What changed, what is open and what NCI is tracking.

Michigan joins 40 attorneys general seeking child-safety and privacy terms in the Character.AI sale

Fact. Attorney General Dana Nessel announced on October 15 that Michigan had joined a coalition of attorneys general from 39 states and the District of Columbia in a filing in the bankruptcy of Character Technologies, Inc., the company behind the Character.AI chatbot platform (In re Character Technologies, No. 26-11603, U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware). The company filed for Chapter 11 on October 12. The states’ notice, docketed October 14, says the company’s records show more than 21.6 million U.S. accounts created by March 13, 2025, including more than 2.1 million with a declared age under 18. It asks that any buyer adopt protections including age assurance that does not rely only on self-declared birthdates, removal of characters presenting as therapists, doctors or other licensed professionals, crisis-response protocols, and no use of chat content to train models or for advertising without valid consent, and it reserves the states’ right to seek a consumer privacy ombudsman and to object to any sale. Court filings name Disney Worldwide Services as the proposed lead bidder for certain assets at $20 million. Objections to the bidding procedures are due October 23, and the court hears them October 30.

NCI analysis. A bankruptcy sale is one of the few points where regulators can attach conditions to an AI system’s data and design without a new law, because the buyer acquires the users’ conversations along with the code. The states’ list amounts to a working definition of the safeguards an AI companion service should carry — age assurance, limits on professional personas, crisis protocols and no secondary use of chat data — and the October 30 hearing will show whether the court treats any of it as a condition of sale.

Federal civilian agencies ordered to exclude and remove DeepSeek AI products

Fact. The Department of Homeland Security published notice on October 20 of an order by the Secretary of Homeland Security under the Federal Acquisition Supply Chain Security Act of 2018. The order excludes information-technology products and services developed by Hangzhou DeepSeek Artificial Intelligence Co. and its affiliates from federal civilian agency procurements, and requires removal of DeepSeek and affiliate products “and third-party products and services developed using DeepSeek implementations” from civilian agency information technology. The signed order is reproduced in the notice and filed in DHS Docket DHS-2026-0628. It applies to federal agencies, not to state or local governments.

NCI analysis. The order reaches past the vendor to products built on its model, which means an agency can comply only if it knows which AI models sit inside the software it buys. Few state or local contracts require vendors to disclose that. For Michigan agencies and districts, the Atlas question is whether procurement terms would let them find and remove a model if a federal or state order, a security finding or a contract dispute required it.

Michigan joins a suit over cancelled unemployment-system modernization grants

Fact. Attorney General Dana Nessel announced on October 12 that Michigan and 13 other states filed suit in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims the week before, challenging the U.S. Department of Labor’s May 22, 2025 termination of more than $45 million in the plaintiffs’ remaining grant funding for unemployment-insurance technology and fraud prevention. Congress created the grants in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 and the department awarded states more than $780 million across six programs: IT modernization, integrity, navigator, tiger team, equity and fraud prevention. Michigan’s awards were in two of those categories: $6.78 million in equity grants, of which $2.83 million was rescinded, and $4.47 million in tiger-team grants, of which $1.41 million was rescinded. The termination letters said the agreements “no longer effectuate [the Department of Labor’s] priorities for its grant funding.” The states argue the terminations breached the grant agreements as contracts and the implied duty of good faith and fair dealing, and they seek money damages. The court docket sets the government’s answer for December 8, and a Justice Department lawyer appeared for the United States on October 14.

NCI analysis. The two categories Michigan lost money from are the ones aimed at access barriers, payment timeliness and fairness in fraud prevention — the same ground as the Atlas’s MiDAS case, in which automated fraud findings were the failure. Because the suit asks for damages rather than reinstated funding, it will not change the November 2 and November 9 cutover dates. What it can produce is a record of which approved Michigan projects stopped mid-performance and what the state did instead, which the release does not identify.

Michigan member introduces a bill for a White House AI threats office

Fact. Rep. Tom Barrett of Michigan’s 7th district introduced H.R. 10768 on October 9, a bill to establish an Office of Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technology Threats within the Executive Office of the President. It was referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce the same day. The bill text was not yet posted, and the measure is not law.

NCI analysis. The bill would place an AI risk function inside the White House rather than in the agencies that buy and run these systems. For the Atlas, the question is which body would answer for a specific failed deployment, and whether a threats office changes the authority and accountability answers at agency level.

