Inside 208

HB 5560, a bill allowing for more online public notice announcements over a phased in period, received a second hearing in the House Local Government Committee Thursday. Thank you to Ann Arbor city clerk, Jackie Beaudry, who testified in support of the legislation.  Also in attendance supporting the legislation were [...]

Yesterday the House reported House Bills 5193 and 5194, bills that amend the Open Meetings Act (OMA). House Bill 5193 prohibits a local unit from going into closed session in connection with anticipated litigation. House Bill 5194 indicates that if a public body reenacts a disputed decision in cases where [...]

Yesterday the House unanimously passed House Bills 5414 and 5501, legislation that would repeal Driver Responsibility Fees. The fees were enacted over a decade ago to penalize “bad” drivers. The fees have contributed more than $100 million to the state’s general fund. In addition they fund Fire Protection Grants for [...]

The legislature is one again considering cancer presumption legislation. After being vetoed by Governor Engler in 1998 cancer presumption has returned in some form each legislative session. This morning the Senate passed Senate Bill 211, a bill that creates a cancer presumption for firefighters. It is presumed that if a [...]

Today the Senate Reforms, Restructuring and Reinventing Committee heard testimony on 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 of reforms to help employers control costs and [...]

This afternoon the House Committee on Detroit’s Recovery and Michigan’s Future reported a package of bills, House Bills 5566-5575, 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 [...]

This month Rep. Andy Schor (D-Lansing) introduced legislation that would allow cities to implement land value taxation.  Land value taxation would place the property tax burden on the actual land and not the buildings or improvements. This concept has been used widely in other states (most notably in Pennsylvania). Land [...]

The Senate Agriculture committee took up testimony on Thursday on the changes to the Generally Accepted Agricultural Management Practices (GAAMPs) changes.  The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development testified to and explained the changes.  There were many individuals in attendance wanting to speak with their concerns to the changes. [...]

The House Local Government Committee took up HB 5560, a bill phasing in more online public notices, on Thursday. This bill, phases in online notices over a 10 year period and creates a three tiered system to indicate how many times a public notice should be required in a print [...]

The finalizing of the 2014-15 fiscal year budget can begin now that the state’s economic forecasters have agreed revenues are lower than they projected in January. Leaders of the House and Senate Fiscal agencies and the Department of Treasury said revenues for the 2013-14 current fiscal year will be $317 [...]