The Michigan Reform Plan

Lower costs. Rebuild Michigan.
Put working families first.

Michigan can lead again — but not with politics as usual.

For too long, families have been asked to work harder while getting less in return. Healthcare costs rise. Housing slips further out of reach. Schools are stretched thin. Roads, power systems, and supply chains fall behind. And too many people feel like government responds faster to donors, lobbyists, and special interests than to the people who actually build this state.

The Michigan Reform Plan is a full, connected strategy to change that.

It is a plan to lower the cost of living, rebuild public systems, strengthen democracy, create good jobs, and give working families more control over their future.

This is not a collection of isolated ideas. It is one coordinated plan to make Michigan more affordable, more capable, more democratic, and more secure.

Michigan Is Being Squeezed From
Every Direction

Families are under pressure from every side at once.

Healthcare is too expensive. Prescription prices stay high. Rent and home prices keep rising. Public schools face staffing shortages and uneven resources. Major industries are changing fast, but too many workers and communities are left without a clear path forward. Infrastructure still fails too often. Utility bills rise while aging systems remain vulnerable. And trust in government has eroded as people watch public institutions move too slowly or serve the wrong priorities.

These problems are connected.

That means the solution has to be connected too.

Michigan does not need one more narrow program. Michigan needs a governing plan big enough to match the scale of the challenge.

One Plan.
Eight Major Reforms.

The Michigan Reform Plan brings together eight major initiatives that work as one:

1. MI-Care

A public healthcare plan designed to guarantee affordable care, reduce medical debt, and make healthcare a source of security instead of fear.

2. MI-Meds

A public medicines strategy to lower prescription costs, prevent shortages, and build Michigan-based pharmaceutical capacity.

3. Michigan Energy Independence Plan

A strategy to lower long-term energy costs, modernize the grid, strengthen supply chains, and build the next generation of energy manufacturing here at home.

4. Michigan Industrial Renewal Plan

A plan to rebuild advanced manufacturing, modernize infrastructure, strengthen worker power, and make Michigan the best place in America to build.

5. Michigan Opportunity & Education Investment Plan

A cradle-to-career investment strategy covering early learning, strong public schools, workforce development, college access, retraining, and lifelong opportunity.

6. Michigan First Homes Initiative

A housing plan to lower pressure on renters, help first-time buyers, protect neighborhoods from speculation, and make homeownership possible again.

7. FAIR Plan

A democracy and accountability agenda to strengthen ethics enforcement, expand participation, protect civil liberties, and rebuild trust in public institutions.

8. Michigan Clean Water and Infrastructure Justice Act

A long-term plan to replace lead pipes, enforce contamination accountability, protect water affordability, and guarantee safe, reliable water systems across Michigan.

The Michigan Reform Plan — At a Glance

Most candidates give you three bullet points. This is eight fully drafted pieces of legislation.

The Michigan Reform Plan is a complete governing framework — not a slogan, not a wish list. Every pillar below is a real bill with real statutory language, written to be introduced on day one. Each one-pager gives you the problem, the policy, the funding, and who it helps.

Read the summaries below. Read the full legislation at the links below. Then decide for yourself whether this district is ready for something serious.

The Michigan Reform Plan covers healthcare, housing, labor, energy, education, democracy reform, prescription affordability, and clean water. All eight acts are fully drafted and publicly available. This is what governing looks like before you get to Lansing.

These Reforms Are Designed to Reinforce Each Other

The strength of the Michigan Reform Plan is that each part makes the others stronger.

Lower medicine costs support affordable healthcare. Affordable healthcare gives families more stability. Stable families are better able to buy homes, go back to school, start businesses, and stay rooted in their communities.

Stronger schools and workforce pathways help Michigan lead in advanced manufacturing, clean energy, healthcare, and technology. Industrial renewal creates the jobs that make housing, education, and long-term growth more secure.

Energy modernization lowers costs for households and employers while making the state more competitive. Infrastructure investment strengthens manufacturing, logistics, and regional development. Housing reform helps workers stay in the communities where opportunity is growing. The Clean Water Act works alongside MI-Care and the Energy Independence Plan to reduce the long-term public health and infrastructure costs that Michigan families are currently absorbing.

And democracy reform helps ensure all of it stays accountable to the public.

This is what real reform looks like: not separate slogans, but a state that works together again.

