On Wednesday, December 13, the Michigan Civil Rights Commission gathered with partners from around the state for a 60th Anniversary commemoration. Created along with the state constitution in 1963, the Commission has been on the forefront of civil rights protections since its founding.

“We owe it to every person who has marched or struggled over the last 60 years to continue the fight,” said Commission Chair Portia Roberson. “In this time when it is sometimes controversial to even accurately portray historical events, it is all the more critical that we come together to acknowledge this anniversary.”

(Image is MCRC 60th Anniversary logo)

History of the Creation of the Michigan Civil Rights Commission

In 1961 and 1962, the Michigan Constitutional Convention, a bipartisan elected body, led an effort to revise the state’s governmental framework document. Its members were elected from state House and Senate districts. On December 5, 1961, Detroit delegates Lillian Hatcher, Daisy Elliott and Coleman A. Young submitted Proposal No. 1522 and 1523 to their convention colleagues.

Proposal No.1522 provided for a Civil Rights Commission with “enforcement powers to eliminate discrimination and segregation based on race, religion, color, national origin or ancestry in employment, housing, education, public accommodations and other such rights, privileges or immunities as are guaranteed under this Constitution.”

Proposal No.1523 prescribed how the Commission should be constituted and the procedures that it was to follow in exercising its authority.

Both proposals were later adopted by the 144-member body, approved by state voters on April 1, 1963, and became a significant set of provisions included in the revised Michigan Constitution. The members of the first Michigan Civil Rights Commission began their work in 1964.

As part of the ceremony, the Commission recognized four individuals and one organization for their contributions to civil rights in Michigan.

View photos from the event!

(Image is Commission Chair Roberson addressing a room full of people sitting at tables.)

Fair Housing Hearings

The Michigan Civil Rights Commission is seeking public testimony about experiences with discrimination in housing. If you have experienced discrimination in buying, renting, home loans, or credit rating processes, this is YOUR chance to be heard! The Commission will use this testimony to create a list of recommendations for securing fair housing in Michigan.

Virtual Fair Housing Hearing

Date: February 7, 2024

Time: 4:00 PM - 7:00 PM

Where: Online

Flint Fair Housing Hearing

Date: March 16, 2024

Time: 4:00 PM - 7:00 PM

Where: Mott Community College Event Center

Address: 1401 E Court St, Event Center, Flint, MI 48503

Grand Rapids Fair Housing Hearing

Date: April 28, 2024

Time: 4:00 PM - 7:00 PM

Where: Center for Community Transformation

Address: 1530 Madison Ave SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49507

Civil Rights Summit on Fair Housing

Date: June 12, 2024

Time: 8:30 AM - 4:00 PM

Where: The Icon 

Address: 200 Walker St, Detroit, MI 48226

(Image is a row of family houses.)

On November 21, Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed legislation improving access to abortion in Livonia.

“The Reproductive Health Act lowers costs for patients and providers and protects every Michigander’s constitutional right to make their own decisions about their own body,” said Governor Whitmer. “For decades, Michigan has had politically motivated, medically unnecessary restrictions on abortion in state law. These politically motivated, medically unnecessary laws criminalized doctors for providing medical care, jacked up out-of-pocket costs for patients, and imposed needless regulations on health centers, forcing many to close. The RHA repeals these laws, taking a huge step forward to expand access to health care and protect people’s personal freedoms.”

Health insurers will now be required to cover all pregnancy-related health care, including abortion.

On December 11, Governor Whitmer signed the final bill in the Reproductive Health Act, House Bill 4949, which repeals the health insurance restrictions in addition to other reforms. The package altogether removes some Targeted Regulations of Abortion Providers, commonly known as TRAP laws, among other measures.

One TRAP law repealed was the Abortion Insurance Opt-Out Act, which requires the purchase of coverage for elective abortion in a health care plan to be optional only with an additional premium and required notice to employees for whom elective abortion coverage is purchased by their employer.

(Image is a picture of Governor Whitmer standing behind a podium with the sign "Reproductive Freedom.)

On December 18, Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed Executive Directive 2023-6 that expands access to voting information. The executive directive requires state departments to adopt “Voting Information Best Practices” that ensure Michiganders can easily access voter information from state departments.  

The Governor’s directive updates the list of designated voter registration agencies. This list includes, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Saginaw Medical Center, Detroit Medical Center, and Detroit Regional Office as voter registration agencies who will help veterans register to vote. 

(Image is a picture of Governor Whitmer.)

The new Michigan voting rights bills have additional significance in light of threats to the Voting Rights Act by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit ruling in Arkansas State Conf. NAACP v. Arkansas Bd. of Apportionment. The split decision ( 2–1 ) in a case that challenged Arkansas’s legislative maps held that no private citizens or citizen groups can bring lawsuits under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.  

The jurisdiction of the Eight Circuit Court is Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota. The case will likely be appealed to the US Supreme Court.  

In 2013 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Shelby County v. Holder that some states and counties with a history of racial discrimination no longer had to get "preclearance" approval from the Justice Department or a federal court of three judges before changing any election rules or districts. The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act will update the formula to require preclearance for 10 years for any state that the U.S. Attorney General determines has in the past 25 years had at least 15 voting rights violations committed by localities within the state, or at least 10 violations including one by the state itself. Counties with three or more violations would also be covered. 

The John Lewis bill also addresses the 2021 decision in Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee that makes it more difficult to challenge racial discrimination with Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. 

