Inside 208

This evening the Michigan General Government Budget Conference Report was signed. The Michigan Municipal League was successful in its efforts to eliminate most of the Economic Vitality Incentive Program (EVIP) requirements that have been burdensome to communities for the last several years. The category 1 requirements still remain as far as [...]

SB 739 and 740 (Sen. Virgil Smith, D- Detroit) passed the Senate last week. These bills would amend the Local Development and Financing Act (LDFA) and the Corridor Improvement Authority(CIA) Act to allow an LDFA or CIA to adopt a rule linking an appointment of a public official to that board to [...]

The House of Representatives passed HB 4573 this week.  As introduced, it would prorate liquor license fees for first-year licensees that are granted a license for less than a full year (prorated quarterly).  During a committee hearing last week, there was a substitute adopted and passed out of committeechanging the bill to make [...]

HB 5273, a bill dealing with Michigan investment markets, unanimously passed out of the Senate Banking and Financial Institutions committee this afternoon.  HB 5273 would give businesses and residents in Michigan the ability to become broker-dealers to create a market (online or in person) through which intrastate stocks can be listed, bought, [...]

Senate Bill 922, a bill to extend the December 31, 2014 sunset for bonding for communities with a AA credit rating switching from defined benefit plans to defined contribution plans, passed out of the Senate Finance committee today.  The introduced version would extend the sunset to December 31, 2016 but [...]

House Bill 5397, a bill creating the Municipal Utility Residential Clean Energy Program Act, passed out of the House Energy and Technology Committee today.  This would enable municipalities that own electric utilities to establish a program to help provide financing to residential property owners for energy efficiency projects. This is [...]

Today the full Senate passed SB 313, legislation making changes to the Housing Law dealing with rental inspections. If you recall, the version that passed out of the senate committee last fall had detrimental impacts on rental inspections in Michigan and the health and safety of residents living in them. [...]

(Go here to easily send your senators an email opposing SB 850). This morning the Senate Reforms, Restructuring and Reinventing Committee passed Senate Bill 850, a bill that would exempt police and fire from PA 54 so they can have retroactive pay increases after a contract expires. In 2011 the legislature passed a number [...]

Tuesday afternoon, the full Senate passed a package of bills that seek to deal with the bankruptcy in the City of Detroit. The state will appropriate $194.8 million dollars that will go toward the city’s pension system. In exchange there are a number of conditions set forth in the package. [...]

Please see below from Treasury’s Office of Revenue and Tax Analysis. STATE LAW REQUIRES 2014 DEBT MILLAGE RATE CALCULATIONS TO REFLECT STATE REIMBURSEMENT FOR 2014 PERSONAL PROPERTY TAX CUT Local units of government have levied property taxes on all taxable property in its geographic boundaries, including commercial personal and industrial [...]