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HOUSE BILL NO. 5923
A bill to amend 2015 PA 160, entitled
"Michigan achieving a better life experience (ABLE) program act,"
by amending sections 2, 7, 8, and 17 (MCL 206.982, 206.987,
206.988, and 206.997), section 2 as amended by 2024 PA 194.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec. 2. As used in this act: 1
(a) "ABLE" means achieving a better life experience. 2
(b) "ABLE savings account" or "account" means an account 3
established under this act. 4
April 29, 2026, Introduced by Reps. Aragona, MacDonell, Rheingans, Paiz, Dievendorf,
Tsernoglou, Breen, Martus, Hope, Young, Greene, Weiss and Coffia and referred to Committee
on Appropriations.
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(c) "Account owner" means an individual who is a resident of 1
this state, or a resident of a contracting state, and who enters 2
into a Michigan ABLE savings program agreement and establishes an 3
ABLE savings account. The account owner shall be is the designated 4
beneficiary of the account unless the designated beneficiary is a 5
minor or lacks capacity to enter into an agreement, in which case a 6
designated representative may open an account on behalf of the 7
minor or incapacitated individual and serve as the account owner. 8
(d) "Contracting state" means a state without a qualified ABLE 9
program that has entered into a contract with this state to provide 10
its residents access to the Michigan ABLE program. 11
(e) "Department" means the department of treasury. 12
(f) "Designated beneficiary" means an eligible individual 13
designated as the individual whose qualified disability expenses 14
are expected to be paid from the account. The designated 15
beneficiary must be an eligible individual at the time the account 16
is established. The designated beneficiary shall be the account 17
owner unless that eligible individual is a minor or lacks capacity 18
to enter into an agreement. The account owner may change the 19
designated beneficiary as provided in this act. 20
(g) "Designated representative" means an individual who is 21
authorized to act on behalf of the designated beneficiary if the 22
designated beneficiary is a minor or has a guardian, conservator, 23
or other fiduciary who has been appointed for purposes of managing 24
that designated beneficiary's financial affairs. 25
(h) "Disability certification" means that term as defined in 26
section 529A of the internal revenue code. 27
(i) "Eligible individual" means that term as defined in 28
section 529A of the internal revenue code. 29
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(j) "Internal revenue code" means the United States internal 1
revenue code of 1986 in effect on January 1, 2024 2026 or at the 2
option of the taxpayer, in effect for the current year. 3
(k) "Management contract" means the contract executed between 4
the treasurer and a program manager. 5
(l) "Member of the family" means a family member that term as 6
defined in section 529A of the internal revenue code. 7
(m) "Michigan ABLE savings program agreement" means the 8
agreement between the program and an account owner that establishes 9
an ABLE savings account. 10
(n) "Program" means the Michigan ABLE savings program 11
established pursuant to this act. 12
(o) "Program manager" means 1 or more entities selected by the 13
treasurer to act as a manager of the program. 14
(p) "Qualified disability expenses" means that term as defined 15
in section 529A of the internal revenue code. 16
(q) "Qualified withdrawal" means a distribution that is not 17
subject to a penalty or an excise tax under section 529A of the 18
internal revenue code or taxation under the income tax act of 1967, 19
1967 PA 281, MCL 206.1 to 206.847, and that meets any of the 20
following: 21
(i) A withdrawal from an account to pay the qualified 22
disability expenses of the designated beneficiary incurred after 23
the account is established. 24
(ii) A withdrawal made as the result of the death or disability 25
of the designated beneficiary of an account. 26
(iii) A transfer of funds due to the termination of the 27
management contract as provided in section 5. 28
(iv) A transfer of funds as provided in section 8. 29
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(r) "Savings plan" or "plan" means a plan that provides 1
different investment strategies and allows account distributions 2
for qualified disability expenses. 3
(s) "Treasurer" means the state treasurer. 4
Sec. 7. (1) Beginning January 1, 2016, ABLE savings accounts 5
may be established under this act. 6
(2) Any individual who is a resident of this state or a 7
resident of a contracting state may open an ABLE savings account to 8
save money to pay the qualified disability expenses of the 9
designated beneficiary. Each account opened under this act shall 10
must have only 1 designated beneficiary. Only 1 account shall be 11
opened for any 1 designated beneficiary. 12
(3) To open an ABLE savings account, the individual or 13
designated representative of a designated beneficiary shall enter 14
into a Michigan ABLE savings program agreement with the program. 15
The program shall recognize an individual as a designated 16
representative and not require a designated representative to 17
obtain court approval before opening and funding an ABLE savings 18
account under this act. The Michigan ABLE savings program agreement 19
shall must be in the form prescribed by a program manager and 20
approved by the treasurer and contain all of the following: 21
(a) The name, address, and social security number of the 22
account owner. 23
(b) A designated beneficiary. The name, address, and social 24
security number of the designated beneficiary, if the account owner 25
