State releases broadband plan to spend $1.55 billion

Michigan has released its draft plan to spend $1.55 in federal funds to expand broadband access across the state.

You can review the plan in its entirety here. The state is now taking public comment until Aug. 4. It will use this feedback to shape the final version of its “Five-Year Action Plan.”

Developed by the Michigan High Speed Internet (MIHI) Office, the plan follows the announcement that Michigan would receive the fourth-largest allocation in the nation from the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program.

The draft plan highlights MIHI’s key priorities: reduce barriers to broadband deployment; maximize the use and reach of federal funds; promote digital equity and inclusion; advocate for resiliency and sustainability for broadband infrastructure development; and empower communities through engagement and involvement.

The MIHI team has spent nearly a year traveling around Michigan to identify the needs of each region. They have determined that nearly 500,000 households are unserved or underserved by high-speed internet. The objectives outlined in the plan include expanding infrastructure, promoting affordable broadband services and increasing digital skills.

Stakeholders have been divided into three separate classes: core, enabling and external. Counties have been placed in the enabling class, meaning they will play a key role in “identifying barriers to infrastructure deployment and developing and implementing solutions to overcome these barriers.” Counties will also be involved in developing policies that contribute to successful program implementation.

Local permitting and county rights-of-way and drains have already been identified as significant barriers in the deployment of infrastructure, according to MIHI. The plan suggests a desire to standardize the permitting process, making it easier for broadband providers to expand into unserved and underserved areas.

MAC has not taken a position on the plan but encourages members to review it carefully as soon as possible.

For more information on this issue, contact Madeline Fata at fata@micounties.org.

 

Stan Ponstein, Kent County commissioner and MAC president, is featured in the “Profiles in Service” section of the July 17, 2023, edition of County News, the publication of the National Association of Counties.

Among the tidbits Ponstein shared with the NACo writers were:

• His favorite movie is “The Sound of Music.”
• He has a culinary arts degree.
• The three people (living or dead) he’d invite to dinner are: Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia, chef Anthony Bourdain and Susan Butcher, Iditarod Sled Dog Race champion.

To see the full feature, click here.

To watch Ponstein’s remarks at MAC’s 125^th Anniversary Celebration in Lansing on Feb. 1, go to our YouTube channel.

At the 2023 Michigan Counties Annual Conference (Oct. 1-3 in Kalamazoo County), MAC members will vote on four seats on the MAC Board of Directors. Commissioners wishing to serve on the Board, whether incumbents or new candidates, have until Sept. 1 to file official notice of their intent to run.  (The application form is found by clicking here.)

The MAC Board of Directors is the key body in guiding the legislative and organizational strategies of MAC. Board terms are three years in length and individuals may serve up to three terms.

2023 Board seats

• At-large Seat A – Board President Stan Ponstein of Kent County is the incumbent
• CORRECTION: Region 1 Seat B – Joe Bonovetz of Gogebic County is the incumbent
• Region 2 Seat B – Director Richard Schmidt of Manistee County is the incumbent
• Region 3 Seat B – Board First Vice President Jim Storey of Allegan County is the incumbent

The regional caucuses for these elections will be held Oct. 2 at 3:15 p.m. during the 2023 Annual Conference at the Radisson Hotel in downtown Kalamazoo. To identify your region, consult the map at right or click here.

Seats representing regions are filled by the particular regional caucus, with each county in the region casting a single ballot. At-large seats are filled by the candidate that wins a majority of the six regional caucuses, with commissioners casting individual votes.

Any member wishing to run in the election must download the application form and return it by Sept. 1, 2023, at 5 p.m. to be eligible. Candidates are also encouraged to submit a statement of up to 400 words on why members should support them. These statements will be posted to the MAC website in early September.

If you have any questions about Board duties, please contact Executive Director Stephan W. Currie at 517-372-5374.

County leaders asked to contact Congress on Medicaid jail issue

Earlier this year, bipartisan bills were introduced in both the U.S. House and Senate to address the Medicaid Inmate Exclusion Policy (MEIP). The Due Process Continuity of Care Act and the Reentry Act were introduced in March, which would amend the Medicaid Inmate Exclusion Policy.

Congress is currently negotiating the reauthorization of the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment (SUPPORT) for Patients and Communities Act of 2018 (P.L. 115-271), which expires on Sept. 30, 2023. 

