LANSING - House Minority Leader Tim Greimel said he is ready and willing to work with majority Republicans as the 2013-14 term begins, but plans to aggressively communicate House Democrats' plans for Michigan to residents. But Greimel (D-Auburn Hills) said how much Democrats participate in the development of legislation is up to House Speaker Jase
LANSING - Governor Rick Snyder said Tuesday that he will offer a refined proposal on how to fill an estimated annual gap in the state's road funding needs of $1.6 billion during his State of the State address January 16. In the fall of 2011, Snyder unveiled a series of proposals designed to boost road
LANSING - The current 2012-13 fiscal year is expected to have much slower revenue growth than the one the state just concluded, and while that is expected to keep the books balanced, it could spell problems for future fiscal year budgets, the Senate Fiscal Agency said in a report released Thursday. "It's not like we're
LANSING - Former Governor Jennifer Granholm says she will return to teaching, speaking and other activities after the announcement her show, "The War Room," would be cancelled following the sale of Current TV to Al Jazeera. "My agreement with Current was for the duration of the election (and the sale)," Ms. Granholm said in a
LANSING - Rep. Joseph Haveman as expected will chair the House Appropriations Committee in the 2013-14 term. House Speaker Jase Bolger (R-Marshall) announced the appointment Wednesday of Haveman (R-Holland), who was the majority vice chair of the committee during the current term and a part of Bolger's inner circle. Gongwer News Service had first reported
LANSING - The House has concurred in the Senate version of the Detroit Lighting Authority with a number of Detroit lawmakers opposing the package, putting the measure on Governor Rick Snyder's desk. Rep. Maureen Stapleton chastised her colleagues for opposing the measure, arguing it was needed to improve Detroit. "The good news is that the
LANSING - The Senate breathed life back into long-dormant legislation that would allow community colleges to offer four-year baccalaureate degrees in certain programs on Thursday after some discontent at the discharge of HB 4496 from committee. Community colleges under the bill could offer four-year baccalaureate degrees in cement technology, maritime technology, energy production technology and
LANSING - After three tries on Thursday, House leaders were able to put together a coalition sufficient to pass the main bill creating a regional transit authority for Southeast Michigan, but the rest of the package moved in fits and starts over the duration of session. On the first two tries to pass the main
LANSING - The Michigan House has approved legislation that would change Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan to a nonprofit mutual insurer from a charitable nonprofit. In making that change, the chamber required that Blue Cross packages make abortion coverage opt-in rather than opt-out. The bills (SB 1293 and SB 1294 ) moved on largely
LANSING - Local government and school groups howled Tuesday about the new plan to reimburse them from revenue lost through the phase-out of the industrial portion of the personal property tax, but their lines of defense appeared to fracture with legislative Democrats signaling support and one significant mayor also voicing backing. Two Democratic senators, Sen.