UIA posts the claimant rules for the November 2 MiDAS shutdown

Fact. Michigan’s Unemployment Insurance Agency, in its October employer newsletter, says the MiDAS/MiWAM platform will be taken offline permanently at 4:30 p.m. on November 2. A downtime period follows until MiUI for benefits launches at 8 a.m. on November 9; during it, UIA local offices will be closed and its customer-service and employer-ombudsman phone lines will be unavailable. Employers must activate their own MiUI accounts before MiWAM shuts down; a third-party administrator cannot do it for them. The same newsletter also gives November 9 as the date MiWAM for employers goes offline. Around October 15 the agency posted claimant guidance for the switch: November 2 is the final MiWAM certification day, open to any claimant from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. regardless of assigned day; at 4:30 p.m. the MARVIN phone line shuts down for good, ending certification and claim filing by phone; and fact-finding responses and protests or appeals that fall due during the downtime become due November 9. After launch, claimants can certify for past weeks, including the transition week, and MiUI moves certification and payment from every two weeks to weekly.

NCI analysis. This sets the end date of the MiDAS system the Atlas uses as its Automated Decisions case. Moving deadlines that fall inside the downtime to November 9 and allowing back-certification are the kind of error-correction safeguards the Atlas looks for; ending phone filing removes a channel some claimants rely on. The records to watch are whether payments for the transition week arrive without gaps and how many appeals are filed in the first weeks of MiUI.

Executive orders set up America.gov and change federal AI terminology

Fact. Executive Order 14432, signed September 29 and published October 2, directs GSA, working with the National Design Studio and OMB, to establish America.gov as a single, conversational point of entry for federal services that serve more than 100,000 people a year and can be used online, with Login.gov as its sign-in; the site launched September 29. IRS tax filing, the Department of War and the intelligence community are excluded. Agencies must identify covered services, connect them through existing APIs, dashboards and forms, and report usage and performance data; OMB must issue an implementation memo within 90 days. The order says agencies keep custody of their records and decision authority, that no centralized federal system of records is created, and that in-person, phone and mail options remain. A separate order, EO 14434, directs agencies to use “Super Intelligence” (SI) in place of “artificial intelligence” in non-statutory documents; the statutory definition is unchanged.

NCI analysis. America.gov applies the Atlas questions to a public-service front door: who answers residents, how accuracy is checked, how errors are corrected and logged, and whether people keep a non-digital route. Because the terminology order changes wording rather than the statutory definition, NCI will track federal documents under either term.

GSA sets data-safeguarding terms for AI contracts

Fact. GSA issued a new contract clause, GSAR 552.239-7001, “Basic Safeguarding of Data within Large Language Model AI Systems,” in memo RGO-2026-01. It applies to GSA solicitations issued on or after October 19, 2026 that buy large language model, chatbot, generative-assistant, agentic or other LLM-enabled tools, and contracting officers may add it to existing contracts. Contractors may not use government data to train or fine-tune models, for advertising or for sale or licensing; must report material violations and security incidents within 72 hours; must disclose which LLMs they use; and must flow the requirements down to AI subcontractors.

NCI analysis. These are the data and accountability terms the Atlas asks buyers to define at the point of purchase. State and local agencies buying similar tools can compare their own contract language against this federal baseline.

Senate bill text would require agencies to inventory, disclose and offer human review of AI decisions

Fact. Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan and Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma introduced S.5648 on September 30, a bill “to direct agencies to be transparent when using automated and augmented systems to interact with the public or make critical decisions.” It was referred to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. The introduced text, posted October 10, names it the Transparent Automated Governance Act. Within 180 days of enactment, each agency would publish an inventory of the decision processes in which AI substantially influences access to benefits, housing, employment, education, health care and other “critical decisions.” Guidance from the Office of Management and Budget would require plain-language notice that such a process was used, an appeals process with a deadline, an option for review by a human independent of the automated process, and published error metrics; chatbots and voice agents would have to disclose themselves, offer escalation to a person and provide a transcript within three business days on request. It is not law.

NCI analysis. Requiring agencies to disclose when an automated system deals with the public or shapes a critical decision puts the Atlas “Decision” question into a bill. The text answers the Atlas’s questions about notice, appeal and correction in statute rather than guidance, and its human-review option is the safeguard whose absence defined Michigan’s MiDAS failure. It applies to federal agencies only, so state systems such as MiUI would not be covered.

