Push to Eliminate MEDC Sparks Fight Over Michigan's Economic Development Future — and Local Jobs

The next Livonia storefront expansion, redevelopment of a blighted property or employer job-creation plan could depend on a Lansing fight now centered on the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. House Republicans have introduced bills to strip the agency of its authority and unwind interlocal agreements, following a larger Senate package also aimed at eliminating the MEDC. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has pledged to veto any such legislation if it reaches her desk.

For Livonia and western Wayne County, the fight is not abstract: the MEDC serves as the state's public-private partnership and lead marketing arm for business attraction, economic development and community revitalization. Local communities can access statewide grant programs such as Match on Main and the Michigan Business Development Program to support projects and small businesses.

The Michigan Business Development Program provides performance-based grants and loans for competitive projects creating jobs or investment on behalf of the Michigan Strategic Fund. In May 2026, the Strategic Fund approved grants for three projects in Troy, Detroit and Fenton that will create 650 new jobs and more than $97 million in capital investment statewide. Among them is Alquist 3D LLC's new manufacturing and R&D facility in Detroit in Wayne County, backed by a $1.6 million grant and expected to invest at least $31.25 million and create up to 162 jobs over five years.

Match on Main is a reimbursement-based grant providing up to $25,000 per project to support new and expanding place-based small businesses through local downtown organizations, municipalities or Main Street programs. The FY26 funding round, with an application window from March 1 to April 24, 2026, generated the highest participation in program history with 152 applications, and the Michigan Strategic Fund Board has approved FY26 awards.

The MEDC also administers the Michigan Community Revitalization Program, which provides grants and loans for projects on contaminated, blighted or historic properties, and the Public Spaces Community Places program, which invests in public space development. The agency provides capital access programs to help small businesses secure loans, including specialized loans for women, veterans and entrepreneurs of color.

The House Republican two-bill package would amend the Michigan Strategic Fund Act to abolish the MEDC and amend the Urban Cooperation Act to prohibit the Strategic Fund from contracting with local governments for economic development purposes. Senator Thomas Albert introduced a separate 53-bill legislative package — Senate Bills 631 through 683 — that would eliminate the MEDC, Michigan Strategic Fund, Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve Fund, Strategic Site Readiness Program and Michigan Film and Digital Media Office, replacing them with a newly created Bureau of Fair Competition and Free Enterprise within the Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity.

Republican lawmakers argue the MEDC constitutes ineffective corporate welfare, citing data showing the agency created only one job for every 11 promised. State investigators raided MEDC offices in June 2025, seizing records tied to a $20 million grant that included a $4,500 coffee maker and exorbitant salaries.

If the bills succeed, Livonia and Wayne County communities would lose access to the Business Development Program, Match on Main, community revitalization grants and capital access programs. The legislation would also sever the formal contracting relationship that local governments use to tap state financing tools, cutting off the pipeline that connects a local project to state-backed dollars.

Bobby Leddy, spokesperson for Governor Gretchen Whitmer, said Governor Whitmer will "prevent these bills from destroying the economy." Even with the veto promise, the legislative fight creates uncertainty for local officials planning economic development projects and for businesses weighing investment decisions that depend on MEDC incentive programs.

Livonia city officials, Wayne County Executive Warren Evans and western Wayne County economic development leaders have not provided public reaction on what the elimination bills would mean for local deal pipelines. But for communities weighing their next project and workers looking to the jobs it could bring, the fight is over whether those state-backed tools will still be there when the deal reaches Lansing.