Webinar This Thursday on EPA’s proposed rule to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under Clean Air Act

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This Thursday, September 18th from 1-2 pm the State and Local Legal Center will be hosting a webinar on the legal issues raised by EPA’s proposed rule to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from existing power plants. This webinar will be particularly helpful to those who are in the process of drafting comments, which are due on Oct. 16. There is no pre-registration for the webinar; simply click here at the appropriate time and sign in as a guest.

EPA has invited comment on a number of issues that may have legal implications for states. Given the compliance obligations this rule will create for states, the National Governors Association has worked with the SLLC to develop a presentation that will provide states with an opportunity to explore topics that will most directly affect them. Some of these topics will be addressed in the webinar and include:

o   State-level considerations for regional compliance and a legal roadmap for how states could join together to develop a regional consortium to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

o   Whether states can legally adopt multiple approaches to reducing carbon emissions, including approaches that are rate based, mass based, market based, or some combination of those three.

o   The authority for states to implement approaches outside of reductions at individual power plants (regardless of the legal interpretation at the federal level), or whether states need internal authority to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through other measures like regional agreements or the implementation of energy efficiency measures through 111(d).

o   The ability of states to adjust the specific percentage by which they must reduce their carbon emissions by 2030.

Roger Martella,, a former General Counsel for the EPA and current partner with the law firm of Sidley Austin, will lead the discussion and answer questions.

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

House Committee Passes Bill Clarifying Reasonable Court Costs

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Earlier this year the Michigan Supreme Court held in People v. Cunningham that a court may impose costs in a criminal case only if those costs are authorized by statute. This decision has a huge impact on courts across Michigan including our district courts.

The House Judiciary Committee passed House Bill 5785, legislation that would allow a court to impose any reasonable cost on a defendant found guilty of a crime. The League is supportive of this legislation.

Reasonable costs include salaries and benefits of court personnel; goods and services necessary for operation of the court; and/or necessary expenses for the operation and maintenance of court buildings and facilities.

The bill requires the court to make available to the general public and the defendant information about any costs, fines or assessments imposed beginning June 18, 2014.

The legislation now goes to the full House for consideration.

Samantha Harkins is the Director of State Affairs for the League handling municipal finance issues.  She can be reached at sharkins@mml.org or 517-908-0306.

TIF Legislation to be Introduced This Week

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Rep. Eileen Kowall plans to introduce legislation this week (draft of that legislation can be found here:TIF Draft 1 (2)) making significant changes to TIF districts.  Also available is a copy of the PowerPoint that was used to present the over all plan (with not a lot of detailed specifics): Tax Increment Financing Reform Presentation (9 11 2014).

Some of the goals of the legislation include:

  1. combine all the TIF acts into one (but leaving Brownfields and Nonprofit Railway Act on their own),
  2. increase in transparency along with an incentive to comply,
  3. define what activities TIF dollars can be used for, and
  4. add in special assessment capabilities similar to what is allowed for a Principal Shopping District, in addition to the up to 2 mill levy allowed currently under the DDA act.

Here is a brief analysis of what the Draft 1 legislation does: Brief analysis of Draft 1 TIF legislation.

The legislative timeline for completion is a fast one.  The bill is expected to be introduced this week followed by two weeks of testimony beginning September 24 with the goal of passing it out of the House before they leave at the beginning of October.  That would leave the Senate for lame duck.

As you read through the analysis and/or draft legislation and have questions or comments (especially feedback on how this will specifically impact your local communities) please contact me so we can continue to compile local impact lists.  Additionally, if you have any interest in testifying either next week or the following week, we would love to have you to put some local faces to the problems this legislation could create.

Please contact your Representatives with the local impact of the legislation and ask them to not rush a vote just to get something done before the end of the year.  This is a significant change and deserves a significant amount of attention, work, discussion and detail put into it so we are not creating bad public policy.

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.

