April 4, 2025 | This Week in Government: Detroit Regional Chamber Praises Benson Ruling on Mackinac Conference Tickets, Singh Says Broader Legislative Fix Needed

Legislative changes allowing public officials to receive free or reduced cost tickets for events are still needed, a senator said Tuesday following a declaratory ruling issued by the secretary of state focused on the Detroit Regional Chamber‘s providing of complimentary admission to its yearly conference on Mackinac Island.

Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson issued a declaratory ruling Monday night stating that the Detroit Regional Chamber can keep providing complimentary admission to the Mackinac Policy Conference (See Gongwer Michigan Report, March 31, 2025).

It was a reversal of a preliminary response from the Department of State earlier last month saying that the Detroit Chamber’s provision of free tickets to elected and other public officials to the event was a violation of the lobby law’s gift limit (See Gongwer Michigan Report, March 10, 2025).

Brad Williams, vice president of government relations with the Detroit Regional Chamber, thanked Benson in a Tuesday statement for the declaratory ruling.

“The Chamber applauds Secretary Benson for recognizing the value that policymakers provide to Michigan’s business leaders from across the state,” Williams said. “As in previous years, the Chamber anticipates over 100 elected and appointed officials will participate in the policy conversations that are at the center of Michigan’s future.”

Although the ruling dealt with the question the Detroit Regional Chamber raised with the Department of State, the larger question of providing such tickets needs to be addressed, Sen. Sam Singh (D-East Lansing) said Tuesday.

A financial disclosure and gift limit package was reported by a Senate committee earlier this year and is waiting for vote by the full chamber (See Gongwer Michigan Report, Feb. 27, 2025).

Under SB 101, a workaround would be put in place for elected officials to continue receiving free or reduced priced tickets to a charity event for a nonprofit organization and to “a conference or educational event if the subject matter of the conference or educational event is directly connected to the duties of the public official who is provided the admission.”

“I think it’s appropriate for lawmakers to be at these, for networking … and to support some of these causes,” Singh said. “I think it has helped me be a stronger, more educated legislator.”

Last year, Benson issued interpretive statements as well as administrative rules targeting a workaround that lobbyists have used to provide tickets to sporting events and concerts to lawmakers and public officials exceeding the $79 limit on gifts from registered lobbyists.

Lobbyists were purchasing tickets exceeding $79 and having the officials repay the total exceeding the limit.

Benson had also stated that the lobby law prevents registered lobbyists and lobby agents from providing free registration to conferences to public officials unless the official is providing services of equal or greater value than the registration.

Singh said SB 101 is broader than the ruling issued Monday by Benson. He said his bill codifies some of the rules issued by the department and then enacts a workaround that he said is like what some other states have in statute.

Singh said since the Benson ruling targets just the Mackinac conference, his legislation would help in addressing the issue more broadly.

The package includes two other bills, one of which would create a new exemption on reporting of spousal employers (SB 99) and another that would narrow reporting for candidates to only include those who intend to appear on the ballot during the election cycle (SB 100).

“The other two bills probably need to move more quickly,” Singh said.

The next reporting deadline for public officials to file their personal financial disclosures is May 15, making it important to at least move SB 99 and SB 100 ahead of that date, said Singh.

The Detroit Regional Chamber request is not the only such request made to the department.

Last year, the Michigan Association of Health Plans asked the department for a declaratory ruling on groups providing complimentary tickets for educational conferences to lawmakers if the value is above the gift limit (See Gongwer Michigan Report, May 17, 2024).

The group’s request came around the same time that Bob LaBrant had asked for a declaratory ruling on lobbyists providing tickets to lawmakers above the gift limit and obtaining reimbursement. The department said the workaround is prohibited under the Lobby Act (See Gongwer Michigan Report, July 19, 2024).

Brian Mills, spokesperson for the Michigan Association of Health Plans, in a statement said: “We’re still reviewing the recent ruling and appreciate the secretary of state’s further clarifications.”

The United States needs to take drastic steps to amend its trade policy with China while amending existing trade deals and strengthening their enforcement provisions, Michigan’s U.S. senators said in a recent letter to President Donald Trump.

In a March 27 letter to Trump, U.S. Sen. Gary Peters (D-Bloomfield Township) and U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Holly) joined with U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin) to say that decades of free trade agreements and globalization have left the country in a vulnerable state.

