The Overview

If you are a new patient at a Michigan physician's office or urgent care center, staff may now ask whether you want information on joining the organ and tissue donor registry. Michigan's organ donation information law, SB 205, became law when Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) signed it July 21, and it took effect July 23. NPR has reported that Black patients face a harder time finding bone marrow donors because genetic traits used to match donors and recipients are more likely to be shared among people with similar ancestry, and that Black people made up only about 8 percent of the National Marrow Donor Program's registered donors as of 2010, compared with 75 percent who were white. ​

What the Law Does

The law adds a new section to Michigan's Public Health Code, permitting physician private practice offices and urgent care centers to ask each new patient, verbally or on a written or electronic form, whether they want information on the organ and tissue donor registry and on making an anatomical gift. For new patients between 18 and under 45 years old, providers may also ask whether they want information on becoming a bone marrow donor.

If a patient asks, the provider may supply bone marrow donation information including contact details for in-state programs, and donor registry materials including contact information for the state's federally designated organ procurement organization. The law permits but does not require providers to conduct the inquiry or distribute materials, and fiscal analyses found it would have no significant impact on state health department expenditures.

Legislative Status

Sen. Kevin Daley (R), the bill's sponsor, said the bill is aimed at increasing organ donor registry participation and saving lives. The Senate passed the bill 35 to 0 on April 22, 2026.

The House passed it 103 to 3 on June 23, 2026. Gift of Life Michigan, an organ procurement organization, described SB 205 as a measure that would let physicians and urgent-care providers ask patients whether they want information about becoming an organ, tissue, or bone-marrow donor.

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