Why It Matters: From protecting sportsmen’s interests at the ballot box, to ensuring access to safe shooting ranges, to meeting the financial needs of conservation efforts, Michigan’s docket is packed with legislation that stands to positively impact sportsmen and women. With a little over six months remaining in the 2025-2026 session, there is plenty of work to be done to advance the interests of the sporting-conservation community.
Highlights:
- Entering summer, there are a number of pro-sporting bills remaining on the Michigan legislative docket.
- Three policy priorities of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF) have cleared their chamber of origin but still need to build momentum to reach the Governor’s desk.
- CSF has advocated for the passage of each bill discussed below and will continue to do so in the home stretch of this legislative session.
While many states around the Midwest have either wrapped up their legislative sessions or are close to doing so, states like Michigan still have plenty of runway remaining – and plenty of pro-sporting legislation to pass. Here’s a status update on three key bills and packages in the Great Lakes State – all of which are policy priorities of CSF.
House Bill 4136 – Sportsman-Voter Registration
This bill would require that the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) provide sportsmen and women the opportunity to register to vote while purchasing hunting and fishing licenses. Sportsmen and women are a critically important voting demographic, and HB 4136 stands to increase their political participation. Around the country, ballot initiatives impacting fish and wildlife management have seen a sharp increase in recent years, and ensuring that Michigan hunters, anglers, and trappers are politically engaged stands to strengthen the voter base’s understanding of science-based fish and wildlife management. After passing the Michigan House of Representatives by a vote of 108-2 in May of 2025, the bill has since stalled in the Senate.
House Bill 4949 – Range Protection
This bill would protect shooting ranges from being unfairly regulated by planning and zoning bodies seeking to prevent their use, expansion, or maintenance. Shooting ranges are essential for hunters’ confidence in their abilities while afield while also providing a space for recreational shooters to safely participate in one of the most rapidly growing sports in the country. After passing the Michigan House of Representatives in March of this year, the Senate has not yet held a hearing on the bill.
Senate Bills 276 and 277 – License Fee Adjustment & Reimbursement for Free/Discounted Licenses
A tie-barred set of conservation funding bills, Senate Bills 276 and 277 would implement modest adjustments to hunting license fees to keep pace with the growing operational costs of the Michigan DNR, including departmental staffing, habitat management, enforcement, and the provision of public access. Even with the proposed increases, Michigan would remain one of the least expensive states for residents to hunt in the Great Lakes region. The package would also alleviate an unintended technical hang-up that has prohibited the state agency from being reimbursed for discounted licenses, even though the statutory mechanism has been in place for decades. Reimbursing state fish and wildlife agencies for the revenue lost from these discounts serves to lower participation barriers for deserving groups, without sacrificing conservation funding. Both bills passed the Senate in October of 2025, but have not yet moved forward in the House.
Around the country, the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation will continue to advocate for legislation like the bills that remain on the docket in Michigan to protect and advance our time-honored outdoor traditions.