Control over who decides the location and details of solar and wind energy generating facilities remains a contentious issue at the Michigan State Capitol, MAC’s Podcast 83 team reported this week in their newest episode.

Madeline Fata, MAC’s point person on the legislation, was scheduled to testify against bills last week to transfer zoning powers to the Michigan Public Service Commission, but she didn’t get the chance, she told her podcast team members, due to the intense questioning of bill sponsors by committee members.

MAC has long opposed any infringement on local control, and the

Meanwhile, MAC’s Samantha Gibson reports, the MAC-supported

Looming over every issue, though, is the unsettled legislative calendar, with the Democratic majority still expected to adjourn the body in early November in order to bring into force state law on pension tax changes and the presidential primary on schedule in early 2024.

The Podcast 83 team reviews the unsettled legislative

Host Stephan Currie and MAC staffers Deena Bosworth, Madeline Fata and Samantha Gibson detail the State Capitol news, including:

- The ongoing march of binding arbitration expansion, despite MAC’s opposition; and

-Continuing work on juvenile justice reform.

Also discussed is the rapidly shrinking legislative calendar for the rest of 2023, with Bosworth expressing concern that the lack of session days could prevent passage of key MAC priorities until calendar 2024.

Currie turned the conversation to next week’s MAC Annual

Legislative work in Lansing is accelerating and MAC’s Podcast

In their newest episode, host Stephan Currie and MAC staffers Deena Bosworth, Madeline Fata and Samantha Gibson detail the news, including:

The Michigan Legislature is back in Lansing, which means

In this week’s episode, host Stephan Currie leads the team of Deena Bosworth, Madeline Fata and Samantha Gibson across the legislative

Host: Stephan Currie
Guest: Deena Bosworth of MAC
Topic: MAC's work on a Revenue Sharing Trust Fund.

Among key points made during the discussion, taped July 11, are:

• Legislative term limits have disrupted the institutional knowledge of revenue sharing's purpose in Lansing.
• There is now a strong group of former county commissioners in the Legislature, however, who are well-positioned to aid in the trust fund effort.
• The version of the legislation that has the “most momentum” is in a House committee.
• The only stumbling block, Bosworth says, is the lack of buy-in, so far, from the State Budget Office.

“It’s called revenue sharing for a reason,” Bosworth noted. “They are supposed to be sharing the state revenue. It was established years ago because we gave up our own local taxing authority.”

See video versions of all Podcast 83 episodes on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9K0ge6AvMM2B6vh7oYNn6g

Visit the Podcast 83 page at www.micounties.org

Details about the 2023 Annual Conference in Kalamazoo County are the focus of a special episode of Podcast 83, MAC’s podcast about all things related to Michigan’s 83 counties.

Guest Tammi Connell, MAC’s director of member events, provides a rundown of the conference mechanics, including the timeline for registration, when to show up at the conference venue, the Radisson Hotel in downtown Kalamazoo, and even what music you can expect to hear at the Gala following the traditional President’s Banquet on the night of Monday, Oct. 2.

Deena Bosworth, MAC’s director of governmental affairs, provides more conference details, including on this event’s workshops for county leaders, including a special two-day dive into the exceedingly complicated – and important – road funding formula found in Public Act 51.

See video versions of all Podcast 83 episodes on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9K0ge6AvMM2B6vh7oYNn6g

Visit the Podcast 83 page at www.micounties.org

MAC’s work to enact a dedicated Revenue Sharing Trust Fund is the focus of a special and new episode of Podcast 83.

Host Stephan Currie delves into the details of the trust fund effort with MAC's governmental affairs director, Deena Bosworth.

Late in June, lawmakers did approve a $17.6 million boost in county revenue sharing, which will bring the total in FY24 to $263.4 million. However, the MAC pair noted, the trust fund initiative will relieve much of the uncertainty about funding and tie payments to the growth of sales tax revenue.

