The US House of Representatives passed a budget agreement on their last day of session last week, entitled the Bipartisan Budget Act, on a 334-94 vote. This budget agreement set the spending levels for FYs 2014 and 2015, and is the beginning of the end of shutdown deadlines. However, Congress still has to pass actual appropriation bills by January 15th to avoid the next shutdown as that is when the current Continuing Resolution expires. The spending levels, as passed, are $63 Billion over the levels set by sequenstration for both years. The Senate is expected to support the legislation today. With this action, Congress has begun to get back to the typical budget process, rather than legislate through a series of contuing resolutions.

Summer Minnick is the Director of Policy Initiatives and Federal Affairs. She can be reached at 517-908.0301 or sminnick@mml.org

Some optimism is coming out of Washington DC that House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Senate Budget Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-WA) are making progress on talks to negotiate federal budget changes before their self-imposed December 13th deadline. If nothing changes, a new set of sequestration cuts to the tune of $91 billion will go into effect in early January 2014. As of right now there are no indications that eliminating the exemption on municipal bonds will be part of this budget/tax reform package being discussed. However, nothing is certain, so we will continue to monitor that issue closely.

Summer Minnick is the Director of Policy Initiatives and Federal Affairs. She can be reached at 517-908-0301 or sminnick@mml.org

Patricia Lockwood, Mayor Pro Tem of Fenton, was elected to the National League of Cities Board of Directors over the weekend at their Congress of Cities and Exposition in Seattle, Washington.

Mayor Pro Tem Lockwood was selected from a large candidate pool and will serve two years as Board member.

She is also a past president of the Michigan Municipal League Board of Trustees (1994-95) and an honorary life member.

Congratulations to Pat!

Read more here about the NLC conference in a blog by League CEO and Executive Director Dan Gilmartin.

Summer Minnick is the Director of Policy Initiatives and Federal Affairs. She can be reached at 517-908-0301 or sminnick@mml.org.

The joint House and Senate Conference Committee on the budget is having hearings to negotiate the 2014 federal budget. The deadline to reach an agreement is December 13. However, as has been the case all year, significant differences remain between House Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Senate Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-WA). There was some discussion at the first hearing that there might be small scale agreement put in place that would provide relief from sequestration-driven budget cuts set to go into effect mid-January. The League will continue to update you on federal budget progress as the discussions move forward.

Summer Minnick is the Director of Strategic Initiatives and Federal Affairs. She can be reached nat 517-908-0301 or sminnick@mml.org.

The House and Senate passed, by wide margins, HR 2775 which funds the federal government through Wednesday, January 15, 2014 as part of a continuing resolution from the current FY 2013 levels. In addition, it also extends the debt-limit through February 7, 2014. The Appropriations Act is retroactive to October 1st, the day the shutdown began. Now that Congress has provided a few month reprieve until budget debates heat back up, the focus will resume again to other priorities including federal tax reform – which we’ve been engaged with in order to preserve federal tax exemptions on municipal bonds.

Summer Minnick is the Director of Policy Initiatives and Federal Affairs. She can be reached at 517-908-0301 or smininck@mml.org.

This week the League will be in Washington DC to meet with Congressman Camp and Levin to discuss the critical nature of retaining the federal tax exemption on municipal bonds. Congressman Camp is the Chairman of the Powerful Ways and Means Committee and Congressman Levin is the ranking member, so both are in powerful positions on this issue which is heating up since tax reform has been tied to lifting the debt ceiling in the next couple of weeks. We will also be urging them to support the Marketplace Fairness Act which would bring sales tax collection parity to online retailers, generating hundreds of millions of lost revenue to Michigan. The bill passed the Senate this spring.

Summer Minnick is the Director of Policy Initiatives and Federal Affairs. She can be reached at 517-908-0301 or sminnick@mml.org.

