House Cmte on Families & Veterans: Guardian Conservator licensing, CPS, mental health records, mandated CE

Guardian conservatorship bills and presentations were addressed many times in 2025 by this committee.

I've marked items on this topic in blue, and all health policy items with bold font.

Tuesday, October 28, 2025    |    12:00 PM

AGENDA

HB 4530 (Rep. Pohutsky)
Mental health: other; deadline for mental health professionals to release mental health records or information pertinent to child abuse or neglect investigation to the department; modify.

HB 4531 (Rep. Rigas)
Children: protection; continuing education for mandated reporters in child abuse and neglect detection; require.

HCR 1 (Rep. Wozniak)
A concurrent resolution to urge the Governor of Michigan to issue an executive directive that would require administrating agencies to assess if the implementation of their programs reduce Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and provide an annual report and data to the Legislature and general public about progress in reducing ACEs in Michigan.

HB 4959 (Rep. Schmaltz)
Occupations: individual licensing and registration; fee for professional guardian and professional conservator; provide for.

Tuesday, October 21, 2025    |     12:00 PM

AGENDA

HCR 1 (Rep. Wozniak)
A concurrent resolution to urge the Governor of Michigan to issue an executive directive that would require administrating agencies to assess if the implementation of their programs reduce Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and provide an annual report and data to the Legislature and general public about progress in reducing ACEs in Michigan.

HB 4959 (Rep. Schmaltz)
Occupations: individual licensing and registration; fee for professional guardian and professional conservator; provide for.

Organizational overview presentation from Mike Brandow of Camp Valor

Tuesday, September 16, 2025    |    12:00 PM

AGENDA

HB 4727 (Rep. Wilson)
Probate: guardians and conservators; licensure of professional guardians and conservators; provide for.

HB 4728 (Rep. Schmaltz)
Occupations: individual licensing and registration; licensure of professional guardians and conservators; require.

HB 4729 (Rep. VanderWall)
Mental health: guardians; appointment of guardians; modify.

OR ANY BUSINESS PROPERLY BEFORE THIS COMMITTEE

Tuesday, August 12, 2025    |    12:00 PM

AGENDA

HB 4517 (Rep. Neyer)
Law enforcement: reports; communications under the amber alert act; modify.

HB 4518 (Rep. Rigas)
Law enforcement: reports; Michigan Amber alert act; modify.

HB 4676 (Rep. MacDonell)
Mental health: guardians; appointing certain guardians after considering least restrictive means; require.

HB 4677 (Rep. Wozniak)
Probate: guardians and conservators; provision for supported decision-making agreements; create.

HB 4067 (Rep. Bruck)
Children: protection; safe delivery of newborns law; modify definition of newborn and allow surrender to a newborn safety device.

HB 4069 (Rep. Wortz)
Children: protection; reference in Michigan penal code to surrender of a newborn under the newborn safe delivery law; revise.

HB 4368 (Rep. Woolford)
Children: protection; reporting death of a newborn after surrender to a newborn safety device; expand.

OR ANY BUSINESS PROPERLY BEFORE THIS COMMITTEE

Tuesday, July 29, 2025    |    12:15 PM

AGENDA

HB 4517 (Rep. Neyer)
Law enforcement: reports; communications under the amber alert act; modify.

HB 4518 (Rep. Rigas)
Law enforcement: reports; Michigan Amber alert act; modify.

HB 4676 (Rep. MacDonell)
Mental health: guardians; appointing certain guardians after considering least restrictive means; require.

HB 4677 (Rep. Wozniak)
Probate: guardians and conservators; provision for supported decision-making agreements; create.

OR ANY BUSINESS PROPERLY BEFORE THIS COMMITTEE

Tuesday, June 3, 2025    |    12:00 PM

AGENDA

HB 4362 (Rep. Johnsen)
Law enforcement: reports; notification of the public by text message of a missing senior or vulnerable adult; provide for.

Kristyn Merkle, MSW, Area Agency on Aging of Western Michigan (Contract Administrator and Kent County Elder Abuse Coalition Coordinator)

Denneen Smith, MSHS, Executive Director of the Friendship Centers of Emmet County

Dr. Bob Powell, CEO of Family Service and Children’s Aid, on strengthening the emotional health and functioning of children, adults, and families through counseling, education, adoption, foster care, advocacy, adult guardian services, and program development.