House Committee Passes Bill Extending Sunset for OPEB Bonding

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Yesterday morning the House Financial Liabilities Reform Committee passed Senate Bill 922, a bill to extend the sunset for bonding for other post employment benefits (OPEB) and the costs of switching from defined benefit to defined contribution. This is an option for communities with a AA credit rating.

The sunset will be extended to December 31, 2015. The League has been pushing for an additional change to allow communities with an A rating or better to use this option if they purchase bond insurance. Thus far we have not been successful in getting this amendment.

The legislation now goes to the full House for consideration.

Samantha Harkins is the Director of State Affairs for the League handling municipal finance issues.  She can be reached at sharkins@mml.org or 517-908-0306.

House Committee Considers Open Meetings Act Legislation

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This afternoon the House Oversight Committee heard testimony on HB 5580, legislation that would amend the Open Meetings Act (OMA) to require minutes of meetings to be more detailed.

The legislation would require minutes to detail how each member voted. If the meeting is not recorded, the minutes would be required to include the main points of discussing in support or opposition to each issue. It would also require a summary of the remarks of every person who addresses the public body.

The League was joined by the Michigan Association of Counties and the Michigan Townships Association in opposing the legislation. The fear is that this will have unintended consequences for communities. The legislation is vaguely written, and as a result could result in inadvertent violations of the Act.

The committee did not vote on the legislation.

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

MDOT Makes Significant Upgrades to Act 51 Reporting Portal and the Investment Reporting Tool

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The Michigan Municipal League would like to inform you that the Michigan’s Transportation Asset Management Council (TAMC) has made some significant updates to Michigan’s Act 51 Reporting Portal (MITRP) specific to completed project reporting requirements within both the Investment Reporting Tool (IRT) and Act 51 Distribution andReporting System (ADARS). Both systems can be accessed via this link: www.mcgi.state.mi.us/MITRP/.

The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) and each local road agency has a responsibility to annually submit a report to the TAMC that includes, road and bridge projects anticipated to be contracted within the next three years and completed projects (open to traffic) for the fiscal year being reported. In 2006, the TAMC developed the Web-based IRT to facilitate the collection of project location information related to planned and completed projects for local agencies. In 2011, in an effort to gather meaningful cost information from local agencies, the TAMC partnered with MDOT to add an asset management page to the Web-based ADARS system. Unfortunately, this had an unintended consequence that caused many local agencies to have to manually re-enter duplicate project information into both systems.

This situation has been corrected and as of September 3, 2014, both the IRT and ADARS Asset Management page will be fully integrated to allow for the completed project information reported within the IRT to be automatically “synced” to the reporting categories within the ADARS page.

Initially, there will be a “soft” roll-out of this update for agencies with fiscal years ending on/after October 1, 2014 – September 30, 2015. During the roll-out MDOT will focus on training and educating local agencies on the project reporting process and you will still be able to submit Act 51 reports by clicking the “No Treatments to Report” button. However, on/after October 1, 2015, the TAMC will expect the project information requested in both the IRT and ADARS to be complete. Failure to report this information could result in non-compliance with Act 51 reporting requirements and funds withheld until such a time that compliance can be determined.

If you have any questions, please contact Brian Sanada, TAMC Coordinator, at 517-373-2220 or sanadab@michigan.gov.

The following is a link to the letter that was sent out by the Transportation Asset Management Council regarding these changes. TAMC Letter to IRT-ADARS Users 9 3 14

John LaMacchia is a Legislative Associate for the League handling transportation and infrastructure issues. He can be reached at jlamacchia@mml.org or 517-908-0303.

Reminder: Forms Due for Small Parcel Debt Reimbursement for Personal Property Tax

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Just a reminder that Treasury Form 5192 to claim reimbursement for millage levied in July 2014 for the debt loss/school debt loss from the personal property 2014 small taxpayer exemption loss is due by September 5. Forms returned by September 5 should be processed for October 2014 reimbursement.

