Michigan landlords could face discrimination lawsuits for denying rental applicants due to income reasons under legislation sent to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Wednesday.

Senate Democrats approved House bills 4062 and 4063 Wednesday evening to allow tenants to sue landlords if they believe their rental application was rejected because of their source of income, the Detroit Free Press reports.

The legislation follows Senate bills 205 and 206, approved in party-line votes in September, that outlawed housing discrimination based on income source. That legislation was tie-barred to HBs 4062 and 4063, a provision that requires all of the bills to become law, or none.

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The legislation applies to landlords with at least five rental properties, and would require them to consider housing assistance, housing vouchers, public assistance, veterans’ benefits, Social Security, supplemental security income or any federal, state, local, or nonprofit funds as legitimate sources of income.

Complaints would be investigated by the Michigan Department of Civil Rights.

“Many folks are struggling to find adequate and affordable housing these days, and these bills would make it easier for folks who are either low income and relying upon a voucher, or if they’ve got maybe income from child support or veterans’ services, those types of incomes would have to be treated the same as other types of income,” one of the bill sponsors, Sen. Jeff Irwin, D-Ann Arbor, told WKAR in September.

Irwin told the Detroit Free Press the bill package will increase access to housing for residents struggling in the Biden-Harris economy.

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“We would be fighting for every Michigander,” he said.

The bills, however, have faced opposition from Republicans and the Property Management Association of Michigan, which note mid-size landlords will struggle to comply with rigid inspection rules and payment schedules imposed by federal housing voucher programs. While small landlords would be exempt, and large landlords have the resources to comply, the legislation could force mid-size landlords to leave apartments vacant, PMAM’s Doug Marcum told WKAR.

“If it were refined, updated, changed to eliminate some of this red tape and challenges,” Marcum said, “I think you would see a lot more owners and management companies that would welcome the voucher program.”

“I think it’s destructive to the people out there who are barely getting by who need more housing, not less, and this is going to create less people wanting to go into rental housing,” Sen. Jim Runestad, R-White Lake, agreed, adding the bills will also make it more difficult for landlords to weed out criminal applicants.

Runestad argued property managers should have the ability to select the tenants they rent to, and he recently took aim at a slew of controversial bills being pushed through by Democrats during the lame duck session, a situation that could have been prevented.

“I proposed a measure to prevent exactly this type of legislative overreach,” Runestad said in a statement Tuesday, pointing to his Senate Joint Resolution E, introduced in 2021, that would require three-fourths of all lawmakers to approve lame duck bills. “It’s unacceptable when one party exploits its control to push a last-minute, radical agenda. This garbage must end.”

“Michigan voters demanded accountability and change, not radical policies that disregard the will of the people,” he said. “This lame duck agenda undermines the values of our state and ignores the voices of Michigan citizens who made their stance clear on Nov. 5 — enough is enough.”

Other legislation cited by Runestad with “potential to harm Michigan families and communities” includes bills to allow illegal immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses, eliminate the Electoral College, allow early prison releases for criminals, restrict public objections to library books based on gender identity or sexual orientation themes, revamp the state’s sex education curriculum to include gender identity and sexual orientation discussions, override local zoning to allow gravel mines anywhere in the state, and introduce vaccine requirements for students.