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

The Michigan Municipal League has been saying for quite some time now that the state’s system for funding municipalities is a broken system.

Lawmakers and others have asked for our proposed solutions and we’ve recently answered those requests with the release of our Partnership for Place Agenda. This policy agenda proposes a commitment of action in partnership between the State and its municipalities that will facilitate Michigan’s economic growth and allow for the development of places to provide key services and amenities that contribute to a high quality of life.

It focuses on a more regional approach to service delivery, which would change the way services are provided, how resources are dedicated, and how systems are supported.

Approved by the Michigan Municipal League Board of Trustees in June of 2013, this policy agenda proposes actions that will re-establish a partnership for prosperity in four key areas: Funding the future; Michigan in Motion; Place for Talent; and Strength in Structure.

Read more about the agenda here and here.

This Partnership for Place plan is so important that we dedicated the League’s October Prosperity Agenda Radio show to this topic. The radio show airs monthly on News/Talk 760 WJR. League CEO Dan Gilmartin hosts the show, which is co-sponsored by the League and the Michigan State Housing Development Authority. Dan’s media co-host for this month’s show is Detroit News reporter Chad Livengood. Show guests are the League’s Samantha Harkins, Paw Paw Village Manager Larry Nielsen and Berkley Councilmember and League Board Member Steve Baker.

While the radio show is set to air 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2013, you can listen to it now at the League’s website here or by subscribing to the FREE iTunes podcast. View additional photos from the show taping here in this set on the League’s flickr page.

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

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 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