[{"_1":2,"_88":-5,"_89":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,76],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},"mediaId",6628993,"mediaKeyId","2712648-9dab820bb9bb2496de2f79b0e7dee2a8","parentId",2712648,"title","Public Service Commission outlines reliability push, grant spending and new renewable siting section","audioSeconds",2453,"startMs",2795000,"endMs",5248000,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=2712648-9dab820bb9bb2496de2f79b0e7dee2a8&start=2795&end=5248","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2712648-9dab820bb9bb2496de2f79b0e7dee2a8/thumbnail_2795000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6628993/Michigan/Public-Service-Commission-outlines-reliability-push-grant-spending-and-new-renewable-siting-section","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6628993-e83a61007b9a2508061b749e6a096dfc/orig.mp4?Expires=1770940222&Signature=Hjmg3e65Bl3APHDvkXUohw6RCyuD80klPy0c8ZMSokUhck8PahsLfbjjZ34XyoZ4wAPqrvfrf2a-y~ipLy-0pOC87tak3faYyxoje8~N-fEnf69yND3wwQzezjiC2fcw19jB5sQpzhqP4wu8vphnle3drZ3HEu~SNN7mVunmc5UktsE34UEHMtyABAmtwBGZ4BzT~cQvLx0QypVm8IwCMBf1ro8nJ-Xe8UyzrqeMhHV2QUlCKPZoQM79WH8fkyvrmWwAMrOKV0RQngbs7Wl4W3x6zQuMWkwPBFVe3jCHTaZ4tuiD6FN-UjppIdnWNlxvRmZ8pX81eTbeN~oJbzatyg__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","Michigan Legislature","date","2025-03-20T14:57:01.99Z","article","Dan Scripps, chair of the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC), told the House Appropriations Subcommittee the commission's priority for 2025 is improving electric-distribution reliability while implementing recent legislative energy reforms and managing grants and federal program responsibilities.

Scripps said the MPSC regulates investor-owned electric and natural-gas utilities and has some telecommunications oversight. The commission carries out its authority through contested-case procedures governed by the Administrative Procedures Act and related rules; its orders are subject to judicial review. He cited the longstanding principle that the commission is a creature of statute and should not make management decisions for utilities.

Funding and staffing: Scripps said the MPSC is staffed by about 220 professionals. The commission's operations are financed mainly by the Public Utilities Assessment (PUA), a restricted fund established under Public Act 299 of 1972 assessed on regulated utilities; PUA covers roughly 83 percent of the commission's current-year operating budget. The commission also receives federal pipeline-safety grant funding under a delegated-authority agreement with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), though Scripps said federal reimbursement rates have been lower than the statutory 80 percent authorized amount in recent years. General-fund dollars are provided to the commission primarily for grant-making (for example the EIED grant programs), he said.

Reliability and the distribution audit: Scripps summarized recent reliability improvements and the MPSC's actions to address outages. He noted that Consumers Energy reported a 21-minute average reduction in outage minutes in 2024 compared with 2023 and that DTE reported a 70 percent improvement in time spent without power. The commission ordered an independent third-party audit of Consumers and DTE distribution systems; Scripps said the commission is sorting audit recommendations into three buckets: immediate actions that can be implemented now, investments to be recovered through rate cases, and long-term distribution planning adjustments.

Grants and customer programs: Scripps said the MPSC manages grant programs including the Renewable Energy and Electrification Enhancement and Development (EIED) grants and the Michigan Energy Assistance Program (MEEP). He said the commission awarded $20.8 million to 19 grantees under an EIED program and continues to monitor $50 million provided under a low-carbon grant program in FY22-23. MEEP, run by the commission in partnership with DHHS and local grantees, served more than 50,000 households this year, Scripps said.

Renewable-energy siting and staffing: Following 2023 statutory changes, Scripps said the commission created a renewable-energy siting section, hired a section manager (Sarah Malkoff) and four additional staff. He told the committee no siting cases had been filed with the commission yet and that the statutory process requires applicants generally to begin at the local level; the commission will hear cases where the local government requests or where a compatible local ordinance is not possible.

