How Michigan Legislators Voted on Taxpayer-Funded Business Subsidies

This analysis attempts to quantify the dollar value of business subsidies authorized by each Michigan legislator since 2001. Researchers analyzed 71 public acts that authorized spending $16 billion on business subsidies from 2001 through 2017 to build the scorecard. Of these, 37 bills were able to be scored and the voting record of 498 lawmakers on these bills make up the scorecard. It shows how much of taxpayers’ money each lawmaker approved handing over to select businesses.

The scorecard only includes laws that authorize actual payments to businesses, not other forms of special treatment some favored firms receive, such as property tax abatements. It also excludes laws that authorize new business subsidies when they were part of a large package of bills, such as the approval of omnibus budget bills.

A detailed and sortable scorecard that shows each individual lawmaker's vote on each bill authorizing business subsidies can be found at MichiganVotes.org.