Yesterday afternoon the Senate Energy & Technology held a hearing on Senate Bill 314, a bill that would lift the yard waste ban for landfills that meet certain criteria. This is, however, a community option.

The League is supportive of this legislation as we have for the last few legislative sessions. The crux of the support is that these bills are a local option, and communities can choose what is best for their needs.

The committee voted on the bill, but the vote was defeated 4-5. Chairman Nofs moved to reconsider the vote and indicated that the bill would be taken up again at a later committee meeting.

Samantha Harkins is Director of State Affairs for the Michigan Municipal League.  She can be reached at 517-908-0306 or email at sharkins@mml.org.

This afternoon the Senate Energy & Technology held a hearing on Senate Bill 314, a bill that would lift the yard waste ban for landfills that meet certain criteria. This is, however, a community option.

The League is supportive of this legislation as we have for the last few legislative sessions. The crux of the support is that these bills are a local option, and communities can choose what is best for their needs.

Chairman Nofs indicated that there would likely be an additional hearing in the coming weeks to hear more testimony.

Samantha Harkins is Director of State Affairs for the Michigan Municipal League.  She can be reached at 517-908-0306 or email at sharkins@mml.org.

Last week the House Financial Liabilities Reform Committee heard a second week of testimony on a package of bills, Senate Bills 541-545, that make positive clarifying changes to PA 152 of 2011, the Publicly Funded Health Insurance Contribution Act.

Senate Bill 541 would amend the definition of “medical benefit plan”, which currently excludes benefits provided to individuals retired from a public employer. The bill also would exclude a public employer’s contributions to a fund used for the sole purpose of funding health care benefits available to public employees or elected public officials only upon retirement or separation from service.

Senate Bill 542 would amend the requirements regarding the cap on the dollar limit that a public employer may pay toward health care costs. The bill would also increase the multiplier used to calculate the cap on the total dollar amount that a public employer may pay toward health care costs for individual and spouse coverage;include individual plus one nonspouse dependent coverage within family coverage for cap calculation purposes; include elected officials in calculation of the cap; and exclude from calculation of the cap employees or elected officials who declined coverage.

Senate Bill 543 would amend provisions that allow a public employer to opt for a percentage limit on its medical plan contributions, instead of complying with the dollar amount limits, for a medical benefit plan coverage year. Under this option, a public employer may not pay more than 80% of the total annual costs of all of the medical benefit plans it offers or contributes to for its employees and elected public officials.

Senate Bill 544 would require any contracts or other agreements in effect on September 27, 2011, to conform to contribution limits under the Publicly Funded Health Insurance Contribution Act. Currently, this applies to agreements in effect on September 15, 2011.

Senate Bill 545 would modify a provision that allows a local unit of government to exempt itself from the Act’s requirements by a two-thirds vote of its governing body each year, and requires a two-thirds vote to extend an exemption to a new year. The bill would require an exemption or extension vote to take place before the beginning of the medical benefit plan coverage year.

The League is supportive of these changes as they are important clarifications that will help with PA 152 compliance and interpretation from the Department of Treasury. We are anticipating a vote on this legislation in the coming weeks.

Samantha Harkins is the Director of State Affairs for the Michigan Municipal League.  She can be reached at 517-908-0306 or email at sharkins@mml.org

Last week the House Local Government Committee reported on House Bill 4939, a bill that would allow a department head to serve as a city manager.

The legislation was prompted by a community in Rep. Knezek’s district where the police chief if serving as interim city manager. Under the current statute this is permissible in communities with less than 25,000 population. This legislation would expand it to larger communities. The substitute that passed committee would limit this option to communities of 100,000 people. We are interested in ensuring that exception is available for communities of all sizes.

The legislation now goes to the full House for consideration.

Samantha Harkins is the Director of State Affairs for the Michigan Municipal League.  She can be reached at 517-908-0306 or email at sharkins@mml.org

CALL MISS-DIG. Under the legislation passed unanimously today by the House Energy & Technology Committee a local unit of government faces penalties if they do not call the MISS-DIG system when beginning a project that involves digging. If a local unit does call MISS-DIG there is no liability.

This morning the House Energy and Technology Committee unanimously reported on Senate Bills 539 and 540.  Originally the legislation last session would have entirely exempted any action under the MISS-DIG Act from government immunity. That was problematic for us, so the fee structure arose as a result of many discussions with the Senate and the Governor’s office, as well as utility stakeholders. The League always has concerns with expanding government immunity.  Given, however, the inclination of the legislation to create an exception to governmental immunity, this is an extremely narrow exception.

