Today the House Local Government committee held testimony on SBs 35-39, a package of bills dealing with blighted properties.  These bills would:

• Senate Bill 35 would allow cities that use administrative hearings bureau to adjudicate blight violations to establish additional civil and criminal penalties on a person who committed a blight violation and failed to pay a fine and costs of $1,000 or more. It would also lower the minimum population to be eligible to have an administrative hearings bureau from 2.0 million to 1.5 million for a county containing a city with a population of 3,300 or more. This bill also exempts financial institutions, credit unions and other governmental entities from the fines and penalties stated in the bill that other individuals would otherwise be subject to.
• Senate Bill 36 would amend the Michigan Zoning Enabling Act to allow a city zoning ordinance to provide that a person would be ineligible for rezoning, site approval, or other zoning authorization if the person were delinquent in paying a fine or costs for a blight violation. This bill also exempts financial institutions, credit unions and other governmental entities from the fines and penalties stated in the bill that other individuals would otherwise be subject to.
• Senate Bill 37 would amend the Single State Construction Code Act to allow a city to provide by ordinance that a person would be ineligible for a building permit, certificate of use and occupancy, or a variance if the person were delinquent in paying a fine or costs for a blight violation. This bill also exempts financial institutions, credit unions and other governmental entities from the fines and penalties stated in the bill that other individuals would otherwise be subject to.
• Senate Bill 38 would amend the Revised Judicature Act to allow a city to file a garnishment action if a fine or costs were ordered for a blight violation.
• Senate Bill 39 would amend the Home Rule City Act to allow a lien against property involved in a blight violation to be foreclosed in a city’s administrative hearings bureau.

The League was joined by officials from the city of Jackson (Dan Greer, Bethany Smith, Dennis Diffenderfer), in testifying in opposition to the bills because of the exemptions for financial institutions, credit unions and governmental entities.  We absolutely appreciate the intent of the bill sponsors in trying to give more tools to local communities with Administrative Hearings Bureaus to deal with blight offenders but these exemptions carve out a large chunk of the blight offenders.  We look forward to working with the bill sponsors as this goes forward to address our issues.

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

HB 4458-4464 passed the Senate Economic Development Committee this week.  These would prohibit a TIF district from keeping tax increment revenues from ad valorem property taxes levied under the Zoological Authorities Act and the Art Institute Authorities Act.  This language is added into the following acts:

• Tax Increment Financing Authority Act
• Downtown Development Authority Act
• Brownfield Redevelopment Financing Act
• Local Development Financing Act
• Corridor Improvement Authority Act
• Nonprofit Street Railway Act
• Private Investment Infrastructure Act.

There is a larger discussion happening in the legislature on TIF tax capture in general.  I would encourage you to contact your legislators and let them know the benefit of the TIFs used in your community as well as give them an idea of the investments that they have brought into the area so they can understand the importance of them for economic development purposes.  These are a few of the last tools communities have to revitalize struggling areas and to not have them or severely limit them would have a detrimental impact on not just the municipality but the entire region.

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 of the House Transportation Committee this week.  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.  Before passing committee, an amendment was also added on to change 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.

Because of the federal funding attached to the bill and the local control piece being enhanced, we are neutral on HB 4629.

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.

Bills that would prohibit TIF districts from capturing tax revenue off the Detroit Zoo and DIA millages passed out of the House Tax Policy Committee unanimously today.  HB 4458-4464 prohibit a TIF district from keeping tax increment revenues from ad valorem property taxes levied under the Zoological Authorities Act and the Art Institute Authorities Act.  This language is added into the following acts:

• Tax Increment Financing Authority Act
• Downtown Development Authority Act
• Brownfield Redevelopment Financing Act
• Local Development Financing Act
• Corridor Improvement Authority Act
• Nonprofit Street Railway Act
• Private Investment Infrastructure Act.

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.