Museums return for taxpayer cash

Eight museums and a historical society could receive a total of $11.7 million if lawmakers approve several earmarked requests for funds. More than half of the would-be recipients have obtained at least one taxpayer-funded grant in the past five years.

Two requests made by two separate legislators, Reps. Joe Tate, D-Detroit, and Samantha Steckloff, D-Farmington Hills, would provide state funding for the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, located in Detroit.

Tate requested $2.4 million for the Wright museum, and Steckloff requested $500,000 for it.

Tate also requested $1.6 million for the Detroit Historical Society. Steckloff also requested $500,000 for the Zekelman Holocaust Center in Farmington Hills and $500,000 for the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn.

These organizations have received state grants in previous years, according to disclosure forms the legislators submitted to House leadership when they requested the funding.

The three museums might have gained from House Bill 4177 of the 2023-24 session. That bill would have let Wayne County establish a museum authority that could then request tax revenue from local voters. Legislators in the House and the Senate approved the bill on a party-line vote. But it was one of several bills that did not make their way to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in time, so it never became law. A lawsuit filed by the Senate to force Speaker Matt Hall, R-Richland Township, to send that and other bills to Whitmer is awaiting a Michigan Supreme Court hearing.

The Detroit Historical Society, which received $4 million from state taxpayers in 2023 and 2024, also would have received funding from one of the bills that were passed but did not arrive at Whitmer’s desk.

Tate did not respond to an email seeking comment, and neither did Steckloff.

The Grand Rapids Public Museum is another museum that could get state funds through an earmark in the next state budget. Rep. Carol Glanville, D-Walker, requested $2 million for the museum. ”The funding requested will meet community demand for increased engagement with artifacts and specimens as well as additional public gathering spaces for the over 300,000 visitors annually,” Glanville’s form said

The museum was awarded numerous rounds of state funding since 2014. Glanville’s request notes that the museum received $13.5 milling the previous five years.

“Quite simply, I put in the request on behalf of GRPM because they are valuable community asset in my district and that's the process,” Glanville wrote in an email to Michigan Capitol Confidential.

Other museum grant requests in the proposed state budget include:

• Pontiac Transportation Museum: $2.6 million, requested by Rep. Brenda Carter, D-Pontiac
• Michigan’s Military Heritage Museum: $750,000, requested by Rep. Kathy Schmaltz, R-Jackson
• Michigan Flight Museum: $450,000, requested by Rep. Jimmy Wilson Jr., D-Ypsilanti
• Michigan Heroes Museum: $432,700, requested by Rep. Matthew Bierlein, R-Vassar.

CapCon asked the sponsors of those requests for comment. None responded.