Democracy Isn't an Accident. It Has to Be Defended.
Ethics reform. Election protection. Civil rights. Accountability — for real.
Michigan's democracy has held — but not because powerful interests haven't tried to break it.
We've watched election workers get threatened. We've watched certification become a political football. We've watched corporate money flood into our elections while voters get less say. We've watched federal databases get used as weapons against working people and voters alike.
The Michigan FAIR Plan is a full democracy and accountability agenda built for this moment.
It is not just about fixing ethics rules. It is about protecting the vote, protecting the people who run our elections, protecting workers from immigration threats, and making sure public institutions answer to the public — not to political pressure, corporate donors, or federal overreach.
Protecting Michigan Voters — Right Now
Some of the most urgent threats to Michigan democracy are happening today. The FAIR Plan addresses them directly with enforceable state law.
Voter Data Privacy and Federal Access Protection
The federal government has no right to weaponize Michigan's voter rolls.
The FAIR Plan establishes a voter data privacy framework that:
prohibits the state from sharing Michigan's voter registration data with federal authorities in response to demands that lack legal authority or violate constitutional rights
requires mandatory attorney general review before any compliance with a federal access demand
gives Michigan voters the right to challenge any proposed removal before it takes effect
No Michigan voter should lose their registration because of a federal database flag or political pressure from Washington.
Anti-Purge Standards
A federal database flag is not proof that someone shouldn't vote.
The FAIR Plan codifies strict anti-purge standards that:
prohibit removal of any registered voter based solely on a match, mismatch, or flag from a federal database — including DHS, DOJ, or SSA systems
require the state to independently verify any such flag before taking action
guarantee every voter notice and an opportunity to correct the record before removal
preserve the right to cast a provisional ballot during any eligibility challenge
These are not bureaucratic technicalities. They are the difference between a voter casting their ballot and being turned away at the polls.
Election Official Protection
The people who run Michigan's elections deserve to do their jobs without being threatened.
The FAIR Plan establishes enforceable criminal and civil penalties for anyone who threatens, intimidates, or retaliates against Michigan election officials.
Workers who count votes, certify results, and administer elections are public servants doing a ministerial job. Threatening them is not political speech. It is an attack on democracy.
Election Certification Protection
Certification of election results is a ministerial, nondiscretionary duty — not a political option.
The FAIR Plan makes that crystal clear under Michigan law:
canvassing boards and certification authorities must certify results that comply with applicable law — period
refusal or delay of certification without a documented, legally sufficient basis is prohibited
violations are subject to civil penalties, removal from the canvassing board, and criminal prosecution
courts have emergency jurisdiction to compel certification, remove a noncompliant board member, and appoint a special master if a board fails to act
any candidate, voter, or political party can file an emergency civil action to enforce certification
If you obstruct Michigan's certification process, you face immediate legal consequences.
Mandatory Bill Transmission
Passing a law means nothing if legislative leadership can just refuse to send it to the Governor.
Michigan watched nine bills — including worker protections that had already passed both chambers — get held up for political reasons in defiance of two court rulings.
The FAIR Plan ends that:
enrolled bills must be transmitted to the Governor within 5 business days of enrollment
deliberate withholding is prohibited — no political conditions, no leverage games
courts have emergency jurisdiction to compel transmission
a presiding officer who willfully delays transmission faces civil penalties, removal from leadership duties, and disqualification from serving as presiding officer again
The Policy
Michigan will protect voter registration data from unauthorized federal access and require independent verification before any voter is removed from the rolls.
The Policy
A federal database flag alone cannot remove a Michigan voter from the rolls. The state must independently verify and give voters notice before any removal takes effect.
The Policy
Threatening Michigan election workers is a crime under state law, with both criminal prosecution and civil enforcement available.
The Policy
Obstructing Michigan's election certification process is a crime. Courts have emergency jurisdiction to compel certification and remove noncompliant officials immediately.
The Policy
Enrolled bills must be transmitted to the Governor within 5 business days. Deliberate withholding is a violation with real consequences — including emergency court action.
Stopping Corporate Money from Buying Michigan Politics
Big money has too much influence over Michigan's elections and government. The FAIR Plan changes that with two distinct tools.
