Executive Order 2026-4 — April 2, 2026 — Spring thaw, prices surging
Tariffs and turmoil in global oil markets sent Michigan’s average gasoline price to about $3.89 per gallon — roughly thirty percent above where it sat a month earlier. Governor Whitmer declared an energy emergency and aligned Michigan with a federal EPA waiver so cheaper, higher vapor-pressure blends can stay in the eight-county southeast ozone zone through the usual May 1 switch. It is regulatory triage at the pump: not a substitute for budget or trade policy, but a lever the Governor can pull tonight.
Governor — Energy Emergency — Southeast Michigan Air Quality Zone
Executive Order 2026-4 declares an energy emergency and suspends, for the listed counties, the May 1 requirement that retailers sell lower vapor-pressure gasoline during ozone season. The Governor’s office framed the move as temporary pump relief: winter-blend style gasoline is typically cheaper, often cited in the ten-to-twenty-cent range per gallon, while federal and state agencies monitor air quality impacts.
Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Washtenaw, Livingston, Monroe, St. Clair, and Lenawee counties are named in the order — home to roughly half of Michigan drivers. The action follows a temporary EPA waiver on federal vapor-pressure limits; Michigan law still needed a state-level match so suppliers and retailers are not caught between regimes.
For practitioners, the episode is a case study in overlapping federal environmental waivers, state emergency powers, and MDARD enforcement of motor-fuel standards. Consumers with pricing concerns are directed to MDARD’s fuel hotline.
ClickOnDetroit — Executive Order 2026-4 coverage →Michigan Supreme Court — March 25, 2026 — Four Dispositive Lines
The Court denied leave and cross-application in a parentage-revocation dispute where the plaintiff alleged non-consensual penetration by a former teacher. The Court of Appeals had addressed statutory interpretation; the Supreme Court declined further review.
Justices Thomas and Welch would have taken the case to resolve whether Michigan law imposes a time limitation on revoking an acknowledgment of parentage and how that period can be extended.
The Court vacated its October 2025 order setting oral argument on leave, then remanded to Macomb County Circuit Court with instructions to vacate attorney fees assessed against the defendant under a party stipulation.
Unanimous reversal: under MCL 500.3113(a), the dispositive question for PIP exclusion is whether the vehicle was unlawfully taken and whether the claimant knew or should have known — not merely whether it was operated without a valid license.
Unanimous reversal: when an agency declines a declaratory ruling under the APA, the requester need not pursue the APA petition-for-review route — a declaratory-judgment action in circuit court remains available.
No-Fault Insurance — MCL 500.3113(a)
Auto no-fault litigation turns on dense statutory exclusions. The Supreme Court held the Court of Appeals used the wrong test for barring personal protection insurance benefits when a claimant drives another person’s vehicle without a valid license.
Focus on whether the vehicle was merely operated unlawfully — here, without a valid license — and treat that as enough to trigger the exclusion.
The statute asks whether the vehicle was taken unlawfully and whether the claimant knew or should have known of that unlawful taking. The case returns to the Court of Appeals to apply the correct factual inquiry.
MCL 500.3113(a) — “unlawfully taken” standard
Administrative Procedures Act — Declaratory Rulings
School districts fighting over boundary and property-tax disputes often want an agency declaration before investing in litigation. When Michigan agencies refuse to issue a requested declaratory ruling, must litigants march through the APA’s petition-for-review process?
“When a state agency declines to issue a requested declaratory ruling under the Administrative Procedures Act, the requesting party is not required to appeal that refusal through the APA’s petition-for-review process.”MSC — Warren Consolidated v. Hazel Park (MiLW synopsis)
The Court remanded to Macomb County Circuit Court. For public bodies and regulated entities, the holding clarifies that a declaratory-judgment suit can sit alongside — not behind — the APA’s administrative track.
MiLW — Warren Consolidated holding →Public Act 6 of 2026 — HB 5455 — Signed March 26
Last week’s edition tracked a chamber standoff that threatened Michigan’s participation in the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact. This week the story has a statutory ending: Governor Whitmer signed House Bill 5455, now Public Act 6 of 2026, ahead of the March 28 deadline that would have interrupted compact authority.
Hospitals, particularly in rural and border communities, had warned that losing the compact would stall recruitment for psychiatry, emergency medicine, OB, and primary care. The MHA credited bipartisan urgency for clearing the bill before the sunset clock hit zero.
Michigan Health & Hospital Association — PA 6 signing →Federal Court — District of Massachusetts — April 3, 2026
Attorney General Dana Nessel joined twenty-four attorneys general and governors suing over a March 31 executive order that, according to the complaint, would federalize pieces of election administration — including directing USPS treatment of absentee ballots and building a federal eligibility list.
Multistate Litigation — USDA Funding Conditions — March 23, 2026
Michigan alleges USDA imposed sweeping new funding conditions effective December 31, 2025, touching school nutrition, SNAP, WIC, TEFAP, and rural programs — with penalties for states that do not attest to compliance with vague federal policy demands.
Michigan Court of Appeals — Unpublished — March 25, 2026
The Court of Appeals vacated a multimillion-dollar judgment after a garbage-truck passing maneuver on a rural road ended with catastrophic injuries and no eyewitness to the precise mechanism of harm. The majority held plaintiffs invited the jury to speculate.
Even assuming negligence in crossing the yellow line, the panel wrote, the record lacked proof that the crossing caused the injury as opposed to other plausible explanations. No physical evidence tied the trailer to the plaintiff’s body; experts could not conclude how contact occurred.
Judge Patel, dissenting: but-for causation could be inferred from the dangerous pass combined with testimony that the trailer “rattled” as it passed — enough for a jury verdict to stand.
Commercial Real Estate Broker’s Lien Act — MCL 570.581 et seq.
Berrien County litigation tested whether a broker’s lien is void unless it names the record owner of the hotel property. The trial court struck the lien; the Court of Appeals vacated that piece of the order.
MDARD — Agricultural Science — March 24, 2026
Spring runoff season makes PFAS migration a live issue for watersheds and food systems. MDARD announced a first-in-the-nation style research grant program focused on how per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances move through soil, crops, and livestock — and how producers can mitigate contamination.
Letters of intent are due April 20, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. ET; invited full proposals follow by June 1. At least one principal investigator must be based at a Michigan college or university, and no institutional match is required.
Continuum of Care — First Circuit — April 1, 2026
Attorney General Nessel’s office announced a federal appeals victory preserving a district court injunction blocking HUD from restructuring Continuum of Care homelessness funding in ways Michigan argued would destabilize housing for thousands of households. The First Circuit declined to stay the injunction; national outlets described the program as the largest federal stream for homelessness assistance.
U.S. Court of International Trade — No. 1:26-cv-01472
This edition shifts from March’s filing headlines to the calendar: oral arguments are set for April 10, 2026 in the states’ challenge to tariffs imposed under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974. Michigan remains exposed as a manufacturing and border-trade state; supply-chain counsel are watching for any signal on preliminary relief or statutory interpretation.
The coalition’s theory — that Section 122 requires a “large and serious balance-of-payments deficit,” not merely a goods trade deficit — will be tested publicly for the first time this cycle. A decision on preliminary relief could move markets for steel, aluminum, and automotive inputs within days of the hearing.
Coming Up