Among key points made during the discussion, taped July 11, are:

• Legislative term limits have disrupted the institutional knowledge of revenue sharing's purpose in Lansing.
• There is now a strong group of former county commissioners in the Legislature, however, who are well-positioned to aid in the trust fund effort.
• The version of the legislation that has the “most momentum” is in a House committee.
• The only stumbling block, Bosworth says, is the lack of buy-in, so far, from the State Budget Office.

“It’s called revenue sharing for a reason,” Bosworth noted. “They are supposed to be sharing the state revenue. It was established years ago because we gave up our own local taxing authority.”

See video versions of all Podcast 83 episodes on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9K0ge6AvMM2B6vh7oYNn6g

Visit the Podcast 83 page at www.micounties.org

Host: Deena Bosworth
Guests: Christina Miller of Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy; Madeline Fata of MAC
Topic: County responsibilities under revised state law for creating plans and implementing them to handle materials.

State law adopted in the 11th hour of the legislative session that ended in December 2022 made sweeping changes to local government responsibilities for materials management.

Christina Miller of the Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy discusses that new law and requirements with MAC's Deena Bosworth and Madeline Fata in this special episode of Podcast 83.

Among key points made during the session:

• All counties will have to adopt a new materials management plan that extends the focus beyond solid waste. Provisions of the old plan stay in effect until the new plan is adopted.
• 
  
• The state, Miller says, does not see materials management as a single-county system. The state is urging collaboration among counties and local governments.
• 
  
• The state is hoping to spur the needed infrastructure for managing materials statewide.

See video versions of all Podcast 83 episodes on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9K0ge6AvMM2B6vh7oYNn6g

Visit the Podcast 83 page at www.micounties.org

A highly successful committee hearing and continued uncertainty on budget timing were two of the topics discussed this week in Podcast 83, MAC’s podcast on all things related to county government.

Host Stephan Currie led the MAC Governmental Affairs Team of Deena Bosworth, Madeline Fata and Samantha Gibson through a tour of pending legislative matters in Lansing, including:

·        Revenue Sharing Trust Fund, with Bosworth reporting on her testimony before an apparently approving House committee on the topic, which would create a dedicated stream of sales tax dollars for county revenue sharing;

·        Public Safety Trust Fund, with Bosworth noting that the same House committee seemed to share many of MAC’s concerns about the concept, particularly its lack of provisions to recognize the growing demands on county sheriffs;

·        Juvenile Justice Reform, with Gibson explaining that key legislators are looking to spend the summer taking testimony and then act on the huge legislative package, which MAC supports, in the fall; and

·        Fiscal 2024 state budget, with Bosworth noting that the new Democratic majority in Lansing has been surprisingly tight-lipped over the final revisions to the spending plan that is expected to be finished this week for the budget year that starts Oct. 1.

See video versions of all Podcast 83 episodes on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9K0ge6AvMM2B6vh7oYNn6g

Visit the Podcast 83 page at www.micounties.org

Bills designed to allow for water management districts and for the assessment of costs across watersheds in Michigan are the topic of a special episode of MAC’s Podcast 83 released on June 20.

MAC’s Deena Bosworth hosted a session with Stacy Hissong, general counsel for the Michigan Association of County Drain Commissioners (MACDC) and member of the law firm of Fahey Schultz, on the proposed rewrite of Chapter 22 of the Michigan Drain Code.

House Bills 4382-83, by Reps. Curt VanderWall (R-Mason) and Christine Morse (D-Kalamazoo) respectively, would allow local governments and residents to petition the drain commissioner for the establishment of the districts and, if found necessary, to create a plan to manage stormwater within the district in ways not currently allowed.

The plan would be unique to each district and could include actionable items like regional detention, buffer strips and the creation of wetlands, rain gardens and the like. The intent is to slow down and detain water during major storm events, instead of allowing it to flood roads, fields, businesses and homes on its way to a drain. The plan must include an estimate of the cost of each recommended activity.

The legislation is backed by MAC and MACDC.

See video versions of all Podcast 83 episodes on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9K0ge6AvMM2B6vh7oYNn6g

Visit the Podcast 83 page at www.micounties.org