Small-Donor Public Financing
Michigan will establish a voluntary small-donor public financing program for covered elections.
Candidates who choose to participate — and qualify through a threshold of small-dollar contributions from real constituents — receive matching public funds.
This shifts power from large donors and PACs toward ordinary residents who give small amounts. It makes running a serious campaign possible without being beholden to corporate fundraisers.
Corporate Charter Political Spending Prohibition
Michigan corporations exist because Michigan gave them a charter. That charter does not come with the right to spend unlimited money on elections.
The FAIR Plan exercises Michigan's authority as the state that creates corporations to prohibit artificial persons — corporations, LLCs, nonprofits, and other entities — from making election expenditures or ballot issue activity, directly or through political intermediaries.
applies to all entities organized under Michigan law and all entities registered to do business in Michigan
existing charters are deemed amended to conform — there is no grandfather provision
anonymous pass-through arrangements that use an entity to obscure a natural person's political spending are also prohibited
the attorney general has civil enforcement authority
any registered Michigan voter can bring a private right of action for declaratory and injunctive relief
This is not about limiting what people can spend on politics. Natural persons retain full rights under Michigan campaign finance law. This is about closing the loophole that lets artificial entities created by state law spend unlimited money to influence the state's elections.
Real-Time Campaign Finance Disclosure
Michigan will modernize campaign-finance reporting so voters can see who is funding campaigns — before election day, not after.
Key reforms include:
real-time or near-real-time digital filing of campaign contributions and expenditures
stronger transparency requirements for major independent expenditures
beneficial ownership disclosure for entities making covered political expenditures
improved public search tools so any voter can look up who is funding any race
Dark money has no place in Michigan's elections.
The Policy
A voluntary small-donor public financing program will allow candidates to run competitive campaigns supported by real residents rather than major donors.
The Policy
Michigan will use its chartering authority to prohibit corporations, LLCs, and other artificial persons from spending money on elections or ballot issues — with enforcement by the attorney general and a private right of action for registered voters.
The Policy
Michigan will require real-time disclosure of campaign contributions and beneficial ownership disclosure for political spending.
A Public Integrity Commission With Real Power
Michigan ranks among the worst states in the country for government ethics and transparency.
The FAIR Plan fixes that by creating the Michigan Public Integrity Commission — an independent statewide ethics and integrity enforcement body with real authority.
The commission will have jurisdiction over:
public ethics violations
campaign-finance compliance
lobbying-disclosure compliance
procurement-related integrity issues
conflicts of interest
It will have the power to investigate, issue subpoenas, impose civil penalties, and publish public reports — and it will be structured to resist partisan manipulation and maintain independence across administrations.
Funding protections are built into the legislation so the commission cannot be defunded in retaliation for inconvenient investigations.
The Policy
An independent Michigan Public Integrity Commission will investigate ethics violations, enforce lobbying and campaign-finance laws, and publish public accountability reports — with independent funding protections.
Protecting Workers from Immigration Coercion
No employer, landlord, or labor contractor should be able to use immigration status as a weapon against workers.
The FAIR Plan establishes a comprehensive prohibition on using immigration-status threats to:
conceal or avoid accountability for wage theft, labor violations, or safety violations
coerce continued labor or silence a complaint
retaliate against a worker who asserted their rights, reported unsafe conditions, or tried to organize
intimidate anyone from contacting a court, agency, union, legal provider, or community organization
Knowing, coercive violations are a criminal offense — with felony classifications available for aggravated cases involving multiple workers, minors, forced labor, or retaliation after a complaint.
No waiver, contract term, or arbitration clause can override these protections. This section is construed broadly to protect day laborers, domestic workers, farmworkers, temporary workers, and mixed-status families.
A civil right of action is also available for constitutional violations committed during civil immigration enforcement activity — including actual damages, punitive damages where violations are willful, and attorney fees.
The Policy
Using immigration-status threats to coerce workers, suppress wages, or retaliate against organizing is prohibited — and can be prosecuted as a felony. A civil right of action is available for constitutional violations during immigration enforcement.