Detroit Free Press subscribers can see the committee chair/bill sponsor's position in her op-ed.

Despite AG Nessel's advocacy for reform packages in 2023 (below), this apparently remains a problem area.

It's not easy to nail down underlying issues.

Advertising for legal services dominates topical searches, which probably explains a lot. Breakdown of families is another piece of the puzzle. Both are intractable problems, so maybe that's all there is to it. 

But if not... chime in. 

https://www.michigan.gov/ag/news/press-releases/2023/10/24/guardianship-reforms-witness-and-victim-protection-bills

Guardianship Reforms, Witness and Victim Protection Bills Pass House with Support of Attorney General Nessel

October 24, 2023

LANSING – Today, legislation passed in the state House of Representatives to reform Michigan’s guardianship and conservatorship practices and to better protect victim and witness contact and location information in the judicial system, announced Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel. The Attorney General has advocated for passage of both legislative measures and personally testified before House committees this year in support of each.

Guardianship Reform

House bills 4909-4912 institute long-awaited reforms to Michigan’s guardianship statutes, as well as HB 5047 which would create the Office of State Guardian.

Attorney General Nessel testified in support of these bills to the decades of work that have been poured into these reforms dating back to the Michigan Supreme Court’s Guardianship and Conservatorship Task Force, formed in 1998. These bills address many problems that the Department of Attorney General and partner organizations in the Elder Abuse Task Force repeatedly see.

To combat those issues, the legislation will:

Require a judge to justify on the record why a family member who is willing to serve as a guardian is not suitable. While the law already provides that family members have priority, the modification serves as an additional safeguard to ensure family members get due consideration;
Eliminate a judge’s ability to prevent a challenge to an appointed guardianship/conservatorship for up to six months;
Require guardian and conservator certification and increase visitation frequency;
Establish a clear asset/income threshold for appointment of a conservator;
Set standards for the Guardian ad Litem report to the court;
Protect personal items of sentimental value from being discarded;
Establish a right to attorney throughout the proceedings;
Establish additional protections for individuals before removing them from their homes;
Improve the basic standard for medical testimony; and more.
“These bills establish basic dignity in our State’s guardianship and conservatorship oversight. This package is fundamentally about protecting and securing continued rights for some of the most vulnerable adults in our state,” said Nessel. “Our guardianship and conservatorship system must serve to protect our residents, and I applaud the House of Representatives for advancing these recommended reforms from our Elder Abuse Task Force.”

Witness and Victim Protection Bills

House Bills 4738 and 4739 would require that prosecutors redact the personally identifying information of victims and witnesses, including addresses and telephone numbers when turning over discovery to the defense. The legislation clearly outlines the victim and witness personal information that is to be protected including home addresses, phone numbers, and social security number. It also provides a clear process to ensure defense counsels and defendants have access to the victims and witnesses information when necessary to ensure protection of their due process rights.

This legislation has been referred to as the Starkisha Thompson Bills, in reference to the brutal murder of Starkisha Thompson believed to have been in retaliation for her testimony in support of the prosecution of a carjacking of which she was the victim.

“Crime victims and witnesses show great strength and courage when they face their assailants and abusers in the courtroom, and protecting them from further victimization and violence is a critical component of the criminal justice system” said Nessel. “Many victims and witnesses are justifiably afraid to cooperate with police investigations for fear of their personal information being shared with a dangerous offender. These bills protect the most vulnerable individuals in our judicial system by shielding their addresses and phone numbers. I now ask the Michigan Senate to act expeditiously to move these bills forward.”

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CPS bills heard Oct 28, from The Mining Journal.

https://www.miningjournal.net/news/2025/10/michigan-house-committee-considers-bills-to-streamline-cps-investigations-into-abuse-neglect/

Michigan House committee considers bills to streamline CPS investigations into abuse, neglect

Katherine Dailey    |     Oct 30, 2025

LANSING — The House Committee on Families and Veterans considered two bills Tuesday, put forward by state Rep. Laurie Pohutsky (D-Livonia) and state Rep. Angela Rigas (R-Alto), HB 4530 and HB 4531.

