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

Yesterday the Senate unanimously reported Senate Bill 387, legislation that would amend the Worker’s Disability Compensation Act to include a reserve or auxiliary police officer as an employee of the State for purposes of the Act when he or she was performing duties in that capacity.

In general we find this legislation to be positive. While it does expand worker’s compensation it makes these officers employees of the state thus putting the responsibility on the state to pay for any claims.

The legislation now heads to the House for its 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

Yesterday the Senate unanimously passed Senate Bill 307, a bill introduced Senator Steve Bieda (D-Warren) that removes population thresholds for communities who want to use a police and fire special assessment as a revenue option.

Under the law currently a city with a population of under 15,000 may levy a police and fire special assessment. A city with a population of more than 15,000 and less than 70,000 in a county with a population between 230,000 and 235,000 may levy an assessment with a vote of the people. The only city that meets this very narrow criteria is the City of Saginaw.

Senator Bieda’s bill would eliminate the population threshold so that any city above 15,000 could levy a special assessment for police and fire under the Act with a vote of its electorate.  We are grateful to Sen. Bieda for introducing this important local option.

It now heads to the 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

Today the House Commerce committee took up HB 4996, legislation to enable crowdfunding, the idea of funding projects or startups by obtaining small sums of money from many individuals.  HB 4996 will allow the sales of securities to an unlimited number of non-accredited investors, provided the issuer registers with the State of Michigan.  Any Michiganders who do not fit the federal definition of an accredited investor are given the opportunity to support their local entrepreneurs, existing small businesses, and real estate investments.

There were some concerns from some of the representatives on the committee not about the idea and intent of the legislation but regarding the level of safety built in for those investing so there may be a new draft with amendments coming forth.

We see this as a creative approach to economic development in the state of Michigan.  It is no secret that entrepreneurs are one of the keys to economic success.  Entrepreneurship is among the League’s 8 key assets to creating vibrant, successful, 21^st century communities.  Studies have shown the communities with the largest growth rate are those in which entrepreneurs are flocking to.  These very entrepreneurs are finding it difficult to pull together the necessary investments to start their businesses.  The investment strategy allowed for under this legislation will help to close the gap and make the entrepreneurs dream of starting a business and having a presence in the community very real.  Entrepreneurs help to make our local municipalities flourish and helping these businesses succeed makes for strong local and regional economies. Local communities are doing their part in identifying the aspects of a community that entrepreneurs seek out in places where they want to set up shop but that doesn’t matter if there isn’t a means for them to get off the ground and running or to grow their business. This legislation will provide another avenue for other local individuals to invest in their community in a new way by supporting the businesses they know best.  Healthy local economies and healthy communities go hand in hand.

It is exciting and refreshing to be able to be supportive of such a creative and positive economic development effort at the state level.  We want to thank Rep. Jenkins for all of her work on this and for championing this issue.  Also a huge thank you to Chris Miller, city of Adrian, and his team for all of their work on this too.

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.

CALL MISS-DIG. Under the legislation considered 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 afternoon the House Energy and Technology Committee heard testimony 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.

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

On Thursday, Rep. Amanda Price, chair of the House Local Government Committee, took general testimony on the problems local communities and organizations are having when attempting to deal with blighted properties in their area.  There were great discussions on many of problems being faced.  Officials from the city of Ypsilanti, city of Jackson and city of Niles were among the group to testify.

Among the many topic areas of discussion were squatters, the lengthy foreclosure process when a property is sitting vacant, the problems a second auction presents when dealing with foreclosed properties, and not knowing contact information for bank owned properties.

The committee hearing brought to light many of the hurdles local communities are facing when trying to eradicate blight from their area.  We are encouraged by the amount of interested in discussing this topic and we are thankful to Rep. Amanda Price for taking this testimony in her committee. We look forward to working the chair and the rest of the committee members as this issue develops further.

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.