The Core Goals

Every part of the Michigan Reform Plan is built around the same goals:

Goal 1 — Lower the cost of living

Reduce the pressure families face from healthcare, medicine, housing, utilities, and other basic necessities.

Goal 2 — Rebuild public systems that work

Modernize the systems people rely on every day — from schools and healthcare to roads, power, and democratic institutions.

Goal 3 — Create good jobs and stronger communities

Tie investment to job quality, workforce development, domestic production, and long-term regional strength.

Goal 4 — Put public power back on the public’s side

Make government more transparent, more competent, and more accountable to working people.

Goal 5 — Build a Michigan that can lead again

Compete nationally in healthcare reform, industrial strategy, energy modernization, education, and democratic renewal.

This Is What Governing Should Look Like

Government should solve problems people can actually feel.

It should help families afford the doctor.
It should make prescriptions cheaper.
It should help workers train for better jobs.
It should make it easier to buy a home.
It should fix the roads the right way.
It should modernize the grid.
It should strengthen schools.
It should stop treating democracy like a game for insiders.

The Michigan Reform Plan is built on a simple idea:

If people work hard, raise families, contribute to their communities, and believe in this state, government should fight just as hard for them.

That is what this plan is about.

Start Big. Deliver Early.
Build Long-Term.

The Michigan Reform Plan is designed to produce visible results early while laying the foundation for long-term change.

That means the first governing phase focuses on the biggest, clearest wins families can feel:

  • lowering everyday cost pressure

  • stabilizing key public systems

  • restoring trust through visible action

  • launching coordinated implementation instead of siloed programs

  • proving that public leadership can still deliver real results

The goal is not to wait years for people to feel the difference.

The goal is to act fast, act seriously, and build confidence through results.

Michigan Can Lead Again

Michigan built the middle class. Michigan built the industries that shaped the modern world. Michigan has the workers, communities, institutions, and determination to lead again.

But leadership will not come from drift. It will not come from timid half-measures. And it will not come from treating each crisis like it exists in isolation.

It will come from a plan that matches the scale of the moment.

The Michigan Reform Plan is that plan.

