By State Rep. Pauline Wendzel, Chairwoman, Michigan House Energy Committee

On April 22^nd, the House Energy Committee will keep a promise we made to Michigan voters and take up House Bills 4027 and 4028—legislation that restores what should never have been taken away: the right of local communities to decide what’s best for their land.

This is a question of stewardship. Of who knows a place best. And the answer is simple: it’s the people who live there. The farmers, the families, the local officials—they’re the ones who raise their kids, drive the roads, and built a community. They understand the land not as an abstract resource, but as something personal—something lasting.

When Lansing strips away local control, like Democrats did last term, and puts decisions about land use into the hands of distant bureaucrats, it doesn’t just create policy problems. It creates a disconnect. It tells communities their knowledge doesn’t matter, their voice doesn’t count, and what’s best for their community is secondary to some distant bureaucrat’s agenda.

That’s wrong.

This legislation restores balance. It puts power back where it belongs—in township halls and county boards, not state offices. It allows energy development to move forward, but in partnership with the people most affected by it, not in defiance of them.

We’re not just legislating energy policy. We’re defending a principle: that the best decisions are made closest to the people they affect—and the best stewards of the land are the ones who call it home.