, said the aviation fuel legislation is the best thing he’s seen in years for the rural economy. The benefit to farmers will also help others in rural communities, he said.

“Michigan’s corn farmers are facing challenging economic times. The price of corn is down by more than 40% since 2022, while the price of everything else from inputs to logistics has gone up significantly,” he said in written testimony. “In addition, farmers are facing increased pressure from developers who want to purchase farmland and move it out of production. Having access to new and innovative markets is critical to ensuring that our family farmers can stay in business and keep that land in agriculture. A strong SAF market represents an opportunity to make sure farms stay profitable and can continue to be passed down through the generations.”

Nichole Keway Biber, an organizer with Clean Water Action, spoke in opposition to SB 235 and SB 236. She told committee members that the bills subsidize industries and likely do not reduce overall emissions.

“This is no time for false climate solutions that divert investments and focus away from achieving real … sustainability,” Biber said.