Michigan Reform Plan — Policy One-Pagers
The problem
Michigan families are one diagnosis away from financial ruin. Over 400,000 residents remain uninsured. Medical debt is the leading cause of personal bankruptcy. Insurance bureaucracy overrides clinical judgment. Private equity extracts profit from hospitals while care quality declines.
400K+
Michiganders without coverage
#1
cause of personal bankruptcy is medical debt
What it does
  • Universal coverage with $0 out-of-pocket costs — no copays, deductibles, or network barriers
  • Comprehensive benefits: reproductive care, gender-affirming care, mental health, dental, vision, substance use treatment, and contraception
  • Pet healthcare coverage — Michigan is the first state to include companion animal care
  • Prohibition on corporate practice of medicine — clinical decisions belong to doctors, not private equity
  • Medical debt discharged and barred from credit reporting
  • All-payer provider participation — any provider receiving public dollars must accept MI-Care
Funding
Phase 1: employer and employee payroll contributions replacing private insurance premiums
Federal Medicaid and CHIP waiver funds redirected into unified system
Phase 2: Fair Share Income Tax Amendment on household income above $250,000
Administrative savings from elimination of multi-payer billing complexity
Who benefits
Every Michigan resident. Workers who lose employer coverage. Gig workers and self-employed. Families navigating chronic illness. Seniors caught in coverage gaps. Small businesses freed from rising premium costs. Farmers and rural communities with limited provider access.
Coalition alignment
WFP SEIU PPAM Michigan LCV DSA SWIM Mothering Justice
Healthcare is a right, not a revenue stream.
GanttForMichigan.com
The problem
Michigan residents pay among the highest prescription drug prices in the world — often for medicines whose research was publicly funded. Insulin that costs $3 to manufacture sells for $300. Supply chains are fragile and concentrated in foreign production. Price gouging during shortages goes unaddressed. Seniors ration medications to afford rent.
1 in 4
Americans skip doses due to cost
$3 → $300
cost vs. price of insulin per vial
What it does
  • Michigan Prescription Bulk Purchasing Authority — state negotiates drug prices using Medicare-equivalent bargaining power
  • Essential medicines affordability program — insulin, EpiPens, inhalers, and other critical drugs at cost-based prices
  • Michigan Generic Drug Manufacturing Initiative — state-supported domestic production of critical generics to break supply chain vulnerability
  • Price gouging prohibition on essential medicines during declared emergencies and supply disruptions
  • Pharmacy benefit transparency — ban on hidden PBM markups and spread pricing at the expense of patients
Funding
Savings from bulk purchasing authority redirected to affordability programs
Phase 1 corporate accountability tax on pharmaceutical companies exceeding defined profit-to-R&D ratios
Federal 340B drug pricing program leverage and Medicaid rebate optimization
Public-private manufacturing partnerships with cost-recovery structure
Who benefits
Diabetics. Asthma patients. Anyone with a chronic condition who rations medication to pay other bills. Small businesses whose employees can't afford prescriptions. Rural residents with limited pharmacy access. The supply chain security benefits all Michigan residents in a shortage or emergency.
Coalition alignment
PPAM AARP Michigan Michigan LCV SEIU WFP
Medicines you need shouldn't cost more than your rent.
GanttForMichigan.com
The problem
Michigan families pay above-average utility bills to regulated monopolies with 0% accountability. DTE and Consumers Energy have sought billions in rate increases while delivering some of the worst outage records in the nation. Data centers are now demanding 6.4 gigawatts of new capacity — a cost that would fall entirely on residential ratepayers without intervention.
$18B
ratepayer risk from data center load growth by 2030 (UCS)
0%
Ron Robinson's LCV environmental score
What it does
  • Binding clean energy standard: 50% by 2035, 75% by 2042, 100% carbon-free by 2050
  • Automatic outage credits — $5-$25/hour for residential customers, no claim required
  • Data center separate rate class — no data center infrastructure costs shifted to households
  • Utility payment fee prohibition — free payment method required for every customer
  • Michigan Public Power and Grid Authority — public ownership pathway for grid assets
  • 35% environmental justice investment standard in all clean energy spending
  • Municipal and cooperative broadband authority — repeal of state restriction on local broadband
Funding
Performance-based rate-making — utilities earn revenue through results, not automatic increases
Data center rate class self-funding — industrial load pays its own infrastructure costs
Michigan Home Energy Freedom Program — state-backed low-interest financing for residential solar
Federal clean energy incentives (IRA) coordinated with state programs
Michigan Broadband Affordability Program — ISP assessment funds household affordability
Who benefits
Every Michigan ratepayer. Families who've sat through 3-day outages with no compensation. Rural households with no broadband competition. Environmental justice communities near power plant emissions. Workers who need good jobs in the clean energy transition.
Coalition alignment
Michigan LCV Clean Water Action SEIU WFP 314 Action
Your utility bill is a kitchen table issue. We're treating it like one.
GanttForMichigan.com
The problem
Michigan's industrial base has hollowed out while wages stagnated and worker power eroded. Wage theft goes unpunished. Misclassification is rampant. Non-compete agreements trap workers in jobs below their value. Data centers take billions in infrastructure while creating few jobs and threatening to raise everyone's utility bills. The 40-hour week hasn't been updated in generations.
47K
Michigan cannabis workers affected by 24% wholesale tax
32 hr
standard workweek — phased transition with full pay
What it does
  • 32-hour standard workweek — phased transition beginning with state employment, full pay maintained
  • 100% minimum wage for tipped workers — phased over four years
  • Wage theft as a felony — up to 5 years for $1,000+ in stolen wages
  • ABC test for worker classification — no misclassifying employees as contractors
  • Data center moratorium until a public-interest siting framework is in place
  • Death Star preemption repeal — local governments can set their own labor standards
  • Michigan Paid Family and Medical Leave — 12 weeks paid, all employer sizes
  • Non-compete restrictions — void for workers earning under 3x minimum wage
Funding
Shared payroll contribution for PFML — employer and employee funded
Phase 1 corporate accountability taxes on subsidized projects not meeting labor standards
Clawback enforcement on publicly supported projects — public investment requires public return
ISP assessment on revenue funds Michigan Broadband Affordability Program
Who benefits
Service workers. Gig workers. Domestic and agricultural workers now excluded from organizing protections. Parents who can't afford to take leave. Workers trapped in non-compete agreements. Every household that gains a few hours per week back from a shorter workweek. Communities that want local minimum wages above the state floor.
Coalition alignment
SEIU AFL-CIO WFP DSA Michigan United UAW
Public dollars should build public wealth — not just private profit.
GanttForMichigan.com
The problem
Michigan renters face rising costs, no equity, no stability, and no recourse when landlords sell to investors. Corporate bulk-buyers are converting neighborhoods into rental portfolios. First-time buyers are priced out by investors paying cash. Homeowners can't move without losing their property tax protections. Renters get no mortgage interest deduction equivalent despite paying as much in housing costs.
20%
renter tax deduction on rent paid — parallel to mortgage interest
PREP
Portable Renter Equity Program — build a down payment while you rent