Congress was unable to pass a Continuing Resolution to maintain existing funding levels for the federal government last night, putting a shutdown in place. It is not clear how long the shutdown will last, or even how specific the impacts will be in each state or each community. Last night the White House held a conference call with federal department heads to explain some of the impacts. National parks will close, housing and small business loans will stop being approved and many federal employees will either be furloughed or unpaid until a budget extension is passed, just to name a few. When it comes to specific local government programs like CDBG or transportation programs, the White House said the funding that was committed would still be there, but the staff who need to approve the spending for those projects may not be. So, the best answer to any questions is to reach out to your local federal department contacts directly to see who is working and how it will impact your federal projects directly.

Summer Minnick is the Director of Policy Initiatives and Federal Affairs. She can be reached at 517-908-0301 or sminnick@mml.org.

The quest for internet sales tax parity made another stride late last week, when House Judiciary Chairman Rep. Goodlatte (R-Virginia) released a set of guiding principals on the tax collection issue, which are listed below. Earlier this year, the Senate passed the bill, S. 744, and sent it to the House. However, Rep. Goodlatte has indicated that he wants to develop a new “simpler” bill than S. 744 or H. 684 – which is the House version of the Senate-passed bill. This is still a significant step forward on the issue, which many thought wouldn’t get any action on the House side. Please ask your Congressional Representative to ask Chairman Goodlatte for a hearing on this issue. While exact estimates are hard to come by, Michigan is expected to generate hundreds of millions of dollars from this tax which goes uncollected.

House Judiciary Committee Principles on Internet Sales Tax

• Tax Relief – Using the Internet should not create new or discriminatory taxes not faced in the offline world. Nor should any fresh precedent be created for other areas of interstate taxation by States.
• Tech Neutrality – Brick & Mortar, Exclusively Online, and Brick & Click businesses should all be on equal footing. The sales tax compliance burden on online Internet sellers should not be less, but neither should it be greater than that on similarly situated offline businesses.
• No Regulation Without Representation – Those who would bear state taxation, regulation and compliance burdens should have direct recourse to protest unfair, unwise or discriminatory rates and enforcement.
• Simplicity – Governments should not stifle businesses by shifting onerous compliance requirements onto them; laws should be so simple and compliance so inexpensive and reliable as to render a small business exemption unnecessary.
• Tax Competition – Governments should be encouraged to compete with one another to keep tax rates low and American businesses should not be disadvantaged vis-a-vis their foreign competitors.
• States’ Rights – States should be sovereign within their physical boundaries. In addition, the federal government should not mandate that States impose any sales tax compliance burdens.
• Privacy Rights – Sensitive customer data must be protected.

Summer Minnick is the Director of Policy Initiatives and Federal Affairs. She can be reached at 517-908-0301 or sminnick@mml.org.

 

Congress is about one week away from a federal government shutdown, as both sides continue posturing on the federal budget. Late last week, the House Republicans passed a spending measure that would continue spending at post-sequester levels, to the tune of approximately $986 Billion. However, it included language to defund the Affordable Care Act which is a non-starter for Senate Democrats and the President. The federal fiscal year starts next Tuesday, October 1st, so the countdown is on for Congress. Some experts have suggested that the Senate will accept the reduced spending levels in order to compromise on maintaining funding for the ACA. Although, no official statements on that position have been made.

Summer Minnick is the Director of Policy Initiatives and Federal Affairs. She can be reached at 517-908-0301 or sminnick@mml.org.

You are invited to join President Barack Obama and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius for a conference call with state and local elected officials on Wednesday, September 25, at 2:30 pm EDT to discuss the October launch of the Health Insurance Marketplace. The White House encourages you to invite other community partners working on Health Insurance Marketplace outreach to join you in your office for the call. In the meantime, you can find more information on the Health Insurance Marketplace in the toolkit for state and local officials, which is attached.

outreach-and-enrollment-toolkit-for-elected-officials

WHEN: Date: September 25, 2013
Time: 2:30 PM EDT (please dial in no later than 2:30 pm EDT)

HOW: RSVP at www.att-rsvp.com with Conference ID # 303712 to receive the call-in information.

This call is off the record and not for press purposes.

Summer Minnick is the Director of Policy Initiatives and Federal Affairs. She can be reached at 517-908-0301 or sminnick@mml.org.