Inside 208

The National League of Cities, State and Local Legal Center will be hosting a webinar on July 19 from 1:00 pm – 2:15 pm to discuss major cases from the Supreme Court’s current term affecting local and state governments. The webinar speakers are Paul Clement, who argued the Affordable Care [...]

Today the Senate passed SB 351 which takes the 4% state sales tax on gas that is restricted general fund revenue and redirects it to the State Trunk Line Fund for fiscal year 2013 in order to match available federal highway funds. The bill caps the amount that can be [...]

On Thursday, June 14 from 2:30 pm – 4:00 pm, the National League of Cities will be hosting a webinar to discuss a Housing and Transportation Affordability Index developed by the Center for Neighborhood Technology. The index calculates housing affordability not just in terms of housing costs but also considering [...]

A House subcommittee has passed its first draft of the FY2013 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development bill. While the bill provides $2 billion less in funding than the Senate passed version, it appears that CDBG is being given priority as $3.34 billion was provided for CDBG, a increase of $396 [...]

Last week provided some hopeful signs that the Congress might actually be able to scratch and claw there way to a agreement before the currente extension expires at the end of the month. First there was a exchange of actual proposals between House and Senate conference leaders. It began with [...]

Yesterday the House Judiciary Committee reported SB 1082, a bill that would more specific define what makes up synthetic drugs and bans those materials. Last session the legislature passed bills to ban synthetic drugs, but the manufacturers of these drugs began using different materials. This legislation is drafted more broadly [...]

Recent reports from the conference committee tackling a new transportation authorization is that negotiations my have hit a stand still.  Not only does the House Republican legislative agenda for the remainder of spring and summer not even mention transportation, but several House Republicans are now demanding a floor vote instrictuing House conferees [...]

The Michigan Economic Development Corporation at the Mackinac Policy Conference this week announced five new initiatives under the Pure Michigan Business Connect umbrella that will further help Michigan businesses grow and improve the state’s economy. The new Pure Michigan Business Connect initiatives include: Develop Michigan Inc. – A $20 million, [...]

The conference committee for the budget of the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs approved $9.2 million for fire protection grants, the same amount that was appropriated last year. Fire protection grants are awarded to communities who have state buildings that are not on the tax rolls to include state [...]

On Wednesday May 30th, the House Transportation Committee passed HB 5302 a bill termed “best practices.” The committee adopted an H-4 version of the bill that is substantially different from the original bill as introduced which included a host of safety requirements. The bill that passed committee offers much more [...]