Dan Gilmartin discusses municipal finances in Detroit in September, 2013. He's speaking at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. on Oct. 10. Watch it live from 9:30-10:30 a.m. at www.NLC.org. Michigan Municipal League CEO and Executive Director Dan Gilmartin…

The Michigan Chapter of the National Brownfield Association, in partnership with several other organizations including the MEDC and the MDEQ, is sponsoring a program at the Lansing Center on November 13. The agenda will include the latest developments on brownfield…

SB 247 (Sen Virgil Smith - Detroit), a bill to establish a 2 am to 4 am liquor licenses in DDAs, had a testimony only hearing today in the Senate Regulatory Reform Committee.  This legislation would allow an on-premise license to…

Yesterday SB 313, legislation that could cripple local rental inspection programs, was passed out of the Senate Local Government and Elections committee around 5:20 pm.  It is now on the senate floor where the sponsor has publicly committed to working…

Yesterday afternoon the Senate unanimously passed Senate Bill 428, a bill that would prohibit local units of government from buying flags assembled or manufactured outside of the United States if competitively priced flags of comparable quality are made in Michigan…

The application for Fiscal Year 2014 – Round 1 of the Competitive Grant Assistance Program (CGAP) is now available. The application is available on the Department of Treasury's website. There is a minimum of $15.0 million in CGAP funding available…

This afternoon the Senate Local Government Committee unanimously passed Senate Bill 307, a bill introduced Senator Steve Bieda (D-Warren) that removes population thresholds for communities who want to use a police and fire special assessment as a revenue option. The…

This morning the Senate Reforms, Restructuring and Reinventing Committee reported a package of bills, Senate Bills 541-545, that make positive clarifying changes to PA 152 of 2011, the Publicly Funded Health Insurance Contribution Act. Senate Bill 541 would amend the…

This morning the House Tax Policy Committee heard testimony on Senate Bills 489 and 490, bills that are the first “fix” bills from the personal property tax (PPT) reform package that passed in December. The bills clarify the process for…

This morning the Senate Reforms, Restructuring and Reinventing Committee unanimously reported Senate Bill 387, legislation that would amend the Worker’s Disability Compensation Act to include a reserve or auxiliary police officer as an employee of the State for purposes of…