Michigan Law Practitioner Fellowship award notifications due from the University of Michigan Law School career office.
Sunday, June 7, 2026 — Early summer session, rate-case season, and a supplier strike on the I-94 corridor
On June 2, 2026, Consumers Energy filed a formal electric rate application seeking roughly $456 million in additional annual revenue — less than three months after the Michigan Public Service Commission approved a $276.6 million hike effective May 1. The same week, UAW Local 2093 struck a critical GM axle supplier in Three Rivers, the House passed permit-reform bills on a 57–51 vote, and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer re-established the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force under Executive Order 2026-13.
Residential customers face a proposed 9.8% increase plus a $25 million twelve-month surcharge and $52 million in storm-restoration costs over three years, per utility filings summarized in regional reporting.
Michigan Public Service Commission — Electric rate case, June 2, 2026
Consumers Energy’s application, filed the first eligible day under the twelve-month filing window, asks the MPSC to authorize a 9.8% residential electric rate increase. The utility also seeks continuation and expansion of its Investment Recovery Mechanism and additional storm-restoration funding. Attorney General Dana Nessel, who intervened in the prior case and secured a substantial reduction from the utility’s original $436 million ask, pledged to scrutinize the new filing for inflated capital projections.
The MPSC must issue a final order within ten months. Nessel’s April 6 release flagged Consumers’ filing announcement as the opening move in what she called an unsustainable cycle of rate hikes for captive customers.
ClickOnDetroit — $456M rate hike filing → Consumers Energy — rate case overview → Michigan Attorney General — rate hike announcement response →National Labor Relations Act — St. Joseph County, June 1, 2026
Members of UAW Local 2093 walked off the job at midnight June 1 when their contract with Dauch Corporation (formerly American Axle & Manufacturing) expired at the Three Rivers facility — a critical supplier for General Motors. The union filed unfair-labor-practice charges alleging the company threatened workers distributing union literature and summoned local police to remove off-duty employees from the plant entrance.
Workers who earned $29/hour in 2008 saw wages cut to $14.50 during the financial crisis; eighteen years later, the union says progression wages still have not recovered to pre-crisis levels despite a five-year wage ladder in the expired agreement.
Reporting indicates the renamed supplier did not respond to requests for comment on the strike or the ULP charges filed ahead of the May 31 contract deadline.
Executive Order 2026-13 — June 4, 2026
Whitmer signed EO 2026-13 at Edison Academy in Kalamazoo, renewing the advisory panel housed within MDHHS before its prior authorization expired. The order does not create new firearm statutes but extends data collection, stakeholder engagement, and policy recommendations building on 2023–2024 legislation covering background checks, safe storage, extreme risk protection orders, and domestic-violence firearm restrictions. Whitmer also proclaimed June 2026 as Gun Violence Awareness Month.
Public Act 17 of 2026 — Senate Bill 304, signed June 3, 2026
Whitmer signed SB 304, sponsored by Sen. John Damoose (R-Harbor Springs), authorizing the City of Mackinac Island to amend Local Act 437 of 1899 and regulate all aspects of ferry service — including parking, priority boarding, and baggage fees — if a majority of island voters approve the charter change. The law responds to disputes over fare increases after Hoffmann Marine acquired legacy ferry operators serving the island.
Mackinac Island City Council rejected higher ferry ticket rates and demanded financial disclosures from Shepler’s and Arnold Transit operators.
Whitmer signs SB 304 as Public Act 17 of 2026, granting voter-gated authority to regulate extraneous ferry fees.
Majority island voter approval required before city exercise of regulatory power; law preserves other municipalities’ existing ferry authorities.
Michigan House — Roll Call #185, June 4, 2026
Rep. Ken Borton’s (R-Gaylord) bill requires agencies that issue permits to designate employees managing permit issuance within primary subject areas while prohibiting hiring additional full-time staff solely for that function. Supporters frame the measure as expertise-driven efficiency; critics warn it could strain already backlogged environmental and licensing dockets at EGLE and LARA.
Administrative Procedures Act — House Bill 5499 of 2026
Companion legislation from Rep. Jay DeBoyer (R-Clay Township) would create a cause of action allowing permit applicants to recover monetary damages and attorney fees when a state agency denies a permit. The bill remains in the House Economic Competitiveness Committee alongside HB 5498, which cleared the chamber this week.