Van Buren Township planners approve the Google data center’s site plan

Fact. On October 14, the Van Buren Township Planning Commission voted 5-1 to give final site-plan approval to the Project Cannoli data center (Case 25-041) and to the DTE/ITC switching station inside the site (Case 26-004), with Commissioner Bernard Grant voting no on both (CBS Detroit reporting). The commission’s packet describes six buildings — three for data processing, an office and two network service buildings — with a total footprint of 973,247 square feet on 282.2 acres east of Haggerty Road and north of the I-94 service drive; the township’s planning consultant recommended approval with conditions, and the township engineer’s review caps process wastewater discharged to the township system at 0.75 million gallons a day. The applicant is PDC AK LPIC, care of Panattoni Development. Minutes had not been posted as of October 20.

NCI analysis. This was the township’s land-use decision, the third public venue for the project after the state utility commission’s contract approval and the county’s tax-incentive vote on October 1. The conditions in the packet — the wastewater cap, noise, parking and lighting — are the enforceable local terms, and whether they carry unchanged into final engineering approval is the next record to read.

State regulators take up how utilities must plan for data-center load

Fact. On October 15 the Michigan Public Service Commission invited comments, due November 13, on its staff’s capacity-demonstration workgroup report (Case No. U-22142). Staff recommends that electric providers count new large loads in the capacity showings state law requires once a service contract or other binding agreement is signed, and carry that obligation into every later showing. For rate-regulated utilities a large load would be one defined in the utility’s rate book; for other providers, a customer adding at least 10% or more than 50 MW to the provider’s prior obligation. The order invites comment and does not adopt the recommendations. Separately, in DTE Electric’s integrated resource plan (Case No. U-22168), the company says its load forecast now includes about 2.4 GW of contracted large-load demand from Oracle and Google, and it proposes an approximately 1,400 MW gas plant in Livingston County. Google petitioned to intervene before the October 16 deadline; a prehearing is set for October 23.

NCI analysis. The two dockets ask the same question from different ends: once a data center signs a contract, how much supply must be on the books to serve it, and who carries the risk if the load arrives late or not at all. Counting contracted load in annual capacity showings would make that commitment visible every year; the resource plan is where its cost and fuel choices are litigated.

Detroit council advances a draft pause on AI data-center permits

Fact. On October 7, Detroit City Council’s Internal Operations Standing Committee voted 2-0 to send Council Member Gabriela Santiago-Romero’s draft interim zoning ordinance on enterprise AI data centers to Formal Session, with a recommendation to refer it to the Planning and Economic Development Standing Committee. As reported, the draft would pause permits for new enterprise AI data centers until March 17, 2028, while the City Planning Commission drafts permanent zoning rules with a goal of finishing by December 31; the council urged a moratorium in a March resolution on which the mayor has not acted (Planet Detroit reporting). The draft is not law. At the October 13 formal session the council referred the memorandum to the Planning and Economic Development Standing Committee 5-0, with four members not present, according to the minutes. No meeting of that committee was posted through November 30.

NCI analysis. Detroit is now on the pause-then-write-rules path alongside Kalamazoo, while Saginaw wrote rules first. Whether the interim ordinance passes, and what the permanent rules require, will be the comparison points.

Local data-center rules: moratoriums extended and adopted, limits drafted, a hearing set

Fact. Michigan townships and cities kept writing their own data-center rules in the window. Howell Township’s board on October 13 considered an ordinance extending its moratorium, first enacted November 20, 2025, by six months or until permanent rules take effect, according to its packet; the Livingston Post reported unanimous approval. Blair Township in Grand Traverse County adopted a one-year moratorium the same day (UpNorthLive reporting), and Tyrone Township’s planning commission discussed a draft that would bar data centers needing more than 60 MW (Livingston Post reporting). Lyndon Township in Washtenaw County will hold a public hearing on October 29 on zoning rules for data centers, “high resource demand facilities” and power generation, according to its notice. Schoolcraft Township’s board had a one-year moratorium (Ordinance 295) on its October 13 agenda; the outcome had not been published as of October 20. Kalamazoo’s zoning moratorium, approved October 5, took effect 10 days later and runs to October 5, 2027 (Watershed Voice reporting), and Saginaw adopted siting rules on September 28 (WNEM reporting). The City of Ypsilanti took comment on its draft ordinance in October; its next planning commission meeting is November 18.

