Yesterday, the House passed House Bill 5560, legislation that would phase out the newspaper publication requirement for public notices and transition the notices to the Internet.

HB 5560 creates a tiered system for legal notices and phases them out over time. The legislation is vague, but the least “serious” notices would be considered Tier A. Tier C would include those notices that deal with property and finances.

Under the bill, beginning January 1, 2025, a local government would be required to change how it provides public notice. A Tier A public notice would be posted on the ‘active notice portion’ of a website for 30 days.  A Tier A public notice with a link would be posted on the ‘active notice portion’ of a website for 30 days with a link to the full document.  A Tier B public notice would be posted on the ‘active notice portion’ of a website for 14 days.  A Tier B public notice with a link would be posted on the ‘active notice portion’ of a website for 14 days with a link to the full document. A Tier C public notice would be posted on the ‘active notice portion’ of the website for 14 days.

The legislation allows local electors to hold a referendum to require continued publication in a newspaper. It allows local units to enter into contracts with media outlets for publication on their websites. The bill also requires archiving of public notices for five years.

The bill now goes to the Senate for their consideration.

Samantha Harkins is the Director of State Affairs for the League handling municipal finance issues.  She can be reached at sharkins@mml.org or 517-908-0306.

The Michigan Recycling Coalition will be hosting their annual Fall Into Recycling event on December 2, 2014 from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm at the Okemos Conference Center.

This year’s event – “Building the Coalition to Advance Recycling: Time to think BIG and Small about Recycling” – is an interactive discussion designed to help communities learn about new opportunities and programs in recycling in connection with the Governor’s Recycling Initiative. The event will also explore state and local level policy priorities that are aimed at exceeding recycling goals.

For more information, please see the attached Michigan Recycling Coalition invitation.

Click here to register for the Fall Into Recycling event.

It is an exciting time for wind energy in Michigan. With over 1,100 megawatts of wind currently operating in Michigan and more under construction, the economic and environmental benefits are significant and growing. To discuss the opportunities and challenges to expanding the wind energy landscape in Michigan, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) will host the second annual Michigan Wind Forum on January 20, 2015, at Michigan State University’s Kellogg Center.

Topics discussed at the Michigan Wind Forum will include the new U.S. Department of Energy Wind Vision, a national and regional wind market assessment, the potential impacts of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Section 111D under the Clean Air Act, the issue of public acceptance and community engagement, the Michigan stakeholders’ perspectives on the Wind Vision, the Michigan legislators’ roundtable discussion, the Huron county stakeholders’ experiences and perspectives on the wind development in their county, the emerging interest in corporations’ direct purchasing of wind energy, and Michigan’s load serving utilities’ perspective son MI’s wind future.

Please visit www.awea.org/michigan for more information or if you wish to register for the upcoming event.

Did you know that more than 92,000 people were homeless in Michigan in 2013, and more than half were families with children? Watch Veronika Scotts’s heartwarming story of how a college project turned into a creative design solution and a passion for solving the homeless crisis in Detroit one coat at a time. She began producing her fantastic coat-that-converts-to-sleeping bag at Ponyride in Detroit, a space for artists and socially conscious entrepreneurs. As local leaders you are in a position to raise awareness and inspire action by participating in Michigan’s Homeless Awareness Week, November 15th – 23rd. The Michigan Coalition Against Homelessness offers sample proclamations and news releases, suggested community awareness activities, and much more. Michigan Mayor’s may also wish to join their colleagues in the national Mayor’s Challenge to End Veteran Homelessness which is supported by the National League of Cities and encourages mayors to make a commitment to ending Veteran homelessness in their cities in 2015.

Derek Tisler is a Legislative Assistant for the Michigan Municipal League.  He can be reached at 517-908-0302 or email at dtisler@mml.org

(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 of reforms to help employers control costs and be better stewards of taxpayer resources. One of the, if not the, most significant reform was to prohibit retroactive pay increases after a contract has expired. This game changing statute, PA 54 of 2011, has helped communities settle contracts more quickly and provides more certainty in municipal budgets. Passage of SB 850 would be detrimental to our ability to settle contracts quickly and efficiently.

The Michigan Municipal League has been strongly opposed to this bill and we continue to urge you to contact your legislators to let them know how detrimental this carve out would be. The arguments the public safety groups use for supporting this bill are that the number of PA 312 filings would proliferate and the legislature only intended this bill to impact teachers.

According to the Michigan Employment Relations Commission there were only 43 PA 312 filings in 2013 as opposed to 69 in 2011. PA 312 filings are significantly lower than they were before enactment of PA 54.

In addition, even if the legislature only intended this for teachers, it has been a game changer for municipal budgets, and it’s critical that we keep this tool to allow local units the opportunity to settle contracts expeditiously and save taxpayers money.

We appreciate all the members who have already contacted their lawmakers on this issue and we hope others follow their lead. It is critical that you please contact your legislators and ask them to OPPOSE Senate Bill 850. You can find the contact information for your Legislators here.

Derek Tisler is a Legislative Assistant for the Michigan Municipal League.  He can be reached at 517-908-0302 or email at dtisler@mml.org

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. The bills create an oversight commission that will have approval over the city’s major financial decisions including contracts over $750,000 and collective bargaining agreements. As amended in committee if the commission does not reject a contract for $750,000 or more in 30 days it would be deemed approved. Public Act 312 awards are also subject to review by the commission.

The legislation also requires the city to establish the position of chief financial officer. The bills as amended in committee allow the City to choose between defined contribution plans and defined contribution for new hires but caps the city contribution at 7 percent of base pay. The package also prohibits the City of Detroit from opting out under PA 152 of 2011. The bills limit travel pay for retirement system board members.

The Senate did not take up a bill that would prohibit new millages for the Detroit Institute of Art. This was an area of concern for many legislators in the House and passed more narrowly than the others (66-44).

The bills very narrowly define eligibility for these provisions as a city over 600,000 that is in bankruptcy.

Derek Tisler is a Legislative Assistant for the Michigan Municipal League.  He can be reached at 517-908-0302 or email at dtisler@mml.org