A bill, HB 4422, to allow for transit oriented development activities in business improvident zones received a hearing in the House Commerce and Trade committee this week. We thank Rep. Andy Schor for introducing this legislation!  Transit is vital to attracting and retaining talented individuals in our communities and having this financing option as a tool will be important in seeing economic development happen around those transit stops.

The League is fully supportive of this legislation.

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

This week, SB 305, a bill to prohibit local units of government from regulating the transportation, possession, sale, or licensing of a knife or knife making components, passed the Senate Local Government Committee.  This bill would also prohibit a local unit of government from regulating the manufacture of a knife more restrictively than the manufacture of any other commercial good.

The League is opposed to this legislation and it is now before the full Senate.

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

Yesterday, the House Oversight and Ethics committee passed out HB 4522 with only one legislator voting no.  A different substitute was adopted from last week requiring that at least one minority vote must be in favor of passing the subpoena resolution in an attempt to help limit abuse of the act.  It also stated an attorney must be consulted before passing the resolution and the normal 18 hour notice of a committee hearing must now be a 72 hour notice when a subpoena resolution will be on the agenda.

The ability to subpoena local records is already allowed under Act 118 of 1931 by a resolution of the full house/senate.  This legislation would give authority to the committee that receives and reviews auditor general reports (the Oversight committee in this case) to subpoena witnesses by a vote of the committee  and not the full house/senate.

The League along well the Michigan Townships Association, Michigan Association of Counties, Michigan Sheriff’s Association and school organizations are opposed to this legislation.

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

Today the full Senate unanimously passed HB 4054 this week, a bill that makes changes to the Mobile Home Commission Act.  HB 4054 is a reintroduction from last year by Rep. Andy Schor in an effort to address a situation that occurred in his district with the Life O’Riley Mobile Home Park. This legislation requires the DEQ to outline clear roles for local units of government and enforcement (a problem that occurred with the Life O’Riley mobile home park that ended being condemned and residents forced to seek housing elsewhere). In addition, there are more reporting requirements of the DEQ to local units of government of rules promulgated or when a mobile home is found to be in violation.

The League is supportive of this legislation.

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

Today, the House Oversight and Ethics committee for the second week took up HB 4522, a bill that would grant any legislative committee subpoena power over local units of government and schools.  A substitute was adopted that narrowed this to only the committees who receive and review the auditor general reports (oversight committee) in each of the house and senate and would require a resolution passed by 2/3 of the committee.

The ability to subpoena local records is already allowed under Act 118 of 1931 by a resolution of the full house/senate.  This legislation would give authority to the committee that recieve and review auditor general reports (the Oversight committee in this case) to subpoena witnesses by a 2/3 vote of the committee members and not the full house/senate.

The League is opposed to this legislation.

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

MSU Extension has been working to provide a sample ordinance to municipalities regarding Urban Agriculture as it relates to Right to Farm and GAAMPs.  There are many communities who would like to allow for some type of urban agriculture given the demands of some of their residents but are unsure as to how to go about allowing such activity so as not to interfere with the Right to Farm Act and the GAAMPs.  This is meant to be a starting point for local communities and to be changed based on the communities needs and make up.  To view the sample ordinance and back up documents visit here.

If you are looking to create such an ordinance and would like to have it reviewed by the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, please don’t hesitate to contact them.  They are ready and willing to assist you in ensuring your ordinance is in compliance with the Right to Farm Act and GAAMPs.

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

Today, the House Judiciary committee took testimony for the second week on two pieces of legislation dealing with medical marihuana.  HB 4209 (Rep. Callton) provides for state and local regulations of medical marihuana provisioning centers/dispensaries.  The introduced version does not allow a local municipality to ban dispensaries within their community but we are working with the bill sponsor to ensure this makes it into the next substitute.  HB 4210 (Rep. Lyons) allows for and regulates marihuana infused products.  These pieces of legislation are an attempt at helping to fix some of the loopholes and provide more clarity from the ballot proposal Michigan citizens passed back in 2008.

We look forward to continued discussions as this process moves forward.

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

This week the full House passed  SB 85 (sponsored by Sen. Hildenbrand, R-Lowell), a bill to include pneumatic guns (i.e. paint ball guns) in the list of pistols or other firearms that local units of government currently cannot tax, regulate ownership of, registration of, sale/transfer/possession and transportation of (PA 319 of 1990).

The legislation does allow a local unit to regulate the possession of a pneumatic gun in someone under the age of 16 unless it is on their private property as well as allow a local unit to prohibit discharging of a pneumatic gun in heavily populated areas.

The League is opposed to this legislation.

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

The Senate Regulatory Reform committee passed out HB 4054 this week, a bill that makes changes to the Mobile Home Commission Act.  HB 4054 is a reintroduction from last year by Rep. Andy Schor in an effort to address a situation that occurred in his district with the Life O’Riley Mobile Home Park. This legislation requires the DEQ to outline clear roles for local units of government and enforcement (a problem that occurred with the Life O’Riley mobile home park that ended being condemned and residents forced to seek housing elsewhere). In addition, there are more reporting requirements of the DEQ to local units of government of rules promulgated or when a mobile home is found to be in violation.

The League is supportive of this legislation.

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

HB 4182 (Rep. Price, R – Holland) passed out of the House Oversight and Ethics committee this week.  This bill amends the Open Meetings Act and would make it a requirement that an elected member of a public body must be physically present to vote on an issue in order for a meeting to be considered open to the public, unless it is an emergency session, in which case this requirement does not apply.

This is a reintroduction from last session when the bill died in lame duck.

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