NCI analysis. Most of these places are pausing first and drafting second, and the drafts are converging on the same tools: size thresholds in megawatts, special-use review, and water, noise and energy disclosure. Comparing the adopted rules — especially whether they set a hard megawatt cap or leave size to case-by-case review — will be more useful than counting moratoriums.

MISO asks FERC to approve a fast-track study for large loads; Michigan regulators intervene

Fact. The Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), which manages the high-voltage grid across most of Michigan, asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on October 2 to approve a Large Load Addition Resource Study (Docket ER27-25). The 120-day study would cover new loads above 200 MW paired with new generation in the same local resource zone; the load and generation must be in service within three years of the application, and MISO would study up to 10 applications in each of three annual study periods. MISO asked FERC to decide by December 2 (Utility Dive reporting). Comments are due October 23, according to FERC’s notice in the Federal Register. The Michigan Public Service Commission has intervened in this case and, as an October 15 commission minute confirms, in a separate MISO filing on interconnection reliability requirements for large loads (Docket ER26-3650). Both proposals are pending.

NCI analysis. A faster federal interconnection path could shorten the time between a project’s announcement and its utility commitments. Local zoning, notice and community-benefit processes in Michigan would need to keep pace with that timeline.

State regulators approve DTE’s Google data-center contracts with cost protections

Fact. On October 1, the Michigan Public Service Commission approved special contracts between DTE Electric and Google for electric service to a data center in Van Buren Township, Wayne County (Case No. U-22058). Terms include a 20-year contract, compared with the 5 years normally required under DTE’s large-load D11 rate; an 80% minimum billing demand, compared with 50%-65% under D11; an early-termination payment of at least 15 years of minimum monthly charges; and credit and collateral requirements. Google is to pay for DTE to develop up to 1,600 MW of renewable energy and 480 MW of battery storage. The commission says its authority covers only the contracts’ terms, not whether or where a data center may locate. The same day, the Wayne County Commission overrode County Executive Warren Evans’s veto of tax incentives and a community benefits agreement for the project; the commission said the vote did not approve construction.

NCI analysis. The order gives the Atlas a documented Michigan benchmark for cost allocation: contract length, minimum bills, exit payments and collateral. Siting, tax incentives and community benefits sit with township and county bodies, so the project’s full public record is split across several venues.

Federal large-load cost bills: Senate cloture fails; a House bill would bar shifting costs

Fact. The Senate rejected cloture on the motion to proceed to H.R. 9340, the Ratepayer Protection Act, 57-43 on September 30. The measure did not advance through that procedural vote and is not enacted law. On October 13, Rep. Eugene Vindman of Virginia introduced H.R. 10809, the Make Data Centers Pay Act, referred to the Energy and Commerce Committee. It would amend the Federal Power Act so that no part of a utility’s incremental cost of serving a data center of 20 MW or more could be charged to other customers, and would require utilities to collect financial assurances before building facilities to serve one. It would apply only to loads connecting after enactment; arrangements already approved by a state or FERC would stand. It is not law.

NCI analysis. Neither measure has moved, so cost allocation for Michigan data centers is still being set case by case at the state commission, as in the DTE-Google contracts. Because H.R. 10809 grandfathers existing approvals, those Michigan terms would stand even if it passed.

Tenth Circuit panel questions the nationwide eligibility class action; no ruling yet

Fact. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit heard argument on October 13 in Wisne v. NCAA, No. 26-1309, before Judges Carolyn B. McHugh, Paul J. Kelly and Nancy L. Moritz, and has posted the recording. Sportico reported that the panel appeared skeptical of the players’ case, questioning whether they had defined the relevant market and had enough data to support the antitrust claim, and that the judges also asked whether to wait to see if the House passes the Protect College Sports Act; it said a ruling is likely weeks or months away. Rakesh Kilaru argued for the NCAA and Robert Shelquist for the players, who are led by former Northern Colorado basketball player Brock Wisne. District Judge Charlotte N. Sweeney had certified a nationwide class of Division I athletes who began competing in 2022-23 and completed four seasons, and preliminarily enjoined the NCAA’s eligibility limit; a month before that order the NCAA’s Division I Cabinet had adopted a rule allowing up to five years of eligibility but did not make it retroactive. On August 21 a motions panel of Judges Timothy M. Tymkovich, Paul J. Kelly and Veronica S. Rossman stayed the injunction pending appeal, 2-1, with Judge Rossman voting to deny the stay (Sportico and Courthouse News reporting); the injunction remains stayed. The court had issued no decision as of October 20.

