At the Clean Fuels Michigan Summit 2025, attendees shared thoughtful insights about where clean mobility is headed. One comment stood out: Sarah Hubbard’s reminder that the best policy solutions are often bipartisan, even if they take longer to achieve.
As someone who believes business can help solve social and environmental challenges, the pace of legislative action can feel frustrating. But our forefathers deliberately designed a slow, thoughtful system. The goal was to prevent sudden policy swings and promote long-term stability. Business moves fast. Government is designed to move more slowly. That difference can be challenging, but it can also be productive.
Sarah’s point rings true. Bipartisan solutions may take longer to craft, but they tend to last. They create a stable foundation for investment, innovation, and community well-being.
Stability does not mean standing still
Whether raising a child, training for a fitness goal, or managing an organization, stability supports growth. The same applies to markets, businesses, and communities.
Markets thrive when policy is stable
Economists consistently find that unstable policy environments slow economic growth. Research using the Harvard Business School Policy Uncertainty Index shows that when businesses face unpredictable regulations, they delay investment, hiring, and expansion. In contrast, bipartisan policies such as the 2015 FAST Act created multiyear certainty and led to immediate increases in infrastructure investment. Stability unlocks capital.
Businesses perform better with predictable rules
McKinsey and other consulting firms note that long-term regulatory clarity is one of the strongest predictors of corporate investment in innovation. When companies know the rules will remain consistent, they invest in technology, modernize supply chains, and plan confidently for growth.
The clean mobility sector is a clear example. Over the past decade, bipartisan incentives at both the state and federal levels have supported record private-sector investment in EV manufacturing, charging infrastructure, and advanced fuel technologies. These policies weren’t perfect, but they were predictable, and predictability drives investment.
People thrive when their environment is stable
Psychological research shows that uncertainty increases stress and cognitive load, making it harder for people to make decisions or take healthy risks. Stability does not eliminate stress, but it helps people think more clearly, remain productive, and maintain stronger overall well-being when the “rules of the game” stay consistent.
A simple truth
Bipartisan solutions may take longer, but they build the stability that markets, businesses, and people need to flourish. At a time when polarization often rewards speed over substance, it is worth remembering the long game and investing in policies that can outlast election cycles.
Michigan’s opportunity in 2026
As we look toward 2026, Michigan has a real opportunity to lead by choosing policies that are practical, reliable, and built to last. Durable progress only happens when leaders from both parties come to the table.
This is why Clean Fuels Michigan will continue to focus on informing decision-makers about smart, bipartisan policies that support long-term economic growth, clean transportation innovation, and prosperous communities for generations of Michiganders.
A stable and thriving clean future is within reach when we build it together.