The Medicaid Inmate Exclusion Policy is a federal statute that terminates access to federal health benefits at the time of arrest. These bills would allow continuity of care via access to critical health services for incarcerated individuals. The Due Process Continuity of Care Act would “allow pretrial detainees to receive Medicaid benefits at the option of the state and provide $50 million in planning grant dollars to states and localities for implementing the MIEP repeal, improving the quality of care provided in jails and enhancing the number of available providers to treat this population.” The Reentry Act would “allow Medicaid payment for medical services furnished to an eligible incarcerated individual during the 30-day period preceding the individual’s release.” MAC, along with other stakeholders, has requested the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services apply for a Section 1115 waiver  relating to the MIEP, allowing for Medicaid eligibility for incarcerated individuals prior to release.

MAC supports these bills and access to better care for incarcerated individuals in county jails. Should these bills pass, counties will have a streamlined process to provide effective behavioral health care and services for transitions to community care, and recidivism rates and risk for post-release overdoses will reduce.

As Congress works to reauthorize key programs within the SUPPORT Act, NACo and MAC urge you to contact your U.S. Representatives and Senators and ask them to support the inclusion of the following bipartisan bills that would address the Medicaid Inmate Exclusion Policy (MIEP): 

• The Reentry Act (H.R. 2400/S.1165), which would allow Medicaid payment for medical services furnished to an incarcerated individual during the 30-day period preceding the individual’s release.
• The Due Process Continuity of Care Act(H.R. 3074/S.971), which would allow pretrial detainees to receive Medicaid benefits at the option of the state.

Send a letter to your U.S. Senators and Representatives using the NACo letter template.

• Senate contact list.

• House contact list.

Access the new Medicaid Inmate Exclusion Policy (MIEP) Advocacy Toolkit for talking points, sample social media posts and other advocacy resources.

For more information on this issue, please contact Samantha Gibson at gibson@micounties.org.

 

ICYMI: Revenue sharing, Child Care Fund boosts mark FY24 state budget

Increases in county revenue sharing and reimbursements for the Child Care Fund highlight a fiscal 2024 state budget approved by legislators during marathon sessions in Lansing this week.

What is being described as “the largest state budget in Michigan history” includes a $17.6 million boost in county revenue sharing, which will bring the total in FY24 to $263.4 million. This represents the seventh consecutive increase in this account after a decade of disinvestment by the state.

“We are obviously pleased with increases in revenue sharing, and especially this year in light of the fact that these are broad-based boosts that reach every corner in the state in a budget marked more by specific and highly individualized projects by the Legislature,” said Stephan Currie, MAC’s executive director.

See county-by-county revenue sharing estimates for FY24.

The fact that the final increase was much less than had originally been discussed earlier this year is evidence, said MAC’s chief lobbyist, that the true, fundamental reform is to create and fund a separate Revenue Sharing Trust Fund. “What we have seen from the conference committee this week is a reminder that we need to take revenue sharing out of the annual political free-for-all with the budget,” said Deena Bosworth. “Our plan, developed in close coordination with other local government groups, will do just that, and we remain hopeful that, with members’ help, we can bring this reform into reality later this year.”

Bosworth was referring to plans embodied in House Bills 4274, by Rep. Amos O’Neal (D-Saginaw), and 4275, by Rep. Mark Tisdel (R-Oakland), which would create a trust fund and dedicate a percentage of the state sales tax to it, thereby ensuring annual growth when sales tax receipts grow and separating revenue sharing from much of the current budget politics.

To send a message of support to your legislators of this reform, click here.

In other county-related items from the FY24 budget:

• $6.6 billion is assigned to transportation work;
• $1.1 billion is assigned to environmental work (with about a third of it coming from the state General Fund);
• Reimbursements for counties from the Child Care Fund will go to 75 percent from the current 50 percent, securing one of MAC’s key priorities for 2023;
• $72 million will go into Michigan Indigent Defense Commission grants to cover costs associated with Standard 8 adopted by the commission;
• $19.3 million is dedicated to foster care per diems, representing an 8 percent increase;
• $25 million is dedicated in an increase to Essential Local Public Health Services; and
• $76 million is dedicated to implementing the provisions of Proposals 1 and 2 from 2022 that alter legislative term limits, transparency and election procedures, with $30 million of that figure set aside for grants to incentivize early voting efforts on a multi-jurisdictional effort.

For more information about MAC’s advocacy on the state budget, contact Deena Bosworth at bosworth@micounties.org.