The bill would codify factors that courts would have to consider in claims of vote denial. It specifies that an election rule that is intended to help a political party would violate Section 2 if it is also intended to dilute the power of voters of color or make it harder for them to "... cast a ballot that will be counted." 

(Image is a picture of a sign with the text "Get a piece of the action. Register now to vote.)

Lt. Governor Garlin Gilchrist signed a bipartisan juvenile justice legislation package on December 12 that invests in diversion and re-entry to transform Michigan’s juvenile justice system.

The legislative package, which includes HB 4625, HB 4626, HB 4636, and others, focus on screening tools, reduced costs for families, and renames the Office of the Children’s Ombudsman to the Office of the Child Advocate. Bills like HB 4633 HB 4633 and SB 0425 address trying juveniles as adults and ensure legal representation for indigent youth for appeals.

The reform package implements recommendations of the Michigan Task Force on Juvenile Justice Reform. Sponsors of the package were: Sen. Stephanie Chang, Sen. Jeff Irwin, Sen. Sylvia Santana, Sen. Veronica Klinefelt, Sen. Roger Victory, Sen. Dayna Polehanki, Sen. John Damoose, Sen. Sue Shink, Sen. Paul Wojno, Rep. Kelly Breen, Rep. Brenda Carter, Rep. Kara Hope, Rep. Felicia Brabec, and Rep. Amos O’Neal, Rep. Emily Dievendorf, Rep. Carol Glanville, Rep. Kimberly Edwards, Rep. Sarah Lightner, Rep. Jimmy Wilson, and Rep. Donavan McKinney.  

(Image is a picture of Lt. Governor Gilchrist sitting at a table signing legislation as people watch.)

On November 30, Governor Whitmer signed a historic package of legislation in Detroit to further protect the right to vote. 

“Today, we are expanding voting rights and strengthening our democracy,” said Governor  Whitmer. “Michiganders spoke clearly last year when they overwhelmingly passed Proposal 2, and now we are building on that effort. By banning deepfakes and AI in campaign advertisements, criminalizing violence towards election workers, and allowing souls to get to the polls, we are making sure every Michigander’s vote is cast and counted.”

Provisions of the New Laws

• Prohibits intimidating election officials and provides sentencing guidelines for persons intimidating election officials. HB 4129
• Allows 16-year-olds to pre-register to vote. HB 4569
• Requires three appointed election inspectors per early voting site and other measures to enhance security and the process of tabulating votes. HB 4695
• Sets restrictions for automatic voter registration via other Secretary of State (SOS) services. HB 4569
• Provides a defense for people who vote or attempt to vote when not eligible, if they became registered to vote through another SOS service. HB 4983
• Specifies that sections on an application for an operator's or chauffeur's license pertaining to US citizenship and whether the applicant declined automatic voter registration could only be used for automatic voter registration transactions. HB 4984
• Provides for official State personal identification cards, to specify that sections on an application for an official State personal identification card pertaining to United States citizenship and whether the applicant declined automatic voter registration could only be used for automatic voter registration transactions. HB 4985
• Deletes a provision that an application for an enhanced driver's license or enhanced official State personal identification card must allow the applicant to indicate that the applicant declines to use the application as a voter registration application. HB 4986
• Prohibits the use of AI (artificial intelligence) generated “deepfake” ads within 90 days of an election without full disclosure that ad was manipulated. HB 5141
• Defines artificial intelligence (AI) as a machine-based system that can make predictions, recommendations, or decisions influencing real or virtual environments for a given set of human-defined objectives and that uses machine and human-based inputs to do the following:
  • Perceive real and virtual environments, abstract such perceptions into models through analysis in an automated manner, or use model inference to formulate options for information or action. HB 5143

• Prohibits a person from distributing or entering into an agreement with another person to distribute, materially deceptive media under certain circumstances and provides for penalties and victim relief. HB 5144
• Allows electronically submitted precinct election inspector applications. SB 385
• Prescribes a Class E felony against a person for a third or subsequent offense of intimidating an election official or preventing an election official from performing the election official's duties. The felony would have a statutory maximum sentence of five years' imprisonment. SB 505
• Modifies canvassing and certification results. SB 529
• Prohibits county clerks from having any role in election audits if that clerk were an officer or member of the governing body of a national, State, or local political party, or was a precinct delegate of a political party. Instead, the county clerk would have to appoint a designee to conduct any election audit in that county. A designee could not be an officer, member, or precinct delegate of the governing body of a national, State, or local political party. SB 570
• Allows presidential or vice-presidential candidates who were aggrieved by an error in the Board of State Canvassers' (Board) certification or determination of the election to seek judicial review in the Michigan Supreme Court. SB 590
• Prohibits private persons from bringing a challenge of applicable authority that related to the offices of presidential and vice-presidential electors. SB 591
• Makes online absentee voter applications easier. SB 594

(Images are of Governor Whitmer sitting at a table and standing before a podium as people stand behind her.)

On December 1, 2023, while acting as governor, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson signed a bill improving election efficiency and protecting equal access to the ballot.

House Bill 4570 amends Michigan election law to require the Secretary of State to maintain a web portal that allows qualified and registered electors to request an absent voter ballot.

The Michigan Constitution provides for an acting governor, including the authority to sign legislation, in the event the governor and lieutenant governor are away for business. Benson is the third Secretary of State in the last 35 years to sign legislation related to elections. Secretary Richard Austin signed a bill as acting governor in 1988 and Secretary Ruth Johnson signed legislation as acting governor in 2013. 

(Image is a picture of Secretary of State Benson sitting at a table signing legislation with a smile.)