The Democrats also wrote that it has led to the mass offshoring of manufacturing and key supply chains now overseas, much of it in countries like China that are adversaries to the U.S. In addition, they wrote, the shift in trade has led to the elimination of jobs or good-paying jobs being replaced by ones with lower wages.

“Now is the time to break the cycle and boldly set a new standard for how we design, implement, monitor, and enforce our trade policies,” the senators wrote. “Our goal should be a combined pro-U.S. worker trade agenda and proactive industrial policy and strategic use of tariffs that secures supply chains, revitalizes communities, creates good-paying union jobs, and re-establishes the United States as a leader in world manufacturing.”

The letter from the Democrats comes during a period in which Trump has sought to implement tariffs on several countries, including allies such as Canada, Mexico, and several European nations. Trump is expected to announce further tariffs on Wednesday.

First and foremost, they wrote, the country’s trade relationship with China needs to be remade.

“First and foremost, we must drastically revise our trade relationship with the People’s Republic of China (PRC),” the senators wrote.

The senators explained that the U.S. decision to grant Permanent Normal Trade Relations with China, which allowed it to enter the World Trade Organization, were poor ideas. The thought was that it would lead to market reforms in the communist nation, which have not occurred, they argued. Instead, China has used a state-directed approach and has targeted various markets to dominate globally, the senators wrote.

“China’s non-market practices, rampant abuses of labor and human rights, and government-sponsored trade cheating call for a complete rethinking of our economic relationship, including PNTR,” the senators wrote. “Foreign entities will continue to transship, evade trade remedies, and create new ways to cheat and take advantage of the United States, and stopping problems as they come up in a “whack-a-mole” fashion is a reactive strategy.”

The senators said that the 14 free trade agreements the U.S. has entered with 20 countries should be revised. Strengthening enforcement provisions is also a critical priority, they said, which would help prevent trade manipulation by other countries. Reauthorization of a beefed-up version of the Trade Adjustment Assistance was also recommended.

“Re-evaluating American trade policy and securing supply chains will strengthen our national security and better position the United States to defend itself if faced with conflict,” the senators wrote.

The abrupt change to the deadline to access federal education grants related to COVID-19 made last week may not have as significant of a financial impact on Michigan as the Department of Education initially announced, officials said Tuesday.

The department announced Monday that $40 million in grants allocated to Michigan school districts would be affected by the deadline change (See Gongwer Michigan Report, March 31, 2025), which could be correct – but $24.2 million of that has already been paid out to districts by the department.

“Another group of districts has not yet sought payment. Without a reversal from the U.S. Department of Education, the districts may not be paid the remaining approximately $17.8 million for which they haven’t already been paid. In addition, MDE would stand to lose $5 million in administrative costs,” department officials said in a clarifying statement issued Tuesday. “All $40 million is in jeopardy unless the U.S. Department of Education agrees to honor the previous extension approval request from the federal government.”

Without an extension from the U.S. Department of Education, the remaining $17.8 million would likely not be paid out to districts. The funds already paid by MDE to districts could still be clawed back by the federal government, which argued the grants became obsolete when the pandemic was declared over last year, but the department did not offer further information on that possibility.

The U.S. Department of Education said districts can apply for an extension to their grant liquidation window on a project-by-project basis but must provide evidence that the projects are still a worthwhile use of government money. The state’s department is working with the affected districts to determine which projects should pursue an extension.

A 25-year-old precedent that allowed the smell of marijuana – without any other factor – to be a sufficient reason for probable cause is no longer good law in light of the Michigan Regulation and Taxation of Marihuana Act, the Supreme Court ruled in a 5-1 decision released Wednesday.

In an opinion written by Justice Megan Cavanagh, the majority in People v. Armstrong (MSC Docket No. 165233) affirmed the Court of Appeals’ decision to overturn the Supreme Court’s 2000 ruling in People v Kazmierczak.

The majority consisting of Cavanagh, Chief Justice Elizabeth Clement, Justice Richard Bernstein, Justice Elizabeth Welch, and Justice Kyra Harris Bolden also affirmed the Wayne Circuit Court’s decision to grant a motion to suppress evidence of a gun discovered during the traffic stop at the heart of the case. Cavanagh said there was no plain error in the trial court’s finding that the gun was not discovered in plain view, making the search unconstitutional during a traffic stop that was already unconstitutional because it was predicated only on the smell of marijuana present in the vehicle.

