August 29, 2025
Lansing - David Q. Worthams, Chair of the Michigan Civil Rights Commission, today issued the below statement regarding the recently passed version of House Bill 4706 of 2025.
"As Chair of the Michigan Civil Rights Commission, I must express deep concern regarding the House-passed version of House Bill 4706 of 2025, the Fiscal Year 2026 appropriations bill. The proposed $15 million cut to the Michigan Department of Civil Rights — nearly half of its entire budget — represents a direct threat to the state’s ability to ensure that every resident of Michigan is treated with fairness and dignity under the law.
Over the past three years, the Department has made tremendous progress in reducing its case backlog — cutting processing times, moving more quickly to resolve complaints, and giving individuals who have faced discrimination a fairer and faster path to justice. These improvements were possible because of targeted investments and a commitment to efficiency and accountability as outlined in Director Johnson's "Proposal for Change".
A reduction of roughly half of the Department’s total resources would undo this progress. It would force the Department to scale back staff and services, creating longer delays for justice, fewer investigations into discrimination, and weakened protections for Michiganders in housing, employment, education, and public services. The elimination of grants for the Charles H. Wright Museum, Arab American National Museum, and Holocaust Memorial Center will be devastating to our ability to tell the story of Michigan's role in protecting the civil rights of all her citizens.
I urge the Legislature and the Governor to work together to restore this critical funding in the final budget. Protecting the rights of all Michiganders requires not just words, but the resources necessary to act. We cannot afford to step backwards on civil rights."
The Michigan Civil Rights Commission was created by the Michigan Constitution to safeguard constitutional and legal guarantees against discrimination. The Commission is charged with investigating alleged discrimination against any person because of religion, race, color, national origin, genetic information, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, marital status, height, weight, arrest record, source of income, and physical and mental disability. The Michigan Department of Civil Rights serves as the operational arm of the Commission.
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