Congress is back to work after their winter break. Just before the holidays, they passed a two-year budget agreement that lifted the sequester on discretionary programs that were set to go into effect if no action was taken. Now, they have until January 15^th to pass all the appropriation bills necessary to outline how those set funding levels will be divided up. There is no agreement yet but negotiations seem to be moving along and are being held closely to the vest by House and Senate leaders. One issue that was not resolved favorably in the budget negotiation was the Build America Bonds (BABs) subsidy payments. So the reduction in those payments will continue. We will update you this week on how the budget breakdowns unfold.

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

In today’s consensus revenue estimating conference, state officials including the House and Senate Fiscal Agencies and the Department of Treasury, estimated a $970 million budget surplus over the next three years.

For Fiscal Year (FY) 2013, there is an established $374 million surplus in the general fund (GF) and $56 million in the school aid fund (SAF) for a total of $430 million of actual surplus.

The FY 2014 estimates are $126 million in GF and $90 million in SAF higher than the budget estimates from May of 2013.

The FY 2015 estimates are $206 million in GF and $119 million in SAF higher than the budget estimates from May of 2013.

League President Jackie Noonan issued a statement calling for lawmakers to reinvest in communities after a decade of using revenue sharing dollars to fill state budget holes.

Michigan Municipal League statement on budget surplus Jan 2014

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

Category two to qualify for funding under the Economic Vitality Incentive Program (EVIP) is due on February 1, 2014. Category two is consolidation of services.

To qualify for category two a local unit of government must certify to the Department of Treasury that they have produced a consolidation plan.

First time filers must submit a list of any previous service cooperation, collaboration, consolidation, innovation and/or privatization and include an estimated cost savings amount.  A first time filer must also include one or more new proposals and include an estimated savings amount and estimated timeline.

Previous filers must include an update on the status of previous years’ proposals including its implementation, barriers experienced and an estimated timeline of completion.  A previous filer must also include one or more new proposals to increase cooperation, collaboration, consolidation, innovation or privatization.

If you have any questions please contact the League or Treasury directly at TreasRevenueSharing@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

The League's Samantha Harkins gets interviewed by a TV news reporter.

As the league’s chief lobbyist, she is an important force representing Michigan’s communities in Lansing. She told Crain’s one of her goals this year is changing the law phasing out the state’s personal property tax for business to guarantee complete reimbursement to communities of lost revenue from the tax. As written, the law provides 80 percent.

Samantha is on the list with numerous other well-known Michigan politicians and key political figures, including Lt. Gov. Brian Calley; Rep. Wayne Schmidt, R-Traverse City, chair of the state House Transportation Committee; state Sen. Rebekah Warren, D-Ann Arbor; Cindy Estrada, United Auto Workers vice president; Emily Dievendorf, managing director at Equality Michigan; Barb Byrum, Ingham County Clerk; Rep. Klint Kesto, R-Commerce Township; Lon Johnson, of the Michigan Democratic Party; and Ann Flood, Department of Insurance and Financial Services.

Matt Bach is director of media relations for the Michigan Municipal League. He can be reached at mach@mml.org and (734) 669-6317.

This morning Governor Snyder discussed his plan for a “no regrets” energy future by 2025.  He enumerated several goals for the state’s energy policy focusing on the areas of adaptability (eliminating energy waste), reliability (reducing outages and their length), affordability of rates and protection of the environment. The press release is available here: NR energy plan.

This announcement came after the Governor’s special message on energy and environment that he gave last year.  Additionally this year the Michigan Public Service Commission issued four energy reports specifically focusing on energy efficiency, renewable energy, electric choice and additional areas (i.e., reliability, higher rates and natural gas storage expansion). A summary of the MPSC reports is available here: summary of energy reports

We expect the discussion around these energy issues to heat up in 2014 and 2015.

The package of blight bills related to communities who have administrative hearings bureaus, SB 35-39, were signed into law by Governor Snyder.  They are now PA 188-192.

Along the lines of blight and financial institutions, there have been problems throughout the state with the lack of appropriate contact information when dealing with blighted property notices on financial institution owned property.  In response to those concerns and because of this legislation, the Michigan Department of Information and Financial Services is currently working on integrating a list of registered agents at financial institutions with their website.  In the meantime, anyone who might be interested in that agent information can call DIFS toll-free at 877-999-6442 or DIFS Corporate Review directly at 517-373-7236.

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.

The legislature had a fast and furious finish to the 2013 session year and will return January 8, 2014.

League offices are closed beginning Tuesday, December 24, 2013 and reopening, January 2, 2014.

Expect the next installment of the Legislative Link on Tuesday, January 7, 2014.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

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.

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