Most of the effort this week will focus on budgets and the school aid funding. However, the following matters will also be addressed: The House is planning to move complete streets this week. The Senate Natural Resources Committee will take up their version of bills to prohibit drilling in the Great Lakes. It will also take up a bill regarding easements across state-owned lands.

Senate

Passed:

On the floor:

SB 1235 – A build regarding local government building authorities and including references to transit-oriented facilities.

SB 1238 – A bill to provide for tax increment financing incentives to invest in transit-oriented facilities and transit-oriented development.

SB 437, SB 1345-1349 – A bill to revise programs for the remediation of contaminated property – Part 201 of NREPA

SB 1075 – A bill to reorganize state agencies, require reporting to the legislature and prohibit any state agency from promulgating rules more stringent than federal regulations unless specifically authorized under Michigan law.

SB 1177 – A bill to restore the groundwater dispute resolution program.

HB 5221 – A bill to eliminate the laboratory recognition program.

HB 5086 – A bill to increase the number of additional renaissance zones for agricultural processing facilities.

SB 670 – This bill would reclassify the Michigan transportation Fund as a trust fund. The move is designed to increase the potential interest earnings of the fund, but is apparently questionable under accounting practices rules.

SB 862/863 – These bills would increase the fuel tax paid by motor carriers, dedicate a portion of the funds to bridge repair and limit benefits paid by locals using federal road money.

In committee:

Agriculture and Bioeconomy will meet on Thursday (7/1) at 9:00 am:

• HB 5280, HB 5837 – Bills to reduce the licensing requirements for the sale of certain foods produced by a cottage food operation.
• HCR 52 - A concurrent resolution to approve certain designated open space land applications for property in Kent County.

Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs will meet on Wednesday (6/30) at 1:00 pm to take up:

• HB 4201 – A bill to revise the policy for granting easements across state owned land.

PENDING REFERRAL:

• SR 168 - A resolution to urge the Great Lakes states and Ontario and the federal governments of the United States and Canada to ban permanently all directional drilling for oil and gas beneath the Great Lakes.
  
  
• SR 169 - A resolution to urge the inclusion of a ban on new oil and gas drilling beneath the Great Lakes in the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement and to call for a study and assessment of the impact and risk from existing drilling operations on the Great Lakes.
  
  
• SCR 48 - A concurrent resolution to urge the inclusion of a ban on new oil and gas drilling beneath the Great Lakes in the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement and to call for a study and assessment of the impact and risk from existing drilling operations on the Great Lakes.
  
  
• SJR Z – A bill to provide for a ballot measure to amend the Constitution to prohibit drilling in the waters of the state or beneath the bottomlands of the Great Lakes.

House

Passed:

On the floor:

HB 6151 - A bill to create and implement a complete streets policy.

HB 6152 - A bill to implement complete streets policy within the local planning process.

HB 6173 – A bill to extend the sunset on the Refined Petroleum Fund for five years (until 2015). The fund is used to address underground storage tanks.

HB 5977 – A bill to provide for intermunicipality committees studying transit-oriented facilities.

HB 5979 – A bill to provide for incentives to invest in transit-oriented facilities and transit-oriented development.

HB 5926 – A bill to provide for technical amendment to zoning and growth management act.

HB 4898 - A bill that would establish a NREPA review panel and require benchmarking studies of the Part 201 (cleanup program of contaminated sites), and the Part 31 (water discharge) programs. This bill was discharged from the Great Lakes Committee.

HB 5220 – A bill to increase Clean Air Act fees. Bill was amended to reduce the environmental oversight for new power plant air permits, restrict environmental standards to federal levels and privatize some permitting services by state government. The House did not concur with the amendments and it ended up in conference committee when they adjourned for the year. (The bill was discharged from conference committee).

HB 5461 – A bill to provide for private investment infrastructure funding.

HB 4050 – A bill to exclude the ability to put unpaid water and utility bills on the delinquent taxes bill potentially triggering a foreclosure.

HB 5496 – A bill to provide for permanent registration sticker for snowmobiles used for law enforcement.

HB 5497 - A bill to provide for permanent registration sticker for ORVs used for law enforcement.

HB 5498 – A bill to provide for permanent registration sticker for watercraft used for law enforcement.

HB 5558 – A bill to establish a surcharge on solid waste of $7.50 / ton.

HJR MM – A resolution to establish a Constitutionally protected fund for the surcharge moneys to be placed within.

HB 5368 – A bill to prohibit the use of fertilizer containing phosphorus unless it use is shown necessary through use of a soil test.

In committee:

Intergovernmental and Regional Affairs will meet on Tuesday (6/29) at noon to take up:

• HB 5988-89, HB 5998 – Bills to provide for incentives to invest in transit-oriented facilities and transit-oriented development.

Tourism, Outdoor Recreation and Natural Resources will meet on Tuesday (6/22) at 10:30 am to take up a number of bills including:

• HB 6159 – 6162 - A bill to modify off-road vehicle legislation to include new annual permits, allocation of funding for new fees, and special exemptions for events. A bill to allow operation of OHVs on local roads and road shoulders, streets, and highways under certain circumstances and provide for assumption of the risk of operation.

Submitted by:
James Clift, Policy Director
Michigan Environmental Council