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HB 5091

Public employees and officers: ethics; reporting requirements for certain elected officials; provide for. Amends sec. 3 of 2023 PA 281 (MCL 15.703).

2025-2026 Regular Session Introduced by Ken Borton and 3 co-sponsors

HB 5091 standardizes definitions in the Public Officers Financial Disclosure Act and adds county officials in populous counties to who must file disclosures.

placed on third reading
#localgovernment:employeesandofficers #publicemployeesandofficers:ethics
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Bill Summary · HB 5091

Summary — HB 5091 (House Introduced Bill)

Status: Introduced October 2, 2025; bill electronically reproduced 10/02/2025.
Introduced by: Reps. Donni Steele, Tisdel, Kuhn, and Borton.
Subject: Amendments to the Public Officers Financial Disclosure Act (2023 PA 281) — changes to definitions in section 3 (MCL 15.703).

Purpose

HB 5091 updates and clarifies the statutory definitions used in the Public Officers Financial Disclosure Act (2023 PA 281). The primary intent is to standardize terms used in financial disclosure reporting for certain public officers and to specify which local officials are included under the act.

Key provisions / changes

The bill amends section 3 (MCL 15.703) to define or clarify the following terms:

  • Blind trust: Defined by reference to federal regulation (qualified blind trust / qualified diversified trust per 5 CFR 2634.403).
  • Consumer Price Index: Identified as the most comprehensive CPI for the Detroit–Warren–Dearborn area from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
  • Department: Defined as the Michigan Department of State.
  • Earned income: Includes salaries, wages, tips, bonuses, commissions, and other employment compensation earned during the reporting period.
  • Form: The financial disclosure form provided under section 6 and published by the department under section 11.
  • Gift: Any item reportable by a lobbyist or lobbyist agent under 1978 PA 472 (MCL 4.411–4.431).
  • Honorarium: Defined by reference to the Michigan Campaign Finance Act (1976 PA 388, MCL 169.207).
  • Liabilities: Defined broadly as obligations owed (includes mortgages and debts), with explicit exclusions: revolving debts, unsecured debts from a financial institution or the federal government, and debts owed by a business entity.
  • Lobbyist / Lobbyist agent: Defined by reference to 1978 PA 472.
  • Public officer: Enumerates covered officers — state representatives, state senators, attorney general, governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, plus county commissioners and county executives of counties with population over 150,000 (per most recent federal decennial census).
  • Report: The financial disclosure report required under section 10 of article IV of the Michigan Constitution; must be in the form provided under section 6.
  • Reporting period: The preceding calendar year.
  • Spouse: Defined per federal tax regulation (26 CFR 301.7701-18).
  • Unearned income: Defined to include prizes, unemployment benefits, annuities, dividends, deferred compensation, pensions, profit sharing, retirement income; explicitly excludes inheritance and familial gifts.

Who is affected

  • State elected officials listed in the bill (legislators and statewide officers).
  • County commissioners and county executives of counties with population >150,000 (per most recent decennial census).
  • Department of State (responsible for publishing the form).
  • Lobbyists and lobbyist agents indirectly (their reporting of gifts ties into what public officers must report).

Potential impacts

  • Clarifies scope of who must file disclosures by adding population-based inclusion of certain county officials.
  • Standardizes and narrows/expands what counts as income, liabilities, gifts, and trusts — may change what must be reported and reduce ambiguity.
  • Aligns several definitions with federal regulations and existing statutes (campaign finance, lobbyist law), promoting consistency across laws.
  • Use of a specific regional CPI could be relevant where monetary thresholds are indexed elsewhere in the act (not shown in the amended text here).

Legislative timeline / procedural notes

  • Initially filed: March 13, 2025 (legislative actions show multiple references and readings).
  • Read first time: April 7, 2025; again read first time and introduced October 2, 2025.
  • Referred to: Committee on Election Integrity (as of Oct 2, 2025). Earlier entries show referrals to Transportation and the Joint Committee on Judiciary — see legislative record for status updates.
  • Currently at committee stage (House introduced version).

If you want, I can produce a redline-style comparison showing exactly which definition changes differ from the existing MCL 15.703 text.

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

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