Insider Intelligence

On Thursday, Governor Rick Snyder signed legislation ensuring local units of government cannot impose an excise tax on the production, distribution, and sale of food.  Dubbed “The Michigan Food Access and Affordability Act,” it places a prohibition on local governments from creating such a tax. While making its way through the legislature, the bill received […]

This week, the legislature moved forward with bills in the House and Senate that provide protection for consumers from local governments imposing an excise tax on the production, distribution, and sale of food.  As we’ve previously written, the two bills were introduced after local food and beverage taxes were adopted in other parts of the […]

As we wrote last week, legislation has been introduced in the House and Senate prohibiting local units of government from imposing an excise tax on the production, distribution, and sale of food.  The proposal was put forth after other cities nationwide have adopted such a tax, causing harm to grocery stores, food production, and employment […]

This week, the House moved quickly to pass HB 4892, a one-time solution for locals dealing with a mix-up over the filing deadline for candidates of local offices.  The legislation sponsored by Speaker Pro Tem Lee Chatfield (R-Levering), was introduced following a mistake by a local government in his district that would have left a […]

On Tuesday, the Responsible Retirement Reform for Local Government Task Force released their report of recommendations.  The proposals are focused on addressing local pension and health care costs, ensuring retiree support, and providing more financial stability and effective delivery of local government services.  “The increasing costs of retirement benefits has been a major issue for […]

This week, the House Local Government Committee reported two bills that would ban a local government from becoming a sanctuary city.  A ‘sanctuary city’ as they are called, is one that limits or abstains from cooperating with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency in matters related to deportation, in either law or practice.  The committee […]

This week, the House passed legislation introduced by Representative Joe Graves (R-Linden) providing subpoena powers to the House and Senate oversight committees.  It would allow the committees to subpoena records and files of local governments, as the bill sponsor believes it’s the state’s responsibility to oversee them.  The bills specify that the subpoena authority is […]

This week, Representative Steven Marino (R-Harrison Twp.) and Representative Diana Farrington (R-Utica) introduced legislation reforming the state’s contingency fund that helps communities deal with disasters.  Under the bills as introduced, the contingency fund would continuously maintain a greater amount of funds that can be used more quickly to help local governments cope with disasters.  Currently […]