This morning the House Tax Policy Committee passed Senate Bills 489 and 490, bills that are the first “fix” bills from the personal property tax (PPT) reform package that passed in December. The bills clarify the process for a businesses to claim exemptions under the legislation.

The League has been an active part of a drafting group of local government and business representatives who have been working on bills that would clarify the process for claiming PPT exemptions under the new legislation.

Beginning December 31, 2013, businesses will be eligible to claim a “small parcel” PPT exemption if the total value of their personal property in a tax collecting unit is $80,000 (true cash value) or less.  The remainder of the package does not go into effect until December 31, 2015; however, the package is contingent on the passage of a statewide vote in August 2014.

The League was neutral on the bills as they do reflect the work of the drafting group. You can view a copy of the League’s letter to the House Tax Policy Committee here: house tax policy 9_13 We also included a copy of the letter the League sent to Lt. Governor Brian Calley after the package passed in December: calley ltr final

We are expecting additional legislation this fall to fix other outstanding issues including the essential services assessment and how we deal with tax capture districts. The legislation now heads to the full House for approval.

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 League hosted a media roundtable to unveil and discuss our Partnership for Place proactive legislative agenda. You can view the agenda on the our website. View photos from the event here

A number of legislators joined the event to discuss the importance of reinvesting in communities, and  those lawmakers want to be part of the changing conversation to reinvest in communities. Read our press release from the event.

The League’s Board of Trustees President and Mayor of Utica, Jacqueline Noonan, was joined by Representatives (and former mayors) Rob VerHeulen (R-Walker) and Sam Singh (D-East Lansing) to discuss the importance of reinvestment. Special thanks to these legislators and the other lawmakers who attended: Representatives Andy Schor (D-Lansing), Robert Kosowski (D-Westland), Jim Townsend (D-Royal Oak) and Terry Brown (D-Pigeon). We were also joined by former mayors Representatives Gretchen Driskell (D-Saline), John Kivela (D-Marquette) Vicki Barnett (D-Farmington Hills) and Woodrow Stanley (D-Flint). Senators Jim Ananich (D-Flint), John Pappageorge (R-Troy), and Hoon-Yung Hopgood (D-Taylor) rounded out the legislators in attendance.

We are excited to begin the conversation of addressing the many issues facing communities here in Michigan and focusing on the four main areas outlined in the Partnership for Place: municipal finance, transportation, talent and place and strength in structure.

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

In response to Governor Snyder’s 2013 address on Energy and the Environment, the administration held public forums across the state. The administration is also soliciting comments on the draft reports. The first report on energy efficiency is open for comment until Wednesday, October 16, 2013.

If you’re interested in reviewing the report and making comments please visit http://www.michigan.gov/energy.

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

Michigan Municipal League CEO and Executive Director Dan Gilmartin will speak to the National Press Club Thursday, Oct. 10, 2013, along with others in a presentation about the fiscal conditions of U.S. cities.

Gilmartin will speak at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. during an event in which the National League of Cities will release a report on the City Fiscal Conditions in 2013. This is the NLC’s annual report that discusses the state of cities’ finances, including revenue and spending trends from 2012 to 2013.

Gilmartin will address the fiscal challenges facing Michigan’s cities, including Detroit, and how new public policies are needed to repair the state’s broken municipal finance system, attract and retain talent, and end decades of disinvestment in our urban areas.

Others speaking at the event are Clarence Anthony, Executive Director, NLC; Christiana McFarland, Interim Director, City Solutions and Applied Research, NLC; Michael Pagano, Dean, College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs, University of Illinois Chicago; Jim Spiotto, Partner, Chapman and Cutler LLP; and The Honorable Ron Greene, Controller, City of Houston, Texas.

This event is a great opportunity for the Michigan Municipal League to speak on a national scale about the challenges facing Michigan communities and communities throughout the U.S. There will be a live stream of the event 9:30-10:30 a.m. available for viewing at www.NLC.org.

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