To be eligible for reimbursement a local unit must have levied debt millage in 2013. Form 5192 is posted under Reimbursement Forms on the Treasury web page.

The reimbursement form for debt millage levied in December 2014 will be available next month.

Please contact Treasury with any form related questions at TreasORTA@michigan.gov.

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

Grant Applications Available for Financially Distressed Communities Program

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The State’s Fiscal Year 2015 budget includes grants for financially distressed cities, villages and townships. Applications for that program are now posted on the Department of Treasury’s website.

Any city or village currently experiencing at least one condition of “probable financial distress,” as enumerated in the Local Financial Stability and Choice Act passed in 2012 is eligible to apply for funding.

There is $8 million has been appropriated for the grant program this fiscal year, with a $2 million limit for each local unit of government. Applications must be submitted to Treasury by the close of business on Friday, October 31, 2014. For more information visit www.michigan.gov/revenuesharing.

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

The House Passes Legislation Allowing Golf Carts on Local Roads

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This week House passed HB 5045 by vote of 103-5. This bill would allow a local unit of government to pass an ordinance that would allow golf carts on roads under their jurisdiction. The following requirements must be met.

  • Must have a population less that 30,000
  • The operator must be at least 16 years of age and have a valid drivers license
  • The golf cart must be operated on the far right side of the roadway
  • You can only operate the golf cart between a half hour after sunrise and a half hour before sunset
  • Drivers must use hand signals to indicate turning and stopping

    • The golf cart cannot exceed 15 mph and can not operate on a road with a speed limit of more than 30 mph

John LaMacchia is a Legislative Associate for the League handling transportation and infrastructure issues. He can be reached at jlamacchia@mml.org or 517-908-0303

MDOT Annual Certification of Employee-Related Conditions Due September 30th

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Beginning September 30, 2014, and annually each September 30 thereafter, certification must be made for compliance to Section 18j of Public Act 51 of 1951, MCL 247.668j. A local road agency must certify that it has developed an employee compensation plan for its transportation employees as described OR the local road agency must certify that medical benefits are offered to its transportation employees or elected public officials in compliance with the publicly funded health insurance contribution act, 2011 PA 152, MCL 15.561 to 15.569, OR, that it does not offer medical benefits to its transportation employees or elected public officials. For a copy of the annual certification form please click here.

In addition, a local road agency shall maintain a searchable website accessible by the public at no cost, or the local road agency may reference this state’s central transparency website as the source for the information required. The information required includes all of the following, current fiscal year budget, the number of active transportation employees of the local road agency by job classification and wage rate, a financial performance dashboard that contains information on revenues, expenditures, and unfunded liabilities, the names and contact information for the governing body of the local road agency, and a copy of the annual certification form. If you elect to reference the state’s central transparency website the email to send a searchable pdf of the information to is MDOT-Outreach@michigan.gov. The website that should be used as a link the central transparency website on your webpage is www.michigan.gov/act51 and it will be part of the Legislative Reports under the Resources heading.

If a local road agency does not have a website, you may send a searchable pdf of your information to jlamacchia@mml.org at the Michigan Municipal League and it will be posted to their web page.

For more information please read Section 18j Frequently Asked Questions provided by MDOT.

The League continues to advocate that certifying to MDOT that we are in compliance with PA 152, which by law we are required to be in compliance with, is redundant, unnecessary, and an inefficient use of time. We have also advocated that the creation of another dashboard is unnecessary because of the public access to our current dashboards, F65 Forms, audits, and our comprehensive annual financial reports. SB 882 that would repeal these requirements has passed the Senate and awaits a hearing in the House. We are still hopeful that this legislation will pass before September 30th but there is no guarantee. We encourage you to prepare as if this requirements will continue to be due on September 30, 2014.

John LaMacchia is a Legislative Associate for the League handling transportation and infrastructure issues. He can be reached at jlamacchia@mml.org or 517-908-0303