What it does
  • Portable Renter Equity Program — monthly equity credits vested after 24 months, usable for a first home purchase
  • 20% renter income tax deduction on rent paid — up to 120% AMI, with phase-out to 140%
  • Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act — first right to buy when your landlord sells
  • Economic displacement relocation assistance — 3 months' rent when costs spike past covered thresholds
  • No rent payment fees — landlords must offer one free payment method
  • Bulk investor monitoring and anti-speculation measures for residential markets
  • Taxable value protection for homeowners who move — end of property tax lock-in
Funding
Phase 1 real estate transfer surtax on sales above $800,000 to capitalize PREP
Renter tax deduction — revenue-neutral via progressive income tax reform
Local land-value taxation authority — new anti-speculation revenue for local governments
Right to counsel program — state general fund appropriation with federal matching
Who benefits
Renters in Sterling Heights, Warren, and across Macomb County paying thousands per year with nothing to show for it. First-generation homebuyers. Long-term tenants whose buildings are sold. Families facing displacement from sudden rent spikes. Anyone who wants to build toward homeownership without already owning wealth.
Coalition alignment
WFP Michigan United SEIU DSA We The People
Renters deserve equity, stability, and a path forward.
GanttForMichigan.com
The problem
Michigan students go hungry at school. Teachers leave the profession because they can't afford to stay. Pay-to-play fees shut low-income kids out of sports and clubs. 1.4 million Michigan residents carry student loan debt. College costs money that families don't have, and credential debt follows graduates for decades. Childcare costs more than tuition in most Michigan counties.
1.4M
Michigan residents with student loan debt
$0
tuition at any Michigan public college or university under Free College Compact
What it does
  • Michigan Free College Compact — tuition-free at any Michigan public college, no income cap, part-time eligible
  • Michigan Student and Education Debt Relief Fund — acquires and discharges private student loans and institutional debt
  • Universal school meals — no more lunch debt, no child eats less because of their family's income
  • Michigan Extracurricular Access Initiative — school equipment grants, individual gear grants up to $400/year
  • Universal childcare — phased buildout beginning with highest-need communities
  • Weighted school funding formula — 40% more per pupil for low-income students
  • Discipline equity standards — ban on K-5 suspensions for nonviolent offenses
Funding
Free College: Michigan Reform Reinvestment Fund and Phase 2 Fair Share Income Tax Amendment
Student Debt Relief Fund: Michigan Opportunity Fund capitalization, endowment return
Universal school meals: federal reimbursement maximized + state general fund gap coverage
Extracurricular grants: state general fund, fully appropriated to meet all documented requests
School Aid Fund equalization: new weighted formula redistributes existing revenues more equitably
Who benefits
Every student who's been locked out of a sport, club, or trip by cost. Parents paying more for childcare than a mortgage. First-generation college students from Macomb County. Adults who left school and want to return. Teachers who can't afford to live in the districts they serve.
Coalition alignment
MEA AFT Michigan Mothering Justice WFP Michigan United
Every Michigan kid deserves a full shot at opportunity — not just the ones who can afford it.
GanttForMichigan.com
The problem
Nine bills passed by the Michigan Legislature were never transmitted to the Governor by Republican leadership. Federal agencies demand Michigan voter data without legal basis. Election officials face threats and intimidation. Workers are threatened with deportation for filing wage complaints. Data brokers sell personal information without consent. For-profit prisons profit from incarceration while conditions deteriorate.
9
bills passed but never transmitted — now before Michigan Supreme Court
Article XIV
voter data privacy — federal access demands require AG review before compliance
What it does
  • Michigan Public Integrity Commission — independent ethics enforcement body
  • Voter data privacy — federal access demands blocked without AG legal review
  • Election official protection — criminal penalties for threats and intimidation
  • Immigration coercion is a felony — using deportation threats to suppress wages or retaliation
  • Michigan Reproductive Freedom Shield — no cooperation with out-of-state prosecution of lawful healthcare
  • CLEAR Boards — community oversight of law enforcement, statewide standards
  • Universal background checks, ERPO, and safe storage — firearm safety with due process
  • For-profit prison phaseout — state ends private detention contracts within 6 months
Funding
Public Integrity Commission: state appropriations with independent budget protection
Immigration Legal Defense Fund: Phase 1 statutory revenue, ongoing state appropriation
Know Your Rights program: state general fund, multilingual outreach
Small-donor public financing: 8:1 match for contributions up to $250 from in-district donors
Prison phaseout savings reinvested in alternatives to detention and community reentry
Who benefits
Workers afraid to file a wage complaint. Voters whose registrations are threatened by database mismatches. Election workers doing their jobs under threat. Immigrants building lives in Michigan. Families with loved ones in detention. Anyone who depends on democratic institutions working as designed.
Coalition alignment
Rank MI Vote Michigan LCV WFP Rising Voices Voters Not Politicians ACLU Michigan
Democracy doesn't sustain itself. You have to defend it.
GanttForMichigan.com
The problem
Michigan's water crisis is not over. Lead service lines still connect thousands of homes. PFAS contamination from industrial sites reaches groundwater in hundreds of communities. CAFOs discharge into waterways with minimal accountability. Lower-income households pay the highest share of income for water. Flint happened because systems were designed to protect polluters, not people.
PFAS
contamination in 200+ Michigan communities — "forever chemicals" with no safe level
1%
of household income — water cost cap at or below 100% FPL
What it does
  • Constitutional right to clean water — private right of action when the state fails to protect it
  • Water Affordability Program — sliding scale rates: 1% of income at poverty level, 2.5% at 300% FPL
  • PFAS polluter pays — mandatory cleanup costs borne by responsible parties, not ratepayers
  • Lead service line replacement — mandatory timeline with state support for lower-income communities
  • CAFO discharge enforceable standards — algal bloom prevention with compliance timelines
  • Environmental Justice Office within EGLE — permanent staff, designated community designations, 35% investment standard
  • Public Water Quality Dashboard — real-time searchable data by utility and municipality
Funding
Polluter Pay enforcement — PFAS cleanup costs recovered from responsible corporations
Water Affordability Program: utility-rate restructuring, no net cost to non-subsidized ratepayers
Lead pipe replacement: federal infrastructure funds + state match + responsible party cost recovery
EJ Office: state general fund appropriation, supplemented by federal grants and cost recovery
Stormwater investment: bonding authority for combined sewer overflow infrastructure
Who benefits
Families in Flint and every community where the water isn't safe to drink. Residents near CAFOs and industrial sites downstream from PFAS discharge. Low-income households who can't afford their water bills. Rural well-water users with no public system. Every Michigander who swims in, drinks from, or relies on the Great Lakes.
Coalition alignment
Michigan LCV Clean Water Action Michigan United 314 Action WFP EGLE partners
Michigan is surrounded by 20% of the world's fresh water. Every resident deserves to drink it safely.
GanttForMichigan.com

