Insider Intelligence

This week the House unanimously voted to appropriate an additional $175 million for infrastructure improvements in the current fiscal year. The plan uses money left over from a previous state government budget cycle and is already available, therefore they won’t need to make any budget cuts or increase or add fees to fund the proposal. […]

This week, Governor Rick Snyder signed an Executive Order seeking to enhance broadband access to more Michigan residents. The order creates the Michigan Consortium for Advanced Networks, which is directed to establish a roadmap to help strengthen statewide broadband access and connectivity. The consortium is directed to identify gaps in broadband service coverage and capacity, […]

This week, Speaker Tom Leonard (R-DeWitt Twp.) Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, and Representative Lana Theis (R-Brighton) announced their plan to reform Michigan’s auto insurance system.  Michigan drivers pay the nation’s highest auto insurance premiums, averaging $2,400/year, nearly twice the national average.  Insurance rates are especially high in urban areas, including metro Detroit, Grand Rapids, Lansing, […]

According to information provided this week by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to the Mayor of Flint, the city’s water system is now testing below action levels of the Federal Lead and Copper Rule.  Additionally, the levels are comparable to cities with similar size and age of infrastructure. The DEQ provided the Flint […]

Registration has opened for the “Water Infrastructure Conference: A National Conversation in Flint”.  The conference is bringing together local governments and key stakeholders in a national conversation about the urgent need for reinvestment in critical water infrastructure.  The conference will be held March 7-9, 2017 at the Riverfront Banquet Facility in Flint.  Attendees will include […]

This week, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette charged two former State of Michigan Emergency Managers, Darnell Earley and Gerald Ambrose, with multiple twenty-year felonies for their alleged failure to protect the citizens of Flint from health hazards caused by contaminated drinking water.  Additionally, Attorney General Schuette announced that Mr. Earley and Mr. Ambrose, along with […]

This week, the Senate passed a package of legislation amending Michigan’s speed limit laws.  Most notably, the bill would increase the speed limit on certain freeways from 70 mph to 75 mph and would increase some trunk line highways from 55 mph to 65 mph.  The bills were amended from their House-passed version and have […]

This week, the Governor’s 21st Century Infrastructure Commission announced the northern Michigan stop on their listening tour.  The stop will be held at Northern Michigan University (an MLC client) on Friday, August 19, from 9 a.m. – 11 a.m.  The purpose of the stop is for residents to provide input on improving the state’s infrastructure.  […]