Civil Rights and
Community Protections
Non-Cooperation with Federal Immigration Enforcement
Except as narrowly permitted by law, Michigan state and local agencies will not:
participate in or assist federal civil immigration enforcement operations
share nonpublic data with federal immigration authorities for enforcement purposes
provide detention support for civil immigration operations
join operations targeting sensitive locations — schools, hospitals, places of worship, courthouses, shelters, childcare centers, libraries, public assistance offices
The narrow exception allows cooperation only for individuals already lawfully in state custody who have been convicted of a violent felony.
No neighborhood sweeps. No enforcement at sensitive locations. No state resources used against communities going about their daily lives.
If Someone Claims Enforcement Authority — They Have to Identify Themselves
Michigan residents have the right to know who is exercising coercive authority over them.
The FAIR Plan requires:
any law enforcement or enforcement officer conducting detention, arrest, search, transport, or enforcement activity to display visible identification and agency insignia
officers to verbally identify their employing agency upon request
officers to wear and activate body cameras during covered enforcement activity
prohibition on routine use of masks or face coverings that prevent identification
Impersonating law enforcement while conducting a detention, arrest, or home entry is a felony. Conducting enforcement activity while intentionally failing to display required identification is also a felony.
Residents are not deemed to consent to detention based solely on the word of someone who fails to identify themselves.
For-Profit Prisons — Out
Incarcerating people for profit is wrong.
The FAIR Plan immediately bans new for-profit prison and detention contracts and phases out existing use within six months, with a transition plan that protects safety, medical continuity, and legal access during the transition.
A new Detention Conditions Oversight Body will have authority to conduct announced and unannounced inspections, require corrective action, and recommend emergency closure for unsafe facilities.
Minimum detention condition standards are established in statute — covering sanitation, food, water, medical care, mental health access, climate control, and protections for minors, pregnant people, and vulnerable detainees.
Facilities with serious, repeated violations are prioritized for immediate removal from state use.
CLEAR Boards — Community Oversight of Law Enforcement
The FAIR Plan establishes and supports Community Law Enforcement Accountability and Review (CLEAR) Boards statewide — independent oversight structures with real investigative authority, including subpoena power where authorized by law, disciplinary review capacity, and public reporting requirements.
The state will provide grants, technical assistance, and baseline operating standards so CLEAR Boards can function effectively in every community.
Privacy, Surveillance, and Algorithmic Accountability
The state will establish a Data Rights Enforcement Agency to protect residents from data misuse, unlawful surveillance, and unaccountable algorithmic decision-making.
A Public-Interest Technology Review Board will review high-risk government technology procurement — including surveillance systems, biometric systems, predictive tools, and AI-assisted decision systems — before they are deployed.
Facial recognition use in high-risk contexts — detention facilities, public protests, schools, benefits systems — will be prohibited, restricted, or tightly conditioned under law.
Algorithmic pricing based on surveillance data, behavioral profiling, or protected-class proxies will be restricted.
The Policy
Michigan state and local agencies will not assist federal civil immigration enforcement operations, with a narrow exception for violent felons already in custody.
The Policy
Officers exercising enforcement authority must be identifiable. Impersonating law enforcement or conducting enforcement while hiding your identity is a felony. Residents have the right to request identification and seek help.
The Policy
Michigan will ban new for-profit prison and detention contracts and phase out existing use within six months, with statutory minimum conditions and an independent oversight body.
The Policy
CLEAR Boards will give communities real, independent oversight of law enforcement — with investigative authority, subpoena power, and public reporting.
The Policy
A Data Rights Enforcement Agency and Public-Interest Technology Review Board will protect residents from surveillance abuse and unaccountable government technology.
Restoring Local Power
Death Star Preemption Repeal
In 2015, the Snyder administration stripped Michigan cities and counties of the authority to set stronger local worker protections. The result: local governments cannot raise the local minimum wage, establish paid sick leave requirements, or set labor peace standards — even if their residents vote for it.
The FAIR Plan repeals Public Act 149 of 2015 in full and restores local labor standards authority.
