Proposal 2026-01 – Constitutional Revision
At the November 3, 2026, general election, Proposal 2026-01 (Proposal 1) will ask Michigan voters whether to call a constitutional convention to revise the 1963 Michigan Constitution. That convention would be charged with drafting a general revision of the state constitution to be submitted to the voters at a later date. A provision of the current constitution automatically places the question on the ballot and requires it to be asked every 16 years. Voters defeated previous questions in 1978, 1994, and 2010.
Why might voters decide a new constitution is desirable? Why might they decide that the current constitution is satisfactory?
From February to September of this year, the Citizens Research Council of Michigan reviewed the provisions in each article in the current constitution. This 15-part analysis found sections and articles that have withstood the test of time and seem to be working as intended. Across several current articles, the Research Council found provisions that have come under scrutiny over the years and likely would be the subject of debate and reform efforts at a convention. The Research Council also identified provisions that are obsolete and violate provisions of the U.S. Constitution that should be amended or struck from the state’s constitution.
The Constitution contains multiple highly charged provisions that sharply divide certain segments of the state’s population. Depending on where one stands on these issues, Proposal 1 may be seen as a threat to or an opportunity to alter existing governmental powers, limitations and public policies.
These provisions include: several sections of the Declaration of Rights, including women’s reproductive rights, a ban on same sex marriage, a prohibition on certain affirmative action programs, authorization for stem cell research, and death penalty restrictions; voting rights embedded into the Elections article; creation of term limits in the Legislative Branch and Executive Branch articles; a requirement for the election of judges in the Judicial Branch article; provisions for local government home rule; a grant of autonomy to the state universities in the Education article; provisions in the article on Finance and Taxation that secure tax and revenue limitations, dedicate tax revenues to specific purposes, and prevent public dollars from funding private school education; the Property article that creates a restriction on the use of eminent domain for economic development purposes; and the Amendment and Revision article that provides for the process of amending the constitution.