NCI analysis. A decision binds federal district courts in Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah and Wyoming and is persuasive elsewhere, Michigan included. The panel’s questions went to the players’ evidence — a defined market and data — rather than to whether eligibility rules are subject to antitrust law at all, so a ruling on that ground would decide the injunction without settling the larger question the other cases raise. Class certification is what makes this the case to follow: if the NCAA wins, athletes elsewhere are back to filing one at a time.

Ohio lets colleges play Class of 2022 athletes and the NCAA sues; a Washtenaw judge clears two Michigan players

Fact. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed Executive Order 2026-04D on October 13. It says no public or private college in Ohio “shall uphold” a rule that keeps a Class of 2022 athlete from fully participating in 2026-27, whether or not the athlete completed four seasons or exhausted eligibility under 2025-26 NCAA rules, if the athlete was within five years of his or her 19th birthday and of enrolling in college as of the start of 2026-27, was eligible at the end of the last season, and has not played in a professional league. It does not require any school to offer a roster spot or athletic aid, and it expires July 31, 2027. On October 16 the NCAA sued the governor in federal court (NCAA v. DeWine, No. 2:26-cv-01452, S.D. Ohio), alleging that the order violates the dormant Commerce Clause and the First Amendment and exceeds his authority under Ohio law; the complaint says about 340 athletes nationwide are competing under court orders. The docket sets the governor’s answer for November 6. In a related Hamilton County case, the Ohio Supreme Court ordered briefs on the order’s effect, including possible mootness, and stayed the appeals court’s October 2 judgment and mandate while it considers them; both sides filed October 19, and no ruling had issued as of October 21 (Borovicanin v. NCAA, No. 2026-1353). In Michigan, Washtenaw County Circuit Judge Julia B. Owdziej granted temporary restraining orders on October 13 to Alex Bauman and Jeremiah Earby, Class of 2022 football players enrolled at the University of Michigan, ruling both eligible this season; she wrote that keeping them out would be “irreparable and severe” and the harm to the NCAA “negligible” (AP reporting). A university spokesman declined comment. NCI could not open the Michigan orders.

NCI analysis. The eligibility fight now runs on three tracks at once: a federal appeals court weighing a nationwide class, state judges granting individual orders, and a governor acting for a whole state’s schools. Ohio State and six Mid-American Conference schools covered by the Ohio order compete directly against Michigan, Michigan State, and Central, Eastern and Western Michigan; in Michigan, such an athlete needs an individual court order, as Bauman and Earby obtained. The NCAA is pressing a fourth track: its president used the lawsuit announcement to urge members to ask the House to pass the Protect College Sports Act.

NCAA Cabinet proposes moving rules from national to sport, conference and campus level

Fact. The NCAA Division I Cabinet introduced a package of proposals on October 6, announced October 7, that would decentralize oversight of certain rules across all sports, moving them to the campus, conference or sport level. Sports would no longer have limits on the number of countable coaches, with limits applying only to off-campus recruiters as set by each sport’s oversight committee; schools could arrange transportation, accommodations and entertainment for a prospect and four accompanying individuals on an official visit; and playing seasons would use standardized start and end dates rather than each school’s academic calendar. Cabinet chair Josh Whitman, the athletics director at Illinois, called the package “a first step.” The Cabinet could adopt it as early as January.

NCI analysis. Moving rules to sports and conferences changes who answers for them. For athletes and families, the practical question is where to look up a rule and who to ask when it is applied, which gets harder when the answer differs by sport and conference.

Former Michigan players’ NIL suit against the NCAA and Big Ten moves to the Sixth Circuit

Fact. The Sixth Circuit docketed an appeal on October 6 by former University of Michigan football players Denard Robinson, Braylon Edwards, Michael Martin and Shawn Crable in their proposed class action against the NCAA, the Big Ten Conference and Big Ten Network (Local 4 reporting). The suit, filed in 2024 in federal court in Detroit (No. 2:24-cv-12355), alleges the defendants used former players’ names, images and likenesses in broadcasts, archived footage, highlights and merchandise without compensation, on behalf of athletes who competed before June 15, 2016. U.S. District Judge Terrence G. Berg dismissed the case in September 2025, finding the claims time-barred, and later denied the players’ request to reconsider. Docketing opens the appeal; it is not a ruling for either side.

