Legislative Update 4-7-23

Written by Derek Melot on April 7, 2023. Posted in Blog, Events, Legislative, MAC news, MACSC, NACo

2 bill packages could boost or stabilize county revenue

Two bill packages were introduced in Lansing in late March that could serve to stabilize revenues for counties and create more predictability in revenues.

The first package, Senate Bills 229 and 230, by Sen. Veronica Klinefelt (D-Macomb) creates a “Revenue Sharing Trust Fund,” which is a big priority for MAC this year.

With this trust fund, the legislation would require a percentage of the state sales tax be deposited into the fund and prescribe an equitable distribution from of half to counties and half to cities, villages and townships (CVTs).

If enacted, counties could see an increase of at least 43 percent on their current revenue sharing in the first year alone. Additional increases would be based on the growth of the state’s sales tax.

The bills, developed by MAC in consultation with Sen. Klinefelt and others, have been referred to the Senate Committee on Finance, Insurance and Consumer Protection.

The second package creates an optional structure for the taxes levied on solar facilities in Michigan.

House Bills 4317 and 4318, by Reps. Curt VanderWall (R-Mason) and Cynthia Neeley (D-Genesee) respectively, would allow for the creation of solar energy districts by local municipalities after a mandatory public hearing. Subsequently, solar energy developers could apply for an exemption from local property taxes and instead pay a flat rate of $7,000 per megawatt of nameplate capacity for the proposed solar energy facility, instead of ad valorem property taxes. The payment would be locked in for 20 years and distributed based on the proportions of normal taxes that would have been paid to each taxing unit.

An additional financial incentive would be offered for developers that choose to site their facilities on brownfield properties, in opportunity zones, as a secondary use on already improved real property (i.e., roof tops) or on state-owned property. In such cases, the reimbursement rate would be $2,000 per megawatt of nameplate capacity.

The impetus behind the legislation is twofold. First, this methodology for compensating locals for lost taxes will provide financial predictability for the developers and the locals, hopefully avoiding the same problems we have had with the challenges to the evaluation of wind turbines. Second, the rate and process should serve as incentives for developers to build more renewable energy facilities.

The bills have been referred to the House Tax Policy Committee. After years of participation on workgroups to ensure local options, a stable funding source, appropriate zoning considerations and adequate local reimbursements, MAC has taken a neutral position on HBs 4317-18.

For more information on these issues, contact Deena Bosworth at bosworth@micounties.org.

Legislative leadership panel will highlight conference’s third day

Leaders from the majority and minority parties in both chambers of the Michigan Legislature will join MAC for a discussion on their priorities and what has changed in Lansing since Democrats gained the majority in the House and Senate for the first time in 40 years. They also will be asked for their views on a variety of county priorities in 2023. The discussion will be moderated by Deena Bosworth, MAC’s director of governmental affairs.

The panel will include:

House Speaker Joe Tate, D-Wayne
House Minority Floor Leader Bryan Posthumus, R-Kent
Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks, D-Kent
Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt, R-Cass

This special session will run from 8:45 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. on Wednesday, April 26.

Other sessions and events not to miss at this year’s conference include:

“A National Perspective on the County Landscape and Priorities” by Matt Chase, executive director of the National Association of Counties
A MAC Legislative Update from MAC’s Governmental Affairs staff
A State of MAC report from MAC Executive Director Stephan Currie
Remarks from MAC President Stan Ponstein of Kent County
An “Opioids Help Desk” where MAC’s Amy Dolinky will answers questions on opioid settlement fund planning
A Legislative Reception on the evening of Tuesday, April 25, during which MAC will present its County Advocate Awards for legislative service in 2022.

HOTEL UPDATE: The main conference hotel is now SOLD OUT. If you still need a room, we recommend contacting the Marriott Courtyard in downtown Lansing (approximately 2 blocks from the Lansing Center) at 517-367-6677.

Click here to register.

See conference agenda.

For additional details on registration pricing, parking and more, visit the conference page on MAC’s website.

Calling for transparency on opioid settlement investments

Last week, following the release of the Michigan Opioid Advisory Commission’s inaugural report calling for increased transparency of state spending, Kaiser Health News (KHN) reported on a need for transparency among state and local governments around opioid settlement funds.

The story was followed up by a Twitter feed outlining core issues and a Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) more detailed spend plan that has not been made publicly available before. The KHN reporter, Aneri Pattani, outlines how challenging it was to obtain this information. The spend plan that KHN was able to obtain differs from the spend plan released to the public by MDHHS on Feb. 10, even though both plans are share the same date.

