# Michigan

Michigan has no forensic science commission or analyst license, and no crime lab accreditation statute was found. From 2023 through October 2026 the State ended the DNA assessment for juveniles and, in its budgets, barred public safety revenue-sharing money from paying for facial recognition technology.

Source: https://uscli.org/forensic-science-tracker/michigan

## At a glance

- **Oversight body:** None. No statute creates a forensic science commission or independent crime lab oversight body, and Legislature searches of 2023 to 2026 bills for “forensic science commission,” “crime laboratory,” and “forensic analyst” returned no results. The Michigan State Police run the state forensic laboratory under the DNA Identification Profiling System Act ([MCL 28.171 to 28.176](https://www.legislature.mi.gov/Laws/MCL?objectName=mcl-28-176)).
- **Lab accreditation:** No statutory requirement was found in the sections reviewed. Whether any Michigan statute requires accreditation could not be fully checked from official sources on October 19, 2026, because a search across all compiled laws could not be run on the Legislature’s site.
- **Analyst licensing:** None
- **Admissibility standard:** Michigan Rule of Evidence 702. Its current text, the 2024 restyling of the rules, and whether Michigan adopted the 2023 change to Federal Rule 702 could not be checked from official sources on October 19, 2026, because the Michigan courts site bars automated access. In civil cases, [MCL 600.2955](https://www.legislature.mi.gov/Laws/MCL?objectName=mcl-600-2955) lists reliability factors such as testing, peer review, and general acceptance.
- **Post-conviction forensic relief:** No general changed-science statute. [MCL 770.16](https://www.legislature.mi.gov/Laws/MCL?objectName=mcl-770-16) allows post-conviction DNA testing for people convicted at trial before January 8, 2001 who are serving a prison sentence, and for people convicted at trial on or after that date if DNA testing was done, the results were inconclusive, and current DNA technology is likely to give conclusive results. That second path is a limited changed-technology route.

## Changes, 2023 to 2026

- Jul 21, 2026 — **Revenue-sharing money may not pay for facial recognition** — 2025 PA 22 (HB 4706) and 2026 PA 21 (SB 878), section 959 · Effective October 7, 2025 and July 21, 2026 — In two budget acts, public safety revenue-sharing distributions to cities, villages, townships, and counties “must not be used for … the acquisition or use of facial recognition technology,” defined as an automated or semiautomated process that helps identify or verify a person from their face. The limit sits in annual appropriations, not in the compiled laws, and reaches only those distributions. — **For practitioners:** Ask how a local agency paid for any facial recognition tool used in a case. — [2025 PA 22](https://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/2025-2026/publicact/pdf/2025-PA-0022.pdf)[2026 PA 21](https://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/2025-2026/publicact/pdf/2026-PA-0021.pdf)
- Oct 1, 2024 — **No DNA assessment for juveniles** — 2023 PA 302 (SB 429) · Approved December 12, 2023; effective October 1, 2024 — MCL 28.176(5) now says the $60 DNA assessment does not apply to a juvenile, or the juvenile’s parent, guardian, or legal custodian, under family division jurisdiction. The other changes are style only. Collection of juvenile DNA is unchanged. — **For practitioners:** The fee is gone, but juvenile DNA collection and retention rules are not. — [2023 PA 302](https://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/2023-2024/publicact/pdf/2023-PA-0302.pdf)[MCL 28.176](https://www.legislature.mi.gov/Laws/MCL?objectName=mcl-28-176)

## Pending bills

These bills had been introduced but not passed as of October 19, 2026. The 2025–2026 session ends December 31, 2026, and bills not enacted die.

- **HB 6092:** would amend MCL 770.16(1), including the grounds for petitions by people convicted on or after January 8, 2001. Last action June 17, 2026. [HB 6092](https://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/2025-2026/billintroduced/House/pdf/2026-HIB-6092.pdf)
- **HB 5017:** would amend MCL 28.176, the DNA retention list, with HB 5016. Last action September 24, 2025. [HB 5017](https://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/2025-2026/billintroduced/House/pdf/2025-HIB-5017.pdf)

## Checked and unchanged

- MCL 770.16 (post-conviction DNA testing) was last amended by 2015 PA 229. MCL 600.2955 is unchanged since 1995 PA 249.
- Public acts from 2023 through mid-2026 were screened by title, and full-text searches of 2023 to 2026 public acts for “crime laboratory” returned none. Apart from the entries above, no act found concerned forensic labs, genetic genealogy, or rapid DNA. Not counted: 2023 PA 119, section 1020(20), barred a $30 million grant-funded freeway video feed system in a county of more than 1,500,000 people from using or facilitating facial recognition technology.
- 2024 PA 268 amended the general criminal limitations statute (MCL 767.24), including periods for criminal sexual conduct offenses; its no-limit rule for DNA evidence from an unidentified person existed before 2023, so it is not counted.
- The Michigan Court Rules on relief from judgment (MCR 6.500 et seq.) could not be checked from official sources on October 19, 2026.