Justice Brian Zahra dissented, holding the lower courts failed to consider whether the handgun could have been discovered in plain view and if that left open the possibility that the smell of marijuana was not the only valid evidence supporting probable cause.

The case involved Jeffrey Armstrong, who was charged with carrying a concealed weapon, a felon in possession of a weapon and felony firearm. The gun was found underneath the passenger seat of a vehicle where Armstrong was sitting but not driving.

Police initiated the stop because the officer claimed she smelled marijuana emanating from the vehicle. Armstrong moved to suppress evidence of the gun, arguing it was the fruit of a search that violated his Fourth Amendment rights.

It was the prosecution that invoked Kazmierczak in the trial court, but the judge ruled that the officer needed probable cause before asking him to exit the vehicle because he was not driving it. Further, the smell of marijuana alone was not sufficient to form a basis of probable cause and the plain-view exception in Terry v. Ohio did not apply, the court ruled.

The Court of Appeals in turn affirmed the decision and ruled that Kazmierczak was no longer good law given the fact that marijuana was no longer an illegal substance per the MRTMA, and the smell of the plant or its products are no longer indicative of illegal activity. Voters approved legalization of recreational marijuana use in 2018.

The case before the court was the first time the bench was able to reconsider the viability of the Kazmierczak rule following voter passage of the MRTMA.

On Wednesday, Cavanagh said the high court’s majority agreed with the lower courts and further noted that there was no dispute that a warrant was not obtained before the officer searched the vehicle in Armstrong.

Cavanagh also said that when Kazmierczak was decided in 2000, the law criminalized the use and transportation of marijuana without exception. Since then, Cavanagh noted, Michigan’s laws surrounding cannabis have changed drastically.

“In that (previous) context, a rule like the one announced in Kazmierczak was reasonable,” Cavanagh wrote. “But now that marijuana possession and use is generally legal, the odor of marijuana does not on its own supply a substantial basis for inferring a fair probability that contraband or evidence of illegal activity will be found in a particular place. Instead, post MRTMA, the smell of marijuana might just as likely indicate that the person is in possession of a legal amount of marijuana, recently used marijuana legally, or was simply in the presence of someone else who used marijuana.”

Cavanagh agreed that not all marijuana possession or use happens in legal circumstances, as driving under the influence of marijuana was still a crime. But Armstrong wasn’t driving, and Cavanagh said the smell of the plant and its products alone weren’t enough to establish probable cause for a search.

Cavanagh further wrote that the prosecution provided no compelling argument as to why the trial court’s factual finding was erroneous and simply asserted that the trial court erred. That left the bench without a definitive answer on the possibility of an error, so the trial court’s ruling on the gun evidence stood.

Zahra in dissent said the majority holds the “erroneous belief that the police could not temporarily seize the vehicle and remove the defendant unless they first had probable cause to search the vehicle.”

“Because the challenged evidence might be admissible on the narrower ground that it was discovered in plain view during an investigatory Terry stop, I would not stretch, as the majority opinion does, to address the continuing viability of the rule from People v. Kazmierczak that the smell of marijuana alone can justify the warrantless search of a vehicle,” Zahra wrote.

State business leaders and politicians are expressing concern over the lasting effects of recently imposed tariffs.

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump and his administration announced new tariffs, including a 10% baseline tax on imports from all countries. The tariff is set to take effect on Friday. There will also be a higher tax imposed on countries with which the U.S. has the largest trade deficits, taking effect on April 9.

U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Ann Arbor), along with leaders in organized labor, held a media call during which they said tariffs can be a part of a larger solution on trade that needs to include fixing the United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement.

Dingell said the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which replaced NAFTA, needs to be renegotiated to create a level playing field.

“China should not be able to build a plant in Mexico and then market itself as a North America product,” Dingell said. “It’s not. And you know, we tried to. I’ll give you other examples: There’s still workers in Mexico that are making $3 an hour building a car that is the exact same product that a worker in the U.S. is making and being paid 10 times more. And quite frankly, that’s not a level playing field.”

She also said tariffs should be part of a larger strategy to promote domestic manufacturing, build a workforce, and strengthen national and economic security.

“Tariffs are a critical tool to bring jobs back and support American workers and industries, but they’ve got to be used strategically,” she said.

