Today’s Detroit News featured an editorial regarding HB 4704, sponsored by Rep. Pettalia (R-Presque Isle County), suggesting that the “State Legislature should pass a bill that keeps budget disputes out of court”. MAC supports this common sense solution to budgeting by lawsuit, and we thank Rep. Pettalia for his work on this bill. From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20131007/OPINION01/310070003#ixzz2h2qhiLBN.

A revamped Medicaid Expansion bill, HB 4714, sponsored by Rep. Matt Lori (R-St. Joseph County), passed from the House with strong bipartisan support, 76 to 31, and is now in the Senate Government Operations Committee. HB 4714 would save Michigan taxpayers about $200 million a year in reduced health care spending, provide health insurance to an estimated 474,000 eligible low-income Michigan workers who are currently uninsured. This legislation would also provide funding that would support preventive healthcare and mental health treatment, which keeps people out of costly healthcare settings, jails, and prisons. “This plan wouldn