Administrative Procedures Act governs rulemaking and contested-case proceedings but does not provide a standalone damages remedy for permit denials absent other statutory authority.
Would amend Sec. 101 of 1969 PA 306 to authorize applicants to sue for losses resulting from permit denials, shifting risk onto agencies that reject applications.
Michigan Court of Appeals — Docket 379136, oral argument June 2, 2026
The Republican National Committee appealed a Court of Claims injunction requiring procedures for tabulating absent-voter ballots with missing or mismatched perforated stub numbers under MCL 168.768. Assistant Attorney General Erik Grill argued the Secretary of State’s long-standing guidance treats verified, sealed ballots similarly to challenge ballots, while RNC counsel contended the statute requires rejection and cure opportunities.
Statutory silence on stub mismatches means ballots must be rejected; the trial court impermissibly rewrote election law and issued a permanent injunction without adequate remedies or harm balancing.
Ballots remain in signed, verified envelopes; nothing in MCL 168.768 prohibits tabulation when voters bear no fault for manufacturing defects in stub numbering.
Michigan Court of Appeals — Maksymenko v. Consumers Energy Co., June 3, 2026
An unpublished per curiam decision in Maksymenko v. Consumers Energy Co. (MiLW No. 08-110634) reversed summary disposition, holding that when Consumers replaced a service line it undertook a duty to inspect the fuel line — and genuine issues of material fact remain on breach, causation, and standard of care. Judges Michael J. Riordan and Adrienne N. Young formed the majority; Judge Colleen A. O'Brien dissented.
Utility owed inspection duty when replacing service line.
Jury could find inadequate care during replacement and testing.
Evidence that leaks from replacement work caused explosion.
Remanded for trial on negligence elements.
Michigan Court of Appeals — People v. Hopkins, unpublished, June 2, 2026
Merrick Hopkins appealed his 5–15 year sentence for assaulting his adult daughter outside her Madison Heights home in 2022. The COA rejected his claim that the trial court improperly assumed victim harm, finding sufficient evidence of serious psychological injury from the victim’s testimony about nightmares, depression, and anxiety following the assault by her father.
The Oakland Press — Hopkins sentencing appeal →“The trial court did not assume that the victim suffered based on defendant’s conduct but instead found that the victim suffered serious psychological injury based on the victim’s testimony about the effects of that conduct on her.”
COA unpublished opinion, June 2, 2026 — Oakland Circuit Court
Executive Order 2026-11 — Follow-up: termination today
Unless extended by statute, Whitmer’s May 10 state-of-emergency declaration for Oakland County storm damage terminates today, June 7, 2026, under the Emergency Management Act (1976 PA 390). Recovery programs activated by EO 2026-11 cease unless the Governor or Legislature acts to extend the declaration.
Automatic termination date for EO 2026-11. Municipal counsel should confirm whether local disaster declarations or insurance claim deadlines remain independent of the state order.
MPSC — Rate case landscape, June 2026
Beyond the new Consumers electric filing, the MPSC continues parallel proceedings on Consumers’ natural gas rate request, DTE electric and gas cases, SEMCO Energy, and Upper Peninsula Power Company electric rates. Nessel’s office intervenes in each major case, arguing cumulative approvals since 2020 exceed $800 million for Consumers alone.
Approximate cumulative MPSC-approved annual revenue increases for Consumers Energy since 2020, per Attorney General releases and regional reporting.
Coming Up
Michigan Law Practitioner Fellowship award notifications due from the University of Michigan Law School career office.
SB 769, SB 831, and SB 909 scheduled for Senate Committee of the Whole after favorable committee reports on June 4.
EGLE virtual meeting on the Line 5 tunnel draft NPDES permit at 6:00 p.m.
Libertarian Party state convention selects attorney general nominee ahead of the November 3 general election.
Administrative comment deadline for Line 5 tunnel wastewater discharge permit.
EO 2026-4 state energy emergency and summer RVP suspension under MCL 290.650d expire unless extended.
EPA virtual public hearing on proposed PFAS drinking-water rule amendments.