National guidance from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health outlines five core principles for use of opioid settlement funds. Principle 5 specifies the need for community engagement and transparency in the planning and investment process. The KHN article also links to an interactive map, created by Christine Minhee, founder of OpioidSettlementTracker.com, showing the percentage of funds states have promised to publicly report on, outlining that the state of Michigan has no current plans to report on use of settlement funds.

County leaders should ensure community engagement in their settlement planning and consider ways in which transparency can be provided throughout all steps of the process. Consideration should be given to the different types of publicly available information that can be provided, from open meetings, public meeting minutes, listening sessions, town hall meetings all the way to annual reporting on expenditures and activities.

For assistance on anything related to opioid settlement planning, please contact Amy Dolinky at dolinky@micounties.org.

U.S. Treasury portal now open; P&E reports due by April 30

“All counties must submit an American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) State and Local Coronavirus Fiscal Recovery Fund (Recovery Fund) Project and Expenditure (P&E) Report to the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury) by April 30, 2023,” the National Association of Counties reminded in a post this week. “These required, periodic reports provide Treasury with financial and current performance information on projects using Recovery Funds. To help counties navigate the reporting process, the Treasury has released several resources that answer many of counties’ most common questions.

“The Project and Expenditure Report User Guide takes counties step-by-step through the reporting portal and gives more details on what information Treasury wants for some programmatic questions. The guide includes screenshots of the Treasury Portal, showing counties what questions they can expect to answer for each project. This document is a supplement to Treasury’s compliance and reporting guidance.

“For the April P&E Reports, Treasury announced new information that counties are required to submit: These updates apply to all counties unless a county allocated its entire ARPA allocation towards the $10 million revenue loss standard allowance.

“Please note that there is new information that is required for these April P&E Reports. Counties are now required to include the following information (these requirements DO NOT apply to expenditures that are paid for using lost revenue – EC 6.1):

Unique Entity ID Requirements for Subrecipients and Contractors: All subrecipients and contractors are required to have a Unique Entity ID (UEI) and have that number included as part of the reporting process. The UEI is the replacement for the previously used DUNS numbers, and they are issued by SAM.gov. While this requirement is not new, starting in April 2023’s P&E Report the report form will now return an error when no valid UEI is provided when creating new Subrecipient or Contractor entities. This was previously not explicitly required, but strongly urged by Treasury.
1. Treasury has stated that for the April 2023 P&E reporting form, if a pre-existing subrecipient or contractor record does not have a UEI, the system will simply flag it as a warning but not prevent them from submission of the entire P&E report.
2. However, ANY NEW subrecipient or contractor records will be required to have their UEIs provided and they cannot create those entities without one.
3. Treasury has stated they DO NOT KNOW how long they will be able to keep this flexibility available after April 2023 so counties should get their UEIs together ASAP.

New Subaward/Direct Payments Entity Type: All Subawards/Direct Payments records will be required to have an “entity type” selected before a subaward can be created. This field will capture whether the entity receiving the award or payment is a Subrecipient, Contractor, or Beneficiary. If a county attempts to create a new subaward for a subrecipient without a populated entity type field will result in an error.

For more information, please see Treasury’s Recipient Compliance and Reporting Guidance page.

Apply by May 30 for federal grants on EV charging infrastructure

Applications are due by May 30 for a new federal grant program dedicated to electric vehicle charging and alternative-fueling infrastructure. The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) has allocated $2.5 billion for the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure (CFI) Discretionary Grant Program. Counties will be eligible as long as the planned infrastructure is publicly accessible along designated highways, interstates and major roadways.

In February, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer proposed an unprecedented investment in electric vehicles during her budget presentation. Her recommendations included $45 million for local governments to convert their fleets to EVs, $65 million for charging infrastructure both commercially and at-home, $48.8 million to temporarily suspend the sales tax on electric vehicles and $150 million for electric school buses.

As electric vehicles grow in popularity, communities will need to invest in charging infrastructure to accommodate drivers. This grant program is a great opportunity to utilize federal dollars for this essential equipment. Please review the USDOT notice of funding to learn more.

For more information on MAC’s infrastructure efforts, contact Madeline Fata at fata@micounties.org.

NACo extends deadline to apply for Achievement Awards

The deadline for the National Association of Counties (NACo) Achievement Awards applications has been extended to Friday, April 14 at 11:59 p.m. EDT.

By participating, your county can earn local and national recognition for your county’s groundbreaking efforts and share ideas with your peers across the country. Achievement Award winners have been featured in local media and in County News. Additionally, NACo often spotlights award-winning programs in congressional testimony and hearings, White House and federal agency briefings, publications, and other county storytelling.

This year, counties will receive recognition in 18 categories covering a wide spectrum of county responsibilities. All winners receive an award certificate and customizable press releases. The 18 “best of category” winners will receive special recognition at the 2023 NACo Annual Conference.