Back in April of last year, a plethora of Democrats started cooking up new legislation to make homeowners dig deep into their wallets for mandatory septic inspections. This includes twin bills in the House (4479 and 4480) and Senate (299 and 300). Right now, Michigan stands alone as the only state without a statewide septic code and legislators want that changed.

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According to the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE), about one-third of Michigan residents use a septic system. A recent report by Public Sector Consultants estimates that between 130,000 and 325,000 of these systems are failing to properly process wastewater, posing a threat to public health, drinking water sources, and nearby rivers and streams.

Fixed income? Fixed into a corner.

If you’re living on a fixed income, brace yourself. The state’s genius plan involves requiring septic system inspections every five years, costing a homeowner around $750 a pop. That’s right, every five years you could be out almost a grand, just to have someone tell you what you probably already know: your septic tank is doing just fine, thank you very much. For the many Michiganders struggling to make ends meet, this is a gut punch. Not to mention what the costs would be if a homeowner needs to make repairs or install a new septic system.

Let’s not forget our elderly population, who are often on fixed incomes and are the ones who have older homes and older septic systems. For them, having to get an inspection done could mean choosing between a crucial septic inspection and basic necessities like groceries or medication.

Counties can’t catch a break.

The burden doesn’t stop at homeowners though. Counties are expected to pick up the slack by hiring a small army of inspectors and clerical staff to handle this administrative nightmare. Grand Traverse County, for example, estimates needing 23 full-time inspectors and nine clerical staff, all to keep up with this new mandate according to a recent report from the Traverse City Ticker. Discussing the legislation recently, county commissioners figured out that with about 25,000 septic systems in the county, they’d need to crank out roughly 5,000 inspections annually.

Inspections on demand: a practical approach or bureaucratic overreach?

And what about the supposed health benefits? Sure, failing septic systems are a problem. Currently, without a statewide code, the responsibility for regulating septic systems falls to local governments and their health departments, leading to significantly varied approaches from one county to another.

But do we need state lawmakers to strong-arm every homeowner into inspections? Critics argue that inspections could be more efficiently handled through a trigger mechanism – like when a property is sold or transferred.