Inside 208

Facing stiff opposition from all fronts, House leadership in Congress is changing their proposed transportation authorization bill.  Although it is uncertain when the bill will be brought before the full House, it has gone from a 5 year proposal to a 18-month proposal.  Recall that the Senate is working on [...]

The House Local, Intergovernmental, and Regional Affairs Committee will take up (for testimony only) HB 4007.  This bill will exempt charter townships with a population of more than 20,000 from annexation.  The bill can be viewed here. This bill will effectively lock borders between these charter townships and the cities [...]

Eminent domain…the words illicit strong opinions from all sides.  Michigan officials will recall the ballot proposal adopted several years ago amending our state’s constitution to severly restrict those instances in which eminant domain can be used.  Now the Congress appears to be moving ahead with its own version. The House [...]

This afternoon the House concurred on the Senate-passed version of HB 4589, a bill that reinstates the two inch rule for sidewalk liability. The legislation has a rebuttable presumption that a sidewalk with a defect under two inches wasmaintained by a local unit of government in reasonable repair. The bill [...]

This week the Michigan Department of Treasury put out a document to answer frequently asked questions regarding Public Act 152 of 2011.  The document may be found on Treasury’s website, and the PDF version is available here: Public Act 152 of 2011 FAQs.pdf (34.01 kb) For more information on PA [...]

Last week the House Judiciary Committee held hearings on medical marijuana and this week the hearings continue in both chambers. Last week the House Judiciary Committee heard testimony from the Prosecutors on issues dealing with medical marijuana. The House Committee is specifically focusing on House Bills 4834, 4851, 4853 and [...]

Its been about two weeks since the President released his administration’s 2013 budget proposal.  And while it is just that, a proposal, and there are certainly other issues before the Congress, I thought it would be a good idea to start taking a closer look at some of the recommendations.  The following [...]

As the Senate seems ready to move forward with floor debate on its version of a transportation authorization legislation, House leaders have stated their intent to revise what came out of committee. It is widely known that the House bill has been meeting stiff opposition on a number issues and [...]

This week, the House and Senate will return from their “in-district” work weeks.  While the Senate appears ready to begin floor debate (despite several unrelated amendments to deal with) on a two year authorization bill, S. 1813, the House continues to struggle with internal opposition to H.R. 7 and is looking at [...]

Yesterday the Senate passed HB 4589, a bill reinstating the long-standing two inch rule for sidewalk liability. In 2009 the Michigan Supreme Court reversed the two inch rule in Robinson v. City of Lansing. This legislation would reinstate that rule and ease liability burdens for municipalities. Once the House concurs [...]