NCI analysis. The case tests whether athletes who played before the NIL era can recover for continuing use of their images. Its outcome would bear on how Michigan institutions and conferences license archival footage.

S.4668 is still held at the House desk

Fact. The Senate’s message on S.4668, the Protect College Sports Act, reached the House on October 5, where the bill was received and held at the desk. It has not been referred to a House committee, and no House vote is scheduled. A related House bill, H.R. 9137, has been before three House committees since June with no further action. On October 2, 21 House members led by Reps. Neal Dunn and Mario Díaz-Balart asked House leaders to remove or substantially amend the bill’s conference-membership provisions, which cap each Power Four conference at 20 members and require a departing school to spend three years as an independent. The House is not scheduled to return until the week after the November 3 election (AP reporting). As of October 20 the bill record showed no action after October 5. The bill is not law.

NCI analysis. The Senate-passed text remains the version to analyze. If the House changes it, or does not act before the 119th Congress ends on January 3, 2027, Michigan institutions would be planning around a different framework or none at all.

NIL/PBA Financial Literacy for Student-Athletes

Fact. MHSAA expanded its Personal Branding Activity rules effective January 27, 2026. Michigan high-school student-athletes may receive compensation for individual PBA opportunities under specific restrictions, including limits on school identifiers, pay-for-play and certain prohibited product categories.

NCI watch. Keep high-school PBA education separate from college NIL and revenue-sharing rules. Financial-literacy materials should also address tax basics: the IRS states that NIL compensation, including certain noncash compensation, is generally taxable and must be reported.

NIL Access & Equity in Michigan

Fact. The U.S. Senate passed S.4668, the Protect College Sports Act of 2026, 77-22 on September 28. The Senate-passed measure now awaits House consideration and is not enacted law. Michigan high-school PBA remains a separate MHSAA framework.

NCI watch. Compare the Senate-passed federal framework with Michigan institutions by division, sport, gender, revenue profile and access to legal, financial, academic and health support. Describe distributional effects as research questions until institution-level evidence is available.

State Board hears attendance update as chronic absenteeism falls for a fourth year

Fact. At its October 13 meeting, the State Board of Education received an update on student attendance from the Department of Education and Wayne State University researchers. Statewide attendance for 2025-26 rose 0.2 percentage point to 91.5%, and the chronic absenteeism rate fell 0.7 point to 27.2%, its fourth consecutive annual decline and 11.3 points below 2021-22, according to state data MDE released in September. Educators from Baldwin Community Schools in Lake County said chronic absence at Baldwin Jr. High fell from close to 40% in 2022-23 to under 15% this school year, and at Baldwin High School from 40% to 25%, while using the Early Warning Intervention and Monitoring System. MDE said it will hold a virtual Student Attendance & Engagement Summit on February 5, 2027, and plans this school year to analyze attendance data to identify the districts with the greatest need for support and to examine the link between attendance and student outcomes.

NCI analysis. More than one in four Michigan students was still chronically absent last year, even after four years of gains. The district-level analysis MDE plans is the step that would show where the remaining absence is concentrated and whether approaches like Baldwin’s carry to other districts; one district’s results, reported by its own staff, show what is possible rather than what is typical.

Proposed special-education rules would change state-complaint procedures and add a cross-category endorsement

Fact. The Department of Education’s Office of Special Education held public hearings on October 12 and 13 on Rule Set 2026-14 ED, proposed amendments to Michigan’s special-education rules published in the Michigan Register on September 15; written comments closed at 5 p.m. on October 16. The proposal would align rule timelines with state law; remove private entities from the definition of “agency” to match federal regulation; address a district’s notice obligations when it will not conduct a requested evaluation and after any IEP team meeting; remove language allowing a state complaint to be delayed for informal resolution; delete a provision allowing “stay put” of a student’s placement during a state complaint; and add a stand-alone special-education teacher endorsement allowing an educator to be placed in programs across multiple disability areas. MDE says the rules would take effect immediately after filing with the Secretary of State.