Cities and counties may again adopt and enforce:
local minimum wage or living wage floors above the state minimum
paid sick leave or paid family leave requirements
fair scheduling and predictive scheduling standards
labor peace requirements for publicly supported development
responsible contractor standards for local contracts
anti-retaliation protections for workers who assert their rights
Local governments cannot go below state minimums — but they can go further.
The Policy
Public Act 149 of 2015 — the law that stripped Michigan cities and counties of authority to enact stronger local worker protections — is repealed. Local governments may again set higher wage floors, paid leave requirements, and labor peace standards.
Michigan Consumer Financial Protection Agency
At the federal level, consumer financial protection has been weakened. Michigan won't wait.
The FAIR Plan establishes the Michigan Consumer Financial Protection and Accountability Agency — an independent state agency with real enforcement authority over predatory financial practices.
The agency will have jurisdiction over:
payday loans, auto title loans, rent-to-own arrangements, and buy-now-pay-later products
debt collection practices
utility billing disputes and deceptive billing by regulated utilities
insurance bad faith and discriminatory underwriting
credit reporting and data broker practices
mortgage servicing and foreclosure practices
student loan servicing
deceptive corporate practices targeting Michigan consumers
It will have authority to examine covered entities, issue subpoenas, promulgate rules, bring civil enforcement actions, impose civil penalties scaled to revenue, and order restitution to harmed Michigan consumers.
Any Michigan consumer harmed by a violation may bring a private right of action for actual damages, statutory damages, injunctive relief, and attorney fees.
The agency is independent from the Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services — and its director can only be removed for cause.
The Policy
The Michigan Consumer Financial Protection Agency will protect Michigan consumers from predatory lenders, debt collectors, and insurance bad faith — with independent enforcement authority and a private right of action for harmed consumers.
Making Democracy
Work for Everyone
Ranked-Choice Voting
Michigan will implement ranked-choice voting in state legislative and congressional primaries — with phased rollout, voter education, and independent evaluation before any expansion to general elections.
Ranked-choice voting reduces negative campaigning, rewards candidates who build broad coalitions, and prevents the spoiler problem that distorts election results.
Expanded Voting Access
Michigan will strengthen voting access through:
expanded early voting
improved ballot-processing capacity
modernized local election administration
no-fee voting identification for any resident who needs it
improved ballot access and petition rules for candidates
State Guard election protection framework to support logistics and safety during high-risk elections
Public Records, Open Meetings, and Whistleblower Protection
Michigan will modernize public records and open meetings laws — with machine-readable data, faster response timelines, lower fee barriers, and automatic public posting of enforcement orders and corrective actions.
A consolidated public complaint portal will allow any resident to submit, route, and track complaints across ethics, civil rights, voting, privacy, and detention systems.
Whistleblowers who report misconduct, corruption, rights violations, or fraud will receive expanded protections — including anti-retaliation enforcement and attorney fee awards.
Ranked-choice voting will be implemented in state primaries — giving voters more choices and reducing toxic negative campaigning.
The Policy
What Changes
Today
Big corporations can spend unlimited money on Michigan elections
Cities and counties are blocked from stronger local worker protections
Federal agencies can demand Michigan voter rolls without adequate review
Election workers can be threatened without clear state-law criminal penalties
Enrolled bills can be held indefinitely by legislative leadership
Predatory lenders face no independent state enforcement agency
For-profit detention contracts continue without phase-out
Enforcement officers can act without identifying themselves or displaying agency insignia
Under the FAIR Plan
Corporations cannot spend money on Michigan elections — charter prohibition with private right of action
Local governments may again set stronger wage floors, paid leave, and labor standards
Federal voter data demands trigger mandatory attorney general review before any compliance
Threatening election workers is a state crime with criminal and civil penalties
Enrolled bills must be transmitted within 5 business days — courts can compel it
Independent Consumer Financial Protection Agency with civil enforcement and restitution authority
For-profit detention banned immediately; existing use phased out within six months
Officers must display ID and wear body cameras; impersonation is a felony
Democracy works best when people trust it.
A fair system gives every Michigan resident a real voice.
The FAIR Plan will make Michigan the most transparent, accountable, and citizen-centered state government in America — proving that democracy can be modern, trustworthy, and effective.