Regulatory procedures, integrated resource plans and other work: Scripps described the contested-case process used for rate cases, resource plans and safety-rule enforcement; he said the commission had issued 389 orders the prior year and met 100 percent of case-related statutory deadlines. The commission is implementing 2023 energy-law changes including revised long-term integrated resource-plan filing requirements, renewable-energy-plan studies and updated interconnection procedures. He also noted Michigan's energy-efficiency programs have scored highly in national rankings.

Customer service: Scripps said MPSC energy and telecommunications staff handled more than 11,000 customer inquiries last year, with average hold time around 15 seconds and average resolution times of roughly 10-15 business days depending on the complaint type.

During questions, representatives pressed Scripps on appointments and confirmation timing, the commission's public-hearing schedule, how peak pricing affects residential and small-business customers, siting procedures and whether commission activities are regulatory rather than advocacy-driven. Scripps described the commission's statutory role as a regulator that evaluates evidence in cases and implements statutory standards when determining whether proposed utility plans and investments are the most reasonable and prudent approach to meeting needs.","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","Appropriations: Subcommittee on LARA and Insurance and Financial Services - 3/20/2025","oneSentenceSummary","MPSC Chair Dan Scripps told the House subcommittee the commission is focusing on distribution-system reliability, implementing new energy laws, administering grant programs and staffing a renewable-energy siting section; he described funding sources, an independent distribution audit and recent grant awards.","taxTitle","2025 House Legislature MI, Michigan","taxId",77683,"location","Michigan","headline","","shortSummary",{"_33":77,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":78,"_41":79,"_43":80,"_45":81,"_47":82,"_49":83,"_51":84,"_53":85,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":86,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":87,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},6628998,"Michigan indigent defense commission outlines standards, grants and staffing needs",2703,69000,2772000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2712648-9dab820bb9bb2496de2f79b0e7dee2a8&start=69&end=2772","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2712648-9dab820bb9bb2496de2f79b0e7dee2a8/thumbnail_69000.jpg","/articles/6628998/Michigan/Michigan-indigent-defense-commission-outlines-standards-grants-and-staffing-needs","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6628998-1605b5c3236b63ec114276df6ba091ca/orig.mp4?Expires=1770940222&Signature=B1bTeGUzUmHrpzBxZwfphAvm4wGWN9BZayXPn~sY2O9C-SB1AJiVBrAElAifCSOTdJrn7AgH7uceAvuC7pxUQzyKqN8DkMRd3s7SYVTqV-kyVQT3bygG6TnG-QkL5OS5EA8o3ck7~sCqG3H2JDbQnDfwqEkFp1bKOnB7SR5pSUSmDOsNJmiSurJY46CSnrx7H8al3THUBnglvy~U5OUNipxzngQLu5rYLKnOik4byb5Qw7axgDM9AHE5ffAOIhOUmvKw1k-flWnh3DaXIJgJENEI1FuOkDAbu-bcYAxy2l7eCvZPfNsxUO2RYJYW-tce3qDi0P8sd2cahsAmdw5PfQ__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","Kristen Staley, executive director of the Michigan Indigent Defense Commission (MIDC), told the House Appropriations Subcommittee that the agency has spent the past several years building statewide minimum standards for trial-level public defense and distributing grant funds to help local systems meet those standards.

Staley said the MIDC was created under the MIDC Act (Public Act 02/2013) to ensure Michigan meets the constitutional requirements established by Gideon v. Wainwright and related authority. She described the commission's core responsibilities as developing and overseeing minimum standards for public defense, administering grants to local trial-court funding units, monitoring grant spending and compliance, collecting program data and encouraging best practices.

The agency implements nine minimum standards based on American Bar Association national best practices, Staley said, including requirements for attorney education, client contact timelines, use of investigative and expert services, counsel presence at critical stages, independence of defense systems from the judiciary, workload (case-cap) limits and minimum compensation guidelines. Staley said the standards are intended to reduce geographic disparities in defense services and to limit attorney overload that undermines zealous advocacy.

