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HOUSE BILL NO. 6088
A bill to establish the rights of tenants to organize tenant
unions; to prohibit certain conduct; to provide remedies and
prescribe penalties; and to provide for the powers and duties of
certain state and local governmental officers and entities.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec. 1. This act may be cited as the "tenants right to 1
organize act". 2
Sec. 3. As used in this act: 3
(a) "Common area" means a portion of a rental premises that is 4
generally accessible to all tenants. Common area includes, but is 5
June 16, 2026, Introduced by Reps. Dievendorf, Wegela, Byrnes, Price, Weiss, McKinney,
MacDonell, Pohutsky, B. Carter, Rheingans, Myers -Phillips, Tsernoglou, Wilson and Coffia
and referred to Committee on Government Operations.
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not limited to, a hallway, a stairway, a laundry and recreational 1
room, a playground, a community center, a garage, or a boundary 2
fence. 3
(b) "Landlord" means that term as defined in section 1 of 1972 4
PA 348, MCL 554.601. 5
(c) "Rental agreement" means an agreement that establishes or 6
modifies the terms, conditions, rules, regulations, or any other 7
provisions concerning the use and occupancy of a rental unit. 8
(d) "Rental unit" means a structure or part of a structure 9
used as a home, residence, or sleeping unit by a single individual 10
or household unit, or any grounds, or other facilities or areas 11
promised for the use of a residential tenant. 12
(e) "Tenant" means an individual who occupies a rental unit 13
for residential purposes with the landlord's consent for an agreed-14
upon consideration. 15
(f) "Tenant organizer" means a person that assists tenants in 16
organizing, forming, or operating a tenant union and is not an 17
employee or representative of the current or prospective landlord. 18
(g) "Tenant union" means a union organized or formed by 19
tenants in residential premises that gives the tenants the right to 20
do all of the following: 21
(i) Self-organize. 22
(ii) Join, meet, and assist one another. 23
(iii) Confer through representatives of the tenants' own 24
choosing with a landlord. 25
(iv) Engage in other concerted activities for the purpose of 26
mutual aid and protection or refrain from any concerted activity if 27
the tenants choose. 28
(v) Promulgate rules that govern the activities of the tenant 29
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union. 1
Sec. 5. Beginning on the effective date of this act, tenants 2
have the right to organize or form a tenant union. A tenant union 3
may do all of the following: 4
(a) Distribute literature in common areas in the rental 5
premises. 6
(b) Place literature at or under tenants' doors. 7
(c) Post information on bulletin boards within the rental 8
premises. 9
(d) Assist tenants to participate in tenant organizational 10
activities. 11
(e) Convene tenants meetings at any reasonable time and in any 12
appropriate space that would reasonably be interpreted as areas 13
that the tenants have access to under the tenants' rental 14
agreements, including a common area, the tenant's unit, if the 15
tenant consents, or other available space. A tenant union may 16
permit electronic attendance of a meeting convened under this act 17
if a majority of the tenants in the tenant union consent to the 18
electronic attendance. A landlord shall not attend or make 19
audiorecordings of a meeting convened under this subdivision unless 20
permitted to do so by a majority of tenants in attendance. 21
(f) Formulate responses to the landlord's actions, including 22
rent or rent ceiling increases or requests for rent or rent ceiling 23
increases, proposed increases or decreases, or other changes in the 24
rental premises. 25
(g) Propose that the landlord modify the rental premises' 26
facilities and services. 27
(h) Engage in any other activity reasonably related to the 28
establishment or operation of a tenant union. 29
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(i) Collect tenant union dues. 1
Sec. 7. (1) Tenants may engage the services of a tenant 2
organizer to form a tenant union. 3
(2) A tenant organizer may canvass on behalf of the tenants in 4
a multifamily rental premises. All of the following apply to a 5
tenant organizer's right to canvass in a multifamily rental 6
premises: 7
(a) If the multifamily rental premises has a written policy 8
that allows canvassing, a tenant organizer that is not a tenant has 9
the same privileges and rights of access as other uninvited outside 10
parties in the normal course of operations. 11
(b) If the multifamily rental premises does not have a 12
consistently enforced, written policy against canvassing, the 13
multifamily rental premises must be treated as if it has a policy 14
that allows canvassing. 15
(c) If a multifamily rental premises has a consistently 16
enforced, written policy against canvassing, a tenant shall 17
accompany the tenant organizer that is not a tenant while the 18
tenant organizer is canvassing within the multifamily rental 19
premises. The tenant organizer that is not a tenant has the same 20
privileges and rights of access as other invited outside parties in 21
the normal course of operations. 22
Sec. 9. (1) A landlord shall not do any of the following: 23
(a) Interfere with the rights of tenants or a tenant organizer 24
under this act. 25
(b) Threaten, penalize, or discriminate or retaliate against a 26
tenant that exercises the tenant's rights under this act. 27
Discriminatory or retaliatory conduct includes, but is not limited 28
to, intentionally delaying maintenance services, revoking access to 29
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community amenities, or taking frivolous adverse actions against a 1
tenant. 2
(c) Interfere with or delay the investigation of a violation 3
or the enforcement of this act. 4
(2) A landlord that violates subsection (1) is subject to all 5
of the following: 6
(a) A civil fine of not more than $1,000.00 for each 7
violation. 8
(b) An injunctive order. 9
(c) Reasonable attorney fees. 10
(3) The attorney general, a tenant, or a tenant organizer may 11
bring an action to enforce this act in a court of competent 12
jurisdiction in the county where the defendant resides or does 13
business. 14
Sec. 11. If any portion of this act or the application of this 15
act to any person or circumstances is found invalid by a court, the 16
invalidity must not affect the remaining portions or applications 17
of this act that can be given effect without the invalid portion or 18
application, if the remaining portions are not determined by the 19
court to be inoperative, and to this end this act is declared to be 20
severable. 21