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Podcast 83 Legislative Update March 11, 2026
Host: Stephan Currie
Guests: Deena Bosworth, Jimmy Johnson and Samantha Gibson of MAC
Topics: Host Stephan Currie welcomed the MAC team to the newest episode of Podcast 83 with an unusual observation for recent times at the State Capitol:
“They have been busy in Lansing-ish, I guess. There are bills being introduced, committee meetings, hearings and sessions being held. And some voting, I guess we could say.”
“Except for they still have this goal,” Deena Bosworth quipped, “at least the House does, to have the fewest number of bills again this year.”
Among topics addressed in this week’s episode:
Housing regulation: “So, we've got all these housing preemption bills,” said Bosworth, “as I'm going to call them, where they're saying that your zoning has to allow for X, Y and Z, small lot sizes, small buildings, mobile homes everywhere. But they're not taking into account the stress on the infrastructure for more of those buildings. And so, we may all have priorities … we don't want to pay much more in taxes. We don't want to pay assessments. We want better housing stock, smaller entry-level housing stock. But none of that's going to really work unless you have the infrastructure underneath, so I think it's going to be a larger conversation, this legislative term, on the value of infrastructure and responsible buildouts.
Legislation to ease rehiring of retired law enforcement personnel: “It's House Bill 4771. It's up in the (Government Operations Committee) this week for a vote,” said Deena Bosworth. “The holdup has really been … we were trying to expand this countywide, but at this point, the sheriffs are really kind of pushing us and a little bit desperate to have it done … They don't mind that it was for other county employees, but we had some pushback from legislators, which stalled it in the process, both last year and this year. So, now we're kind of backing off, letting it get done for the sheriffs, and we will revisit other countywide employees after that.”
Statewide septic code: “It's going to be kind of layered based upon what the priority is, so if you're in a 100-year floodplain, if you are within 500 feet of water or any kind of environmental hazard, that's going to be moving up towards the top (of the inspection list),” said Jimmy Johnson. “And then at that point, every 10 years, you will be getting looked at.”
Drone regulation: “The intent is to alleviate this concern about Chinese companies that manufacture drones that U.S. law enforcement agencies utilize,” said Samantha Gibson. “(F)rom what I've gathered … the U.S. drone market is not able to compete adequately with what the Chinese drone market has to offer. And so, the presidential administration and the Michigan House are trying to advance ways that the U.S. drone market can compete. And part of that is limiting the use of state and local governments for these Chinese drones.”
See video versions of all Podcast 83 episodes on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@michiganassociationofcount2606
Visit the Podcast 83 page at www.micounties.org
View all episodes
By DerekHost: Stephan Currie
Guests: Deena Bosworth, Jimmy Johnson and Samantha Gibson of MAC
Topics: Host Stephan Currie welcomed the MAC team to the newest episode of Podcast 83 with an unusual observation for recent times at the State Capitol:
“They have been busy in Lansing-ish, I guess. There are bills being introduced, committee meetings, hearings and sessions being held. And some voting, I guess we could say.”
“Except for they still have this goal,” Deena Bosworth quipped, “at least the House does, to have the fewest number of bills again this year.”
Among topics addressed in this week’s episode:
Housing regulation: “So, we've got all these housing preemption bills,” said Bosworth, “as I'm going to call them, where they're saying that your zoning has to allow for X, Y and Z, small lot sizes, small buildings, mobile homes everywhere. But they're not taking into account the stress on the infrastructure for more of those buildings. And so, we may all have priorities … we don't want to pay much more in taxes. We don't want to pay assessments. We want better housing stock, smaller entry-level housing stock. But none of that's going to really work unless you have the infrastructure underneath, so I think it's going to be a larger conversation, this legislative term, on the value of infrastructure and responsible buildouts.
Legislation to ease rehiring of retired law enforcement personnel: “It's House Bill 4771. It's up in the (Government Operations Committee) this week for a vote,” said Deena Bosworth. “The holdup has really been … we were trying to expand this countywide, but at this point, the sheriffs are really kind of pushing us and a little bit desperate to have it done … They don't mind that it was for other county employees, but we had some pushback from legislators, which stalled it in the process, both last year and this year. So, now we're kind of backing off, letting it get done for the sheriffs, and we will revisit other countywide employees after that.”
Statewide septic code: “It's going to be kind of layered based upon what the priority is, so if you're in a 100-year floodplain, if you are within 500 feet of water or any kind of environmental hazard, that's going to be moving up towards the top (of the inspection list),” said Jimmy Johnson. “And then at that point, every 10 years, you will be getting looked at.”
Drone regulation: “The intent is to alleviate this concern about Chinese companies that manufacture drones that U.S. law enforcement agencies utilize,” said Samantha Gibson. “(F)rom what I've gathered … the U.S. drone market is not able to compete adequately with what the Chinese drone market has to offer. And so, the presidential administration and the Michigan House are trying to advance ways that the U.S. drone market can compete. And part of that is limiting the use of state and local governments for these Chinese drones.”
See video versions of all Podcast 83 episodes on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@michiganassociationofcount2606
Visit the Podcast 83 page at www.micounties.org