LANSING - An effort to entice big businesses with government-backed incentives advanced in the Michigan Senate Thursday, just a day after the state House approved similar legislation. Senate Bills 769, 770 and 771 passed with bipartisan support in the Michigan Senate on Thursday and would create the “Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve Fund” and the
LANSING - Michigan Republicans and Democrats came together last Wednesday and prioritized using federal dollars to invest in Michigan’s aging water infrastructure. Senate Bill 565 passed unanimously out of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Dec. 1. The bill's sponsor, Sen. Jon Bumstead (R-Newaygo) is the committee's majority vice chair. The bill, a $3.34 billion budget
LANSING - Michigan's lowest-funded cities, townships, villages, counties, and school districts would share $500 million in American Rescue Plan and infrastructure money under a plan announced by a pair of House Democrats Tuesday. Under the Raise Up Local Grant Match from Rep. Julie Brixie (D-Meridian Township) and Rep. Amos O'Neal (D-Saginaw) , introduced as HB
LANSING - On a party-line 6-3 vote, the Michigan Senate Regulatory Reform Committee reported out a concurrent resolution to oppose labor peace agreements being a requirement a company must meet to be eligible for licensing under the Marijuana Regulatory Agency's permanent rules. The measure is sponsored by committee chair Aric Nesbitt (R-Lawton), who has compared
LANSING - If everything goes as hoped, Michigan casinos will be able to start offering sports betting and Internet gaming by the men's college basketball tournament in March, according to Rep. Brandt Iden (R-Oshtemo Twp.). The shepherd for the gaming expansion package in the House, Iden said he's hopeful the Gaming Control Board will be
LANSING – At long last, Michigan’s divided government has the framework for a budget deal. But it’s mostly flat and doesn’t include major funding to big problems voters elected lawmakers to solve. An agreement to end a months-long standoff on Tuesday includes no new money for roads and bridges that are some of the nation’s
LANSING - The state is close to being in line for a potential annual windfall of tens of millions in new revenue after the Senate passed legislation Wednesday requiring the collection of sales tax from online retailers and sent the package to Governor Gretchen Whitmer's desk. Passing the Senate were HB 4540, HB 4541, HB 4542 and HB 4543. The
LANSING – A months-long budget standoff could be nearing an end, as Michigan lawmakers moved bills Wednesday to reappropriate some $459 million of the nearly $1 billion Gov. Gretchen Whitmer line-item vetoed from the state’s 2020 budget. Millions of dollars would be returned to programs that fund rural police patrols, charter schools, isolated school districts,
LANSING - Despite pleas from community and environmental groups to move forward with draft drinking water standards that would establish testing levels for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, the Environmental Rules Review Committee decided Thursday to table the rules until a special meeting on November 14. The move comes following some committee members feeling they didn't
EAST LANSING – Farmers in Michigan are dealing with the aftermath of bad weather this spring leaving many acres unplanted while they hope crops planted later in the season can fully mature, and they continue to reel from continuing trade disputes, a joint panel of the House and Senate Agriculture committees was told Tuesday. While