Signature Policy Plans

Explore the detailed policy proposals that will lower costs, strengthen communities, and build a strong economy in Michigan.

A Michigan universal healthcare plan that lowers costs, guarantees coverage, and simplifies care for families.

Manufacture essential medications at cost to stop price gouging and ensure reliable access to life-saving drugs.

Build more homes, protect renters, and make it possible for working families to afford housing again.

Rebuild Michigan’s infrastructure, strengthen domestic manufacturing, and invest in energy, transportation, and water systems to create good-paying jobs and support long-term economic growth.

Expand Michigan wind and solar power to lower utility bills and create good-paying jobs.

Invest in teachers, expand childcare and preschool, provide universal school meals, and strengthen career and skilled-trade pathways so every Michigan student can succeed.

End the influence of big money in politics with public campaign financing, stronger ethics laws, transparent government, and protections for fair elections.

Replace lead pipes, enforce PFAS accountability, protect water affordability, and guarantee safe water for every Michigan resident.

Read the Full
Michigan Reform Plan

Explore the full plan, review the policy framework, and download the PDF version below.


A full governing plan to lower costs, rebuild public systems, create good jobs, and make Michigan work for working families again.

The Policy


Michigan’s Future Is Worth Fighting For

If you believe government should work for working families — not the well-connected few — join our campaign.

Together we can build a Michigan that is more affordable, more accountable, and more fair.