Michigan bill would repeal the HOA solar law outright — and has moved twice without a hearing
Michigan bill would repeal the HOA solar law outright — and has moved twice without a hearing
2026-09-12 · Michigan · Legislation · Pending — not yet law
What happened. A bill that would repeal Michigan's HOA solar statute outright has spent seventeen months being moved between two committees without being heard in either. House Bill 4363, introduced 22 April 2025 by Rep. Pauline Wendzel (R-39) with twelve co-sponsors, is a single-purpose repealer: “A bill to repeal 2024 PA 68, entitled ‘Homeowners' energy policy act,’ (MCL 559.301 to 559.317).”1
It is not law and shows no sign of becoming law. It is worth knowing about anyway, for a reason set out below.
The committee history is the story
The bill's entire recorded life is four lines:
- 22 April 2025 — introduced, referred to the Committee on Energy.
- 24 July 2025 — rule suspended, motion to discharge the committee approved, bill placed on second reading — and then, the same day, referred to the Committee on Government Operations.
- 21 October 2025 — rule suspended, motion to discharge approved, placed on second reading — and, again the same day, re-referred to the Committee on Energy.
No hearing, no testimony, no substitute, no vote. Read that sequence carefully: the House majority twice pulled the bill onto the floor calendar and twice sent it straight back into a committee before the day was out. That is the signature of a caucus that wants a measure visible and does not have the floor votes for it — or does not want the recorded vote.
Who is behind it
The co-sponsors are all Republicans: Reps. Joseph Pavlov, Timothy Beson, John Roth, Doug Wozniak, Joseph Aragona, Gregory Alexander, Matt Bierlein, Tim Kelly, Josh Schriver, Gina Johnsen, Jamie Thompson and William Bruck. The Community Associations Institute's Michigan chapter opposed 2024 PA 68 when it passed and has publicly supported a full repeal, on the ground that the act displaces decisions properly made by an association's elected board.
Why a bill going nowhere matters to a board
Because of what repeal would and would not undo, and because associations are making durable decisions right now on the assumption the act is permanent.
A straight repeal of 2024 PA 68 would remove the mandate to hold a solar policy, the invalidation of approval requirements for the section 3 list of improvements, the 30-day and 120-day decision clocks, the exhaustive list of permitted denial grounds, and the member's fee-shifting cause of action at MCL 559.315. It would not, by itself, revive covenants the act has already declared “invalid and unenforceable as contrary to public policy” — whether a repeal resurrects a provision that was void while the statute stood is a question Michigan courts would have to answer, and the bill contains no savings or revival clause to answer it for them.
Nor would repeal reach systems already installed. Installations made while an association had no compliant policy are protected by section 11(3)'s bar on fines and penalties as of the moment they were made.
The practical read for the rest of 2026
The 103rd Legislature is in its second year. The House stands adjourned until 15 September 2026 and the Senate until 22 September 2026, and everything not enacted dies at sine die in December. A bill that has never had a hearing, in a chamber where the majority passed the underlying act on party lines two years ago, is not a live threat to 2024 PA 68 in this session.
What HB 4363 is instead is a marker. It tells a board that the repeal position has thirteen named sponsors and organised trade support behind it, and that the argument will be refiled in the 104th Legislature convening January 2027. It does not tell a board to wait.
The cost of treating it as a reason to delay
This is the concrete risk. An association that has not adopted a solar policy because “the law might be repealed” is carrying the full exposure of non-compliance today: any member may install without approval and the association may not fine them, and a member who has to sue to establish that recovers attorney fees. The repeal bill, even if it passed tomorrow, would not retroactively cure a single day of that.
What to watch next
A hearing notice from the House Energy Committee would be the first real signal, and there has been none in seventeen months. Failing that, the thing to watch is the refile in January 2027 — and specifically whether the next version is a straight repeal or an amendment narrowing the act, which is the form a measure would need to take to have any prospect of a floor vote.
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