Inside 208

The House of Representatives voted out HB 4522, a bill providing legislative committees dealing with review of auditor general reports power to subpoena local units of government and schools. The ability to subpoena local records is already allowed under Act 118 of 1931 by a resolution of the full house/senate.  This legislation [...]

HB 4182 (Rep. Price, R – Holland) passed out of the full house this week.  This bill amends the Open Meetings Act and would make it a requirement that an elected member of a public body must be physically present to vote on an issue in order for a meeting to [...]

A bill, HB 4422, to allow for transit oriented development activities in business improvement zones received a hearing in the House Commerce and Trade committee this week. We thank Rep. Andy Schor for introducing this legislation!  Transit is vital to attracting and retaining talented individuals in our communities and having this financing [...]

Following the overall budget deal struck last week between the Governor and Legislative leaders, the House and Senate this week set conference committees in motion drafting the particulars of that deal. Nearly all of the conference reports have been approved and sent to the floors of the House and Senate. [...]

The Roads and Economic Development committee held a second day of hearings on the House road funding plan. The committee first took testimony on HB 4615, HB 4614, and HB 4616, which would increase the diesel fuel tax to 19 cents per gallon on October 1, 2015, making it equal [...]

Today, the House and Senate conference committee on transportation approved a $400 million contribution from the General Fund to go toward road fixes. Approximately $140 million will be used to ensure that the state can match all available federal aid highway funds. The remaining $240 million will be distributed to [...]

The newly formed Roads and Economic Development committee held the first of three committee hearings this morning on a package of bills introduced by House Republicans to fix Michigan’s crumbling roads. HB 4610 allows townships contributing greater than 50% to a road project over $50,000 to require competitive bidding and [...]

This week, SB 305, a bill to prohibit local units of government from regulating the transportation, possession, sale, or licensing of a knife or knife making components, passed the Senate Local Government Committee.  This bill would also prohibit a local unit of government from regulating the manufacture of a knife [...]

After debating House Bill 4052 for most of the afternoon, the House ended up passing the bill on a 57-52 vote today.  Numerous amendments were offered based upon the concerns that we raised with how broadly the bill could impact local governments, but each of those amendments were defeated.  The [...]

The House Commerce and Trade Committee reported a bill this morning that could have huge implications for all municipalities.  Following last week’s initial hearing on HB 4052, the version of the bill that the committee voted on today focuses on preempting all local involvement in any issue related to the “relationship” that a private [...]