Last week the legislature adjourned until September.  There are a few tentative days scheduled in July and August but, as of now, there will be no voting and no attendance taken on those days. The legislature broke without voting on anything regarding future transportation funding.  This will continue to be a hot topic for the fall when they return to full session.

One other issue left hanging for the summer is Medicaid expansion. The House passed Medicaid expansion two weeks ago giving the Senate one week to pass it themselves.  Coming down to the final day of session before the summer recess, the Senate adjourned last Thursday without taking a vote.  Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville has stated he wants at least half of the Republican caucus to vote for the package.  Governor Snyder cut an overseas business trip short and flew back on Thursday to try and help shore up the votes but no vote was ever taken.  He has publicly expressed his disappointment with a no vote action and is making his rounds across the state to some key republican districts in order to get citizens to engage in persuading their legislator to vote for the expansion.  This will likely be a hot topic going through the summer and into the fall if they can’t get it done this summer.

Nikki Brown is a legislative associate for the League.  She can be reached at nbrown@mml.org or 517-908-0305.

Legislation sponsored by Rep. Andy Schor, HB 4478, passed the full house on Thursday that would allow a person who is unable to write or who cannot sign a signature due to a physical disability to use a signature stamp on election documents (voter applications, absentee ballots, absentee envelopes, etc).  Currently, the law states that individuals who cannot write are allowed to make their mark.  This legislation adds in the ability to use a signature stamp (a preservation of their signature from in the past) instead of a “mark” and defines physical disability.

The League is supportive of this legislation.

Nikki Brown is a legislative associate for the League.  She can be reached at nbrown@mml.org or 517-908-0305.

Today the House passed SB 79, a bill to allow small wine makers (making less than 5,000 gallons of wine per year) to sell and provide tastings at local farmers markets.  A new “farmers market permit” is created that the small wine maker must obtain from the liquor control commission.  A small wine maker would have to obtain approval from the farmers market manager and the local police department prior to a permit being issued.

The permits are subject to the quota system.  There will be one farmers market permit allowed for every 1500 population in the county.

There is a 60 day implementation period from signage of the bill to allow the Michigan Liquor Control Commission to get all the necessary paperwork around before it goes into effect.  There is also a 2 year reporting requirement for the liquor control commission to provide an assessment to the legislature on the effectiveness of these permits and whether they should continue to issue them.

Nikki Brown is a legislative associate for the League handling economic development and land use issues.  She can be reached at nbrown@mml.org or 517-908-0305.

If you are looking to enhance your farmers market or know of someone looking to start a food truck business, be sure to touch base with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation as they have created two new programs to assist with these very activities.

The Mobile Cuisine Startup Program is equipped with $100,000 to assist new or existing food truck businesses.  They will provide a one-time grant of up to $10,000. There must be matching funds of at least 25 percent as well as a viable business plan and registered to do business in Michigan.

The Farmers Market Grant Program is aimed at assisting existing farmers markets (operating for at least four years) making the market more accessible to residents with a one-time grant of $10,000 to $50,000.  There must be matching funds of at least 50 percent.

Applications for both the Mobile Cuisine Program and the Farmers Market Grant Program are due by July 1 with award winners being announced at the end of July.

For more information on these two programs, please visit michiganadvantage.org.

Nikki Brown is a legislative associate for the League handling economic development and land use issues. She can be reached at nbrown@mml.org or 517-908-0305.

HB 4629 passed out the full House today.  This bill was created in most part to deal with issues that were presented to MDOT from a federal audit done on the Highway Advertising Act. If these issues (definition for digital billboards, definition for non-conforming billboard, etc) are not address, the state will lose a portion of their federal transportation funding.  This bill was introduced last session and because of the short time frame of lame duck, didn’t pass.  This bill would allow a local unit of government to create a more stringent policy than that at the state level if they so choose to.  We also asked that the word “operation” be added into what can be regulated by the local unit of government to ensure that digital billboards would be encompassed in that definition.  The bill also changes the spacing requirements for digital billboards from 1,500 feet to 1,750 feet and to make the “dwell time” 8 seconds instead of 6 seconds.

The bill now moves onto the Senate for consideration in committee.

Nikki Brown is a legislative associate for the League handling economic development and land use issues.  She can be reached at nbrown@mml.org or 517-908-0305.

This week the House Oversight committee heard testimony on HB 4001 and HB 4314.  Committee started late because session ran late so there was a shortened time frame for testimony.  Mike Fisher, attorney for the city of Livonia, testified in opposition to the bills.

The substitute for HB 4001 (HB 4001) still does not allow for the true cost of FOIA requests to be recognized and creates onerous invoicing requirements.  It also creates penalties if the municipality does not respond to a request in time while leaving out any sort of penalty for those who are abusing the system.

HB 4314 creates a commission at the state level to hear FOIA appeals.  As the bill is right now, there is not one member of a municipality, etc who actually has to deal with the FOIA request.  It is made up of representatives from media groups.

The League is opposed to both pieces of legislation.

Nikki Brown is a legislative associate for the League.  She can be reached at nbrown@mml.org or 517-908-0305.

The Senate Regulatory Reform Committee took up and passed unanimously HB 4743 a bill providing more local control on the use of fireworks passed the House following significant complaints from local units of government after last July 4.

The bill would require retail locations to post signs informing the public where to find the Fireworks Safety Act and copies of the local municipality’s ordinances regarding time limits for the use of the fireworks.

The bill also would require retailers to comply with the National Fire Protection Association Code, and clarify that a retailer or a person issued a consumer fireworks certificate is responsible for remitting all fireworks safety fees to the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs. It would also require retailers to remit the fees within 20 days after the end of each month.

The bill would allow municipalities to regulate the use of fireworks within counties of 750,000 or more persons to 1 a.m. and 8 a.m. on New Year’s Day only, for all other days surrounding national holidays the hours are 12 a.m. to 8 a.m. For municipalities within counties with a population fewer than 750,000 ordinances can be enacted regulating the times of 1 a.m. and 8 a.m. on the day before, the day after and the day of national holidays.

The legislation now goes to the full Senate for consideration.

Nikki Brown is a legislative associate for the League and can be reached at nbrown@mml.org or 517-908-0305.

The Community Revitalization and Business Attraction program will see a $20 million dollar increase for fiscal year 2013-2014, for a grand total of $120 million in the pot.  The governor recommended the $20 million increase, while the Senate recommended a $10 million increase and the House recommended a decrease.  The conference committee went with the governor’s recommendation and increased the program by $20 million.

At least $20 million of this $120 million pot is still to be used specifically for brownfield and historic preservation projects in the Community Revitalization portion of the program.

Nikki Brown is a legislative associate for the League handling economic development and land use issues.  She can be reached at nbrown@mml.org or 517-908-0305.