Implementation
Michigan will implement the FAIR Plan in phases, but the first phase should be ambitious.
The goal of the initial omnibus is to deliver visible democratic reforms early — not years from now. That means combining ethics enforcement, campaign finance reform, election modernization, civil-rights protections, police accountability, and public transparency into one coordinated first move.
The first phase focuses on the fastest wins: creating real independent oversight, reducing the influence of big money, improving voter access and election administration, and establishing stronger protections for civil rights, privacy, and public accountability.
Later phases expand participation, deepen enforcement capacity, modernize public transparency systems, and evaluate broader structural reforms such as future ranked-choice voting expansion.
The purpose is simple: restore trust, protect rights, and make government more accountable to the people it serves.
Restore trust, reduce big-money influence, protect civil rights, and make Michigan government more open, fair, and accountable.
The Policy
The FAIR Plan is designed to deliver the most urgent reforms first.
First wave:
• Michigan Public Integrity Commission created with independent funding protection
• small-donor public financing launched
• voter data privacy and anti-purge protections in force
• election official protection and certification protection enacted
• mandatory bill transmission with 5-day deadline and court enforcement
• immigration coercion prohibition effective — civil and criminal enforcement
• for-profit prison ban immediate; phase-out planning begins
• CLEAR Board standards and funding established
• anonymous enforcement prohibition and identification requirements effective
• corporate charter political spending prohibition in force
• Consumer Financial Protection Agency established
• Death Star preemption repeal effective — local labor standards authority restored
• consolidated complaint portal launched
Later phases:
• ranked-choice voting implementation
• deeper public transparency modernization
• long-term democratic access and accountability measures
• facial recognition restrictions scaled to high-risk contexts
• surveillance pricing and algorithmic pricing enforcement expanded
How the FAIR Plan Fits into
the Michigan Reform Plan
Democracy reform is not separate from economic reform.
Stronger ethics laws reduce corruption in procurement and contracting. Campaign finance reform reduces the ability of corporate donors to block economic legislation. Voting protections ensure that all communities — not just well-organized, well-funded ones — have equal power to hold government accountable.
Death Star preemption repeal reinforces the Industrial Renewal Plan by letting local governments set stronger labor standards alongside state standards. The Consumer Financial Protection Agency directly supports housing and healthcare affordability by holding predatory lenders, insurance companies, and debt collectors accountable at the state level.
In the Michigan Reform Plan, the FAIR Plan is the accountability layer that makes everything else harder to corrupt.
Make Michigan government more transparent, more accountable, and more responsive to the people.
The Policy
Legislative Package
The Michigan FAIR Plan would be implemented through a coordinated legislative package.
Key provisions include:
• independent Michigan Public Integrity Commission with subpoena authority and independent funding
• small-donor public financing for state elections
• corporate charter political spending prohibition with voter enforcement rights
• real-time campaign finance and beneficial ownership disclosure
• voter data privacy and mandatory anti-purge standards
• election official protection — criminal and civil penalties
• election certification protection — felony obstruction, emergency court jurisdiction
• mandatory 5-business-day bill transmission with court enforcement
• Michigan Consumer Financial Protection and Accountability Agency
• Death Star preemption repeal — local labor standards authority restored
• immigration coercion felony and civil right of action
• non-cooperation with civil immigration enforcement
• officer identification, body camera, and anti-mask requirements
• felony impersonation and anonymous enforcement prohibition
• ranked-choice voting in state primaries
• no-fee voting identification
• for-profit prison and detention ban and phase-out
• minimum detention condition standards and oversight body
• CLEAR Boards with investigative authority
• Data Rights Enforcement Agency and Public-Interest Technology Review Board
• public records modernization and consolidated complaint portal
• whistleblower protection expansion
Policy Details
For readers interested in the full legislative framework, the proposed statutory language for this policy is available below.
These documents outline how the proposal could be implemented in Michigan law and provide a more detailed view of the policy design.
The policy frameworks will continue to be refined with input from policy experts, healthcare providers, educators, and community leaders across Michigan.
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Accountable Government to Michigan
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