is the designated beneficiary's designated representative. 26
(c) Any other information that the treasurer or program 27
manager considers necessary. 28
(4) Any person may make contributions to an account after the 29
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account is opened, subject to the limitations imposed by section 1
529A of the internal revenue code or any rules and regulations 2
promulgated by the treasurer pursuant to this act. 3
(5) Contributions to accounts shall only be made in cash, by 4
check, by credit card, or by any similar method as approved by the 5
state treasurer but shall not be property. 6
(6) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the 7
contrary, money in the ABLE savings account shall be is exempt from 8
creditor process and shall not be is not liable to attachment, 9
garnishment, or other process, nor shall it and must not be seized, 10
taken, appropriated, or applied by any legal or equitable process 11
or operation of law to pay any debt or liability of the designated 12
beneficiary or account owner. However, this state may be a creditor 13
of the account in the event of the death of the designated 14
beneficiary as provided under section 529A(f) of the internal 15
revenue code. 16
(7) Distributions from an account shall must be made in the 17
following manner: 18
(a) In the form of a check payable to the designated 19
beneficiary or account owner. 20
(b) In the form of an electronic funds transfer to an account 21
specified by the designated beneficiary or account owner. 22
(c) Directly to a provider of goods and services that are 23
qualified disability expenses, if purchased for a designated 24
beneficiary. 25
(8) Each savings plan under the program shall must provide 26
separate accounting for each designated beneficiary. 27
Sec. 8. (1) Changes Unless prohibited by federal law, changes 28
in account owners or designated beneficiaries are permitted as 29
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follows: 1
(a) An account owner may change the designated beneficiary of 2
an account to another eligible individual who is a member of the 3
family of the previously designated beneficiary. 4
(b) An account owner may transfer all or a portion of an 5
account to another ABLE savings account with another designated 6
beneficiary as long as the new designated beneficiary of the 7
account to which the transfer is made is an eligible individual and 8
a member of the family of the previous designated beneficiary. 9
(c) An account owner who is a designated representative may 10
designate another individual as a successor owner of the account in 11
the event of the death of the account owner. The successor owner 12
must meet the definition of an account owner under this act. 13
(d) An account owner who is the designated beneficiary may 14
designate another individual as a survivor beneficiary of the 15
account in the event of the death of the designated beneficiary. If 16
the survivor beneficiary is an eligible individual, then the 17
survivor beneficiary is the successor owner of the account after 18
final distributions have been made on behalf of the deceased 19
designated beneficiary. If the survivor beneficiary is not an 20
eligible individual, then any proceeds remaining after final 21
distributions have been made on behalf of the deceased designated 22
beneficiary must be distributed to the survivor beneficiary and the 23
account must be closed. 24
(2) Changes in designated beneficiaries and transfers under 25
this section are not permitted to the extent that the change or 26
transfer would constitute excess contributions or unauthorized 27
investment choices. 28
(3) Unless prohibited by federal law, upon the death of a 29
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designated beneficiary, if a survivor beneficiary was not 1
designated under subsection (1), any proceeds remaining after final 2
distributions have been made on behalf of the deceased designated 3
beneficiary must be transferred to the estate of the designated 4
beneficiary. 5
Sec. 17. (1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law 6
regarding an assistance program offered by this state that requires 7
consideration of 1 or more financial circumstances of an 8
individual, for the purpose of determining eligibility to receive, 9
or the amount of, any assistance or benefit authorized by that 10
provision to be provided to or for the benefit of an individual, 11
any amount and interest earned on an ABLE savings account for the 12
individual, any contributions to the ABLE savings account of the 13
individual, and any distribution for qualified disability expenses 14
shall must be disregarded as provided in section 10g of the social 15
welfare act, 1939 PA 280, MCL 400.10g, with respect to any period 16
during which the individual maintains, makes contributions to, or 17
receives distributions from his or her the individual's ABLE 18
savings account. 19
(2) Upon the death of the a designated beneficiary, unless 20
otherwise required by federal law, the amount remaining in his or 21
her the designated beneficiary's ABLE savings account shall be 22
distributed pursuant to section 529A(f) of the internal revenue 23
code is not subject to claims made under the Michigan Medicaid 24
estate recovery program established under section 112g of the 25
social welfare act, 1939 PA 280, MCL 400.112g. 26
Enacting section 1. This amendatory act does not take effect 27
unless Senate Bill No. ____ (request no. S06372'26) or House Bill 28
No. 5922 (request no. H06372'26) of the 103rd Legislature is 29
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Final Page
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enacted into law. 1