Michigan loophole makes it difficult to track utilities’ donations to politicians

Revelation comes as a first-in-the-nation citizen's ballot initiative to ban donations by utilities picks up steam

An investigation into Michigan election records has found a major loophole in reporting laws that makes it difficult to track when and how campaign contributions move between lawmakers and the state's controversial utilities, DTE Energy and Consumers Energy.

State law does not require the date that a contributor makes a donation to match the date that a campaign committee reports receiving it. That has created a scenario in which utilities throughout 2025 have cut checks for lawmakers around the time of controversial votes, but the lawmakers sometimes still have not reported receiving the contribution or report it much later.