Jason Wade, assistant to United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain , said they have always had a strong critique of free trade. He said NAFTA, implemented in the mid-1990s, was the breaking point for many working people, and USMCA did not do enough to address the faults in the original agreement.

“We just want the promises of free trade to match up with the reality of how they’re executed,” he said. “And these agreements are written solely by companies, and they address their needs, but not our community’s needs, not our environmental needs, not our worker right’s needs.”

He said the issues that NAFTA was supposed to address, such as creating new manufacturing jobs, creating a middle class in Mexico, increasing wages in Mexico and reducing conflict, all “failed miserably.” He said this resulted in thousands of Michigan manufacturing jobs being lost and about 90,000 nationwide.

“We have been very vocal with on the Democratic side, saying we need change, and now that President Trump is acting on this, we are supportive of changing the system, but that doesn’t mean we’re supportive of everything that he’s doing,” he said.

Lori Wallach, director of Rethink Trade, said the U.S. has been the largest chronic trade deficit country every year since 1975. Rethink Trade works to analyze how trade agreements and policies should be altered to deliver wider national interests.

She said the Trump administration did some smart things regarding their treatment toward Mexico and Canada, but they need a “total renegotiation” of the USMCA.

“Delivering the outcomes that most Americans would support is something that’s going to require other policies, other interventions and a certain kind of path with respect to what happens with the current tariffs that were announced yesterday,” she said.

Meanwhile, several Michigan business groups ratcheted up their warnings about what the tariffs could mean for the nation’s and state’s economy.

“These actions will have sweeping implications for Michigan’s automotive sector, which accounts for nearly half of the state’s total manufacturing output,” said John Walsh, president and chief executive officer of the Michigan Manufacturers Association. “Our automotive supply chain is deeply integrated across international borders. Vehicles built today are rarely the product of one nation – they are assembled with components sourced globally, including from our strongest trading partners, Canada and Mexico.”

He said the time between the start of the tariffs and the realization of investment could disrupt manufacturers and employees in the automotive industry. He also said he is concerned about a fragile global supply chain being stretched thin by logistical and economic uncertainty.

“If federal policy is encouraging new manufacturing investment in the United States, Michigan must be ready to lead,” he said. “That means having the most welcoming, pro-manufacturing environment possible supported by fair tax policy, smart regulation and continued access to reliable and affordable energy resources.”

He said MMA intends to work with national manufacturing partners to ensure success in the industry.

The 25% auto tariffs are already affecting manufacturing jobs in the state. Stellantis announced Wednesday that it will temporarily lay off 900 people in Michigan and Indiana. This includes employees from the Warren and Sterling Heights factories.

Small businesses across the state are expressing uncertainty about the economy and are taking steps to prepare for a recession, said Brian Calley, president and chief executive officer of the Small Business Association of Michigan.

According to data collected through SBAM’s quarterly review, a survey conducted in March of almost 500 association members found that two-thirds of them are concerned about the state and national economy.

Approximately 86% of the surveyed businesses have 50 employees or less.

Sixty-seven percent of businesses reported increased wages over the last year to meet upcoming economic challenges. Additionally, 48% of small businesses reported reducing overall expenses, with 23% delaying capital expenditures.

“Small businesses across Michigan are seeing troubling signs on the economic horizon, and they’re taking active steps to prepare,” Calley said in a statement. “The good news is that they’re making those preparations while they support their teams, increasing wages and working to maintain staffing levels.”

Of the survey respondents, 79% reported expanding their workforce or keeping staffing levels unchanged. Respondents were split on the impact of tariffs on their businesses. Fifty-three percent identify tariffs as a threat and 34% do not believe they are relevant to their operations.

The remaining 13% believe federal trade policy changes could result in positive business opportunities.

“What happens in Washington, D.C., and at the state Capitol has a real impact on small businesses,” Calley said. “Right now, those businesses are pointing to trouble on the horizon. Policymakers should listen.”

Randi Berris of Business Leaders for Michigan said in a statement that tariffs and rising trade tensions pose serious risks to Michigan jobs, businesses and families.

“The tariffs announced today will impact prices from the grocery store to the gas pump and make it harder for American companies to do business,” she said. “We all want fair trade and safe borders but strongly urge a swift resolution that protects consumers and avoids economic harm.”