Host: Stephan Currie

Guests: Samantha Gibson and Jimmy Johnson of MAC

Topics: In a quick-hit episode this week, MAC’s Podcast 83 team discussed the House’s efforts to do away with two policies: the state’s clean energy standards and a cap on the number of hours worked by retired sheriff employees who return to service.

House Bill 5711, by Rep. Pat Outman (R-Montcalm) “would repeal the 100 percent clean energy standards by 2040 that was put into effect in 2023,” said Samantha Gibson, “and that coincided with the wind and solar reform efforts that we saw a few years back as well, the total preemption of local control for wind and solar siting. This is part of a larger effort that House Republicans have put forth to kind of walk back the energy reforms that the Democratic ‘trifecta’ did a few years ago.”

House Bill 4471, by Rep. Mike Harris (R-Oakland) seeks to remove the 1,000-hour cap on rehiring former sheriff's office employees.

“I want to say it's 13 counties that are not part of MERS and they cannot rehire former employees at the sheriff's office for over 1,000 hours,” Gibson said. “Obviously, all the sheriff's offices are facing staffing shortages in the jails and for road patrol, so bringing those additional counties in would allow them to alleviate some of those shortages.”

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