The first would change the required time frame for mental health providers to respond to a Child Protective Services, or CPS, records request from 14 to seven days, and the second would increase the amount of training on child abuse and neglect provided to mandatory reporters.

“The goal is to keep children safer by making sure those on the front lines are consistently informed and prepared,” Rigas said.

One case, the 2020 murder of an 11-year-old by his mother who then committed suicide, spurred legislators to create this legislation.

In that case, Pohutsky said, “Although there was one CPS investigation that had already been closed and another that was in process in time of the incident, intervention didn’t occur in time to prevent her from taking her own life and of her child.”

Ryan Speidel, who serves as Michigan’s Child Advocate, elaborated on the details of the case, explaining that when investigators sought records from the mother’s mental health providers — which would have shown that she had expressed homicidal intent towards her son for months — they were blocked from accessing the records which, by law, the providers were required to give.

One issue around this is a lack of awareness among providers as to what they have to provide to investigators, as well as a lack of knowledge by mandated reporters as to when they should be reporting potential child abuse or neglect.

“In speaking with teachers, psychologists, school administrators and various other mandated reporters, it is clear a regular training is needed,” Speidel continued. “These mandated reporters consistently remind me that they want and need more training around the recognition of child abuse injuries. I do believe that if both these bills were signed into law, it will make Michigan that much safer for children.”

State Rep. Carrie Rheingans (D-Ann Arbor) expressed concerns about the balance between protecting children while also protecting therapeutic relationships, citing her own husband’s experience as a trauma therapist.

“To be clear, this changes nothing about when records are requested, when they’re required to be handed over, and although these two bills work hand in hand in terms of making sure that all mandatory reporters, including mental health professionals, have adequate information about their responsibilities,” Pohutsky said, “this doesn’t change anything about the responsibilities of mental health professionals, other than the timeline for turning over records they’re already required to turn over.”

The committee also passed a resolution put forth by state Rep. Douglas Wozniak (R-Shelby Twp.), the committee’s vice chair, calling on Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to direct “administrating agencies” to track their efforts to reduce Adverse Childhood Experiences, or ACEs.

A substitute to that bill, proposed by state Rep. Mai Xiong (D-Warren), which would have included “sudden and unexpected loss of family food assistance” as one of those adverse experiences, did not pass along party lines in the committee, with all seven Republicans passing on their vote.

Wozniak’s resolution was sent to the full House also along party lines, with all four Democrats in the committee voting to pass on that vote.

Another bill, HB 4959, put forth by committee chair state Rep. Kathy Schmaltz (R-Jackson), which adds fees for anyone seeking a license to be a professional guardian or professional conservator, passed along the same party lines — seven votes in favor from the GOP members, and four Democrats passing on their votes.

Last week's hearing :

Tuesday, December 9, 2025      10:30 AM

AGENDA

HB 4530 (Rep. Pohutsky)
Mental health: other; deadline for mental health professionals to release mental health records or information pertinent to child abuse or neglect investigation to the department; modify.

HB 5220 (Rep. Rigas)
Children: protection; continuing education for mandated reporters in child abuse and neglect detection; require

HB 5035 (Rep. Roth)
Civil procedure: civil actions; civil action for making a false representation in assisted reproduction; provide for.

HB 5036 (Rep. Steckloff)
Crimes: other; false representation in assisted reproduction; prohibit, and provide penalties.

HB 5037 (Rep. Roth)
Criminal procedure: statute of limitations; statute of limitations for certain criminal sexual conduct offenses related to a false representation in assisted reproduction; provide for.

HB 5038 (Rep. St. Germaine)
Criminal procedure: sentencing guidelines; sentencing guidelines for false representation regarding assisted reproduction; provide for.

HB 5039 (Rep. Roth)
Health occupations: health professionals; disciplinary action for making a false representation in assisted reproduction; provide for.

Presentation from One Big Happy Home

OR ANY BUSINESS PROPERLY BEFORE THIS COMMITTEE