NCI analysis. Two of the changes alter how a family’s state complaint proceeds: it could no longer be paused for informal resolution, and a student’s placement would no longer be held in place while it is decided. MDE describes both as alignments with federal regulations (34 CFR 300.152 and 300.518); stay-put protection during due-process hearings comes from federal regulation and is not part of this change. The cross-category endorsement would let one teacher be placed across disability areas; its preparation requirements, compared with single-category endorsements, are the detail in the rule text that determines what it means for students.

State reports school-lunch participation up 22% since Michigan School Meals began

Fact. Marking National School Meals Week at Bendle High School in Burton on October 12, the Department of Education and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development reported that an average of 865,459 Michigan students a day took part in the school lunch program last October, a 22% increase from 709,593 in 2022-23, the last school year before the Michigan School Meals Program began. Average daily breakfast participation rose 26%, from 375,956 to 473,021. The program, which started in 2023-24 and is funded through the state budget, provides free breakfast and lunch to all public school students. The departments also pointed to MDARD’s Good Food for Michigan Project and to Flint Fresh, a grant-funded food hub that supplies Bendle Public Schools.

NCI analysis. Participation is the measure that shows whether a universal benefit reaches students. The release gives counts rather than rates, and it compares last October’s daily average with a 2022-23 figure without saying whether that baseline is also an October average. Participation as a share of enrollment, for the same month each year and by district, would show whether the gain is broad or concentrated.

Proposed federal rule would charge schools for student work authorization

Fact. The Department of Homeland Security published a proposed rule, “Optional Practical Training Fees,” in the Federal Register on October 8. As proposed, schools certified under the Student and Exchange Visitor Program would pay $70,000 for a student’s initial Optional Practical Training recommendation and $30,000 for each subsequent one, including STEM extensions, with the fee owed before a school official can enter the recommendation. Comments are due November 9, with a separate December 7 deadline for comments on the rule’s information-collection burden. The rule is a proposal and is not in effect.

NCI analysis. Optional Practical Training is the step between a degree and a first job for international graduates. A per-student fee charged to the institution would make that handoff an institutional budget decision, so the measurable questions for Michigan colleges are which programs continue to offer it and who ends up paying.

New law requires an annual parent notice on youth THC, vaping and nicotine risks

Fact. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed Senate Bill 433 on October 5 as Public Act 104 of 2026, with immediate effect; it passed the House 99-4 on September 22, and the Senate concurred 36-0 on October 1. The law adds section 1509 to the Revised School Code. By July 1, 2027, MDHHS must develop a notice in English, Spanish and Arabic on the dangers of tobacco, vapor and alternative nicotine products, THC cannabis products and synthetic intoxicating hemp, with prevention and treatment resources and the signs of THC poisoning, and update it each year. MDE provides the notice to public and nonpublic schools. Beginning in 2027-28, districts, ISDs, public school academies and nonpublic schools must provide it to parents by October 1 each year and link to MDE’s page from their websites.

NCI analysis. The law creates a new annual school-to-parent communication duty without a reporting requirement. Whether the notice reaches families, and in which languages, will be measurable only if districts track delivery.

Treasury proposes rules for the federal scholarship tax credit

Fact. Treasury and the IRS published proposed and temporary regulations on October 2 for the new federal tax credit for contributions to scholarship-granting organizations, which is available only in states that elect to participate. The credit is capped at $1,700 per taxpayer, which Treasury interprets as up to $3,400 on a joint return. For 2027, a state must submit its advance election by January 1, 2027, and may complete it by filing its list of scholarship organizations by February 15, 2027. Michigan does not appear on the IRS list of participating states. Comments on the proposed rules are due December 1, and a public hearing is scheduled for December 15.

NCI analysis. Whether Michigan participates is a decision for state officials. NCI’s interest is in what any decision would require: which office certifies organizations, what data are reported and how outcomes could be evaluated.

PlayStrong Research and Implementation Brief

PlayStrong is an archived March 2026 NCI brief, kept here for its measurement guidance.

Fact. Michigan's Profile for Healthy Youth (MiPHY) is not available for the 2026-27 school year. MiPHY normally provides local and regional student-health measures across risk behaviors, emotional health and protective factors.

NCI watch. Any 2026-27 youth-sports referral, coach-training or wellbeing pilot should define an alternative measurement plan before launch. Separate program-delivery metrics, referral data and validated wellbeing measures rather than relying on a statewide survey that will not be administered this school year.