MIDC funding comes primarily from the state general fund, Staley said, with local systems required by statute to maintain a local share. For fiscal year 2025 she said local shares total about $38.8 million and state grants from the general fund were roughly $258.3 million; the agency also estimates roughly $300,000 in annual attorney-fee collections in systems that collect them.

Staley described implementation progress since grants began flowing in 2019: 133 local trial-court funding units choose how to comply; the MIDC has helped create 35 public defender offices covering 40 counties; just over 1,700 attorneys now accept public-defense cases (about 4 percent of licensed active attorneys) and those attorneys handle roughly 85 percent of criminal cases at the trial level. She said council-at-first-appearance programs expanded statewide and that, in the prior year, more than 295,000 people were provided counsel at first appearance (about 86 percent of arraignments).

Staley said MIDC grant dollars have supported new positions such as managers, full-time investigators, social workers embedded in defense offices and increased use of non-attorney experts. She said expert usage rose by about 41 percent year over year and that many grant-funded initiatives aim to reduce wrongful convictions, improve individualized sentencing outcomes and lower incarceration costs.

On program operations, Staley described a small central staff (18 authorized FTEs, with statutory authorization up to 21) that provides regional field managers, grants oversight (including CPA-contracted audits), training and research. She told the committee the agency is requesting four additional FTEs next year to support financial and compliance oversight, technical assistance and attorney training oversight.

Staley also discussed MIDC's 'work projects' account, which holds funds rolled from unexpended local grant balances to reimburse local systems for unpredictable high-cost cases or other unanticipated expenses. She said work-project funds are typically subject to four-year use windows and that a portion is reserved for costs tied to recent Michigan Supreme Court decisions requiring retrials or resentencing; she estimated about 200 individuals statewide could require retrial or resentencing related to juvenile life-without-parole decisions and estimated approximately $40,000 per such case for investigative and expert services.

In committee questions, representatives sought additional detail about pay parity with prosecutors, whether MIDC standards regulate local pay, whether MIDC can or should 'control' attorney compensation to mirror free-market rates, and how MIDC allocates and uses work-project funds. Staley said MIDC's attorney-compensation standard is statutorily mandated to prevent a disincentive to accept indigent-defense work; she described the standard as tied to state pay schedules (comparable to assistant attorney general pay grades) and said minimum rates remain substantially below typical retained-counsel hourly rates.

Staley clarified that MIDC grants have helped raise pay in some places where appointed counsel previously earned very low fees and that MIDC can provide additional funding in higher-cost labor markets to maintain rosters where federal defender offices or other market forces push pay higher.

Staley also confirmed that, under United States v. Padilla and related authority, indigent-defense counsel is required for people brought before the courts regardless of immigration status; she referenced Michigan Supreme Court activity affecting juvenile life-without-parole sentencing as a source of expected retrial-related expenditures.

The presentation noted ongoing efforts to measure outcomes, including reductions in pretrial incarceration and increased rates of release without bail when counsel is present at first appearance. Staley said Michigan-specific analyses indicate that every dollar spent hiring public defenders to reduce caseloads produces more than $6 in incarceration-cost savings by reducing wrongful convictions and disproportionate sentencing.

The MIDC presentation concluded with Staley's statement that the commission is continuing implementation work, monitoring local compliance, and evaluating an active bill in the Legislature led by Representative Lightner that would expand MIDC'style standards to youth defense services.","Kristen Staley, executive director of the Michigan Indigent Defense Commission, summarized the agency's implementation of the MIDC Act, grant funding for local public defense systems, outcomes to date and a request for four additional full-time positions to support ongoing compliance and training work.","actionData","errors"]

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Public Service Commission outlines reliability push, grant spending and new renewable siting section

Michigan indigent defense commission outlines standards, grants and staffing needs