Michigan Technology related politics
LANSING - The Michigan House narrowly approved a bill to eliminate straight-ticket voting Wednesday and also cleared legislation establishing "secure" no-reason absentee voting with Democrats mostly in staunch opposition to both during a long and contentious session. Seven hours passed with the House mostly at a standstill before it finally took up SB 13 to
LANSING - Industry and environmental groups remained split on new air emissions rules based on their comments Monday at a public hearing on the changes. The rules, developed as a result of Governor Rick Snyder's rules advisory committee process to comb through the state's regulations, would reduce the number of chemicals required to be regulated
LANSING - While changes to legislation providing tax exemptions for date centers - like Nevada-based Switch, that would like to come to the state if the tax changes are passed - weren't expected by the committee chair, Michigan House Speaker Kevin Cotter said after a lengthy caucus on the subject, the bills could see some
LANSING - Airports in the state would receive state funding to help with repair and maintenance costs under legislation approved by the Senate on Thursday. The bills (SB 418, SB 425, SB 426, SB 612, SB 613 and SB 614) would dedicate 2 percent of the sales tax on aviation fuel with to aviation purposes
LANSING - Although the agreement on just how much of a sales/use tax exemption colocation centers such as Switch, a company out of Nevada looking to expand in Michigan, should receive varied from Thursday morning to Thursday afternoon, the Senate ultimately decided to allow such entities to receive the full extent of an exemption on
LANSING - Michigan would see at least 1,000 new jobs, a more diversified economy and a level playing field encouraging data centers to invest in the state if exemptions for certain personal property from sales, use and property taxes are passed by the Legislature, a representative of Switch, a company looking to create its eastern
LANSING - For the first time in a decade - in fact, for the first time since Michigan last increased its tobacco tax - tobacco tax revenues increased during the 2014-15 fiscal year, figures show. The increase does not appear related to more people smoking. Rather, the increase seems due largely to lower gasoline prices
LANSING - A Michigan Senate committee meeting has been scheduled for this week for a three-bill package that would give exemptions to sales, use and property taxes for a major data center based out of Nevada looking to expand in the Grand Rapids area. The Senate Michigan Competitiveness Committee is scheduled to meet at 8
LANSING - Hewlett Packard met a judge-imposed deadline of 5 p.m. Friday to turn over the source code for information technology projects it had been pursuing for the Department of State, a department spokesperson said Monday. A week ago, a Kent Circuit judge ordered HP Enterprise Services to turn over the source code for the
LANSING - The farms contributing to nutrient loads in Lake Erie also benefit from substantial federal subsidies, the Less=More Coalition said in a report released Thursday. The group found that subsidies to confined animal feeding operations outpaced fines for pollution violations, though pollutant levels in the western Lake Erie Basin increased. "While agricultural runoff has
