Inside 208

The Office of Regulatory Reinvention has been on the road with several other agencies that are part of Governor Snyder’s economic growth executive group.   In addition to the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA) and the ORR, the economic growth group includes Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), Michigan Department...

The question of whether or not a number of ballot proposals will be on the November ballot is now in the hands of the Michigan Supreme Court. The court has held its hearing during which opponents and proponents of four proposals made their case.  A decision is expected to be...

Ballot proposals for this November are getting a bit clearer. To date, the Emergency Manager Law, collective bargaining rights, renewable energy and home health care proposals have all been given the go-ahead. The other proposals did not receive enough support from the State Board of Canvassers and as of this date...

The FCC has released a Notice of Inquiry that “solicits data, information, and comment on the state of competition in the delivery of video programming for the Commission’s Fifteenth Report.”  The goal of the inquiry is “to enhance [the Commission’s] analysis of competitive conditions, better understand the implications for the...

More than a dozen Michigan Municipal League members, supporters and staff attended a press conference Wednesday to announce a legal challenge to a radical and controversial constitutional amendment ballot proposal. (Watch a video of the event, read the press release and sign up to join the effort. View more photos on flickr.)...

Today, the Senate Economic Development Committee passed the substitute for SB 1210 (SB 1210 S-1.pdf (179.65 kb). Because we received the bill last night and did not have enough time to get feedback from our members, I testified today simply saying we had no position on the bill.  We do...

Senator Dave Robertson (R-Grand Blanc) has introduced SB 1168, a bill that would make multiple changes to the Michigan housing law. It would limit both registration fees and inspection fees for rental inspections as well as change the timeline for inspections to not less than 6 years but no longer than...

SB 1210, a bill to make changes to the current Brownfield program, will be taken up in the Senate Economic Development committee Wednesday morning at 10 am.  The initial reason for this bill was to eliminate the sunset on the Brownfield program and this resulted in a series of workgroups...

Yesterday Representatives Hugh Crawford (Novi) and Harold Haugh (Roseville) announced that they will be heading up a new four-person House workgroup to look at the state’s fireworks law.  The workgroup is expected to look at a few issues including reducing the types of fireworks available and limiting the dates that they...

A message from the League’s Arnold Weinfeld:The Michigan Municipal League is participating in a new coalition,  Defend Michigan Democracy, and is encouraging our members to get involved as well. We are simply asking you to go to www.defendingmidemocracy.com and join the effort to defend the constitutional principle of majority rule, by...