The legislation has wide support from many of the stakeholders in the process, and we will continue to work on this legislation. It now goes to the full House for consideration.

Samantha Harkins is the Director of State Affairs for the Michigan Municipal League.  She can be reached at 517-908-0306 or email at sharkins@mml.org

Last week the League presented our Partnership for Place proactive legislative agenda to the legislature’s Talent and Place caucus. The newly formed caucus is a bi-partisan group of legislators seeking to increase awareness about the importance of attracting and retaining talent as well as placemaking.

The caucus tracks nicely with the work the League is doing with the Partnership for Place and our other placemaking work. We look forward to working with those lawmakers on specific legislation advancing the goals of the proactive agenda.

Samantha Harkins is the Director of State Affairs for the Michigan Municipal League.  She can be reached at 517-908-0306 or email at sharkins@mml.org

Last week the House Local Government Committee heard testimony on House Bill 4939, a bill that would allow a department head to serve as a city manager.

The legislation was prompted by a community in Rep. Knezek’s district where the police chief if serving as interim city manager. Under the current statute this is permissible in communities with less than 25,000 population. This legislation would expand it to larger communities.

The committee did not vote on the legislation, and we expect a second hearing this week.

Samantha Harkins is the Director of State Affairs for the Michigan Municipal League.  She can be reached at 517-908-0306 or email at sharkins@mml.org

Lats week the House Local Government Committee passed House Bill 4624, a bill that would make a full-time firefighter’s ability to work as a firefighter in another community a prohibited subject of bargaining.The legislation is supported by the fire chiefs and the Michigan Townships Association.

The League is opposed to this legislation as it violates local control in the bargaining process. The legislation is now awaiting action on the House floor.

Samantha Harkins is the Director of State Affairs for the Michigan Municipal League.  She can be reached at 517-908-0306 or email at sharkins@mml.org

This morning the House Financial Liabilities Reform Committee heard testimony on a package of bills, Senate Bills 541-545, that make positive clarifying changes to PA 152 of 2011, the Publicly Funded Health Insurance Contribution Act.

Senate Bill 541 would amend the definition of “medical benefit plan”, which currently excludes benefits provided to individuals retired from a public employer. The bill also would exclude a public employer’s contributions to a fund used for the sole purpose of funding health care benefits available to public employees or elected public officials only upon retirement or separation from service.

Senate Bill 542 would amend the requirements regarding the cap on the dollar limit that a public employer may pay toward health care costs. The bill would also increase the multiplier used to calculate the cap on the total dollar amount that a public employer may pay toward health care costs for individual and spouse coverage;include individual plus one nonspouse dependent coverage within family coverage for cap calculation purposes; include elected officials in calculation of the cap; and exclude from calculation of the cap employees or elected officials who declined coverage.

Senate Bill 543 would amend provisions that allow a public employer to opt for a percentage limit on its medical plan contributions, instead of complying with the dollar amount limits, for a medical benefit plan coverage year. Under this option, a public employer may not pay more than 80% of the total annual costs of all of the medical benefit plans it offers or contributes to for its employees and elected public officials.

Senate Bill 544 would require any contracts or other agreements in effect on September 27, 2011, to conform to contribution limits under the Publicly Funded Health Insurance Contribution Act. Currently, this applies to agreements in effect on September 15, 2011.

Senate Bill 545 would modify a provision that allows a local unit of government to exempt itself from the Act’s requirements by a two-thirds vote of its governing body each year, and requires a two-thirds vote to extend an exemption to a new year. The bill would require an exemption or extension vote to take place before the beginning of the medical benefit plan coverage year.

The League is supportive of these changes as they are important clarifications that will help with PA 152 compliance and interpretation from the Department of Treasury. We are anticipating a vote on this legislation next week.

Samantha Harkins is the Director of State Affairs for the Michigan Municipal League.  She can be reached at 517-908-0306 or email at sharkins@mml.org

Yesterday the House passed House Bill 4121, a bill that as passed would allow local units of government to exempt property purchased from a school district from real property taxes for five years.

The legislation would automatically exempt these properties unless the local unit of government passes a resolution to place them back on the tax rolls.

The bill now goes to the Senate for consideration.

Samantha Harkins is the Director of State Affairs for the Michigan Municipal League.  She can be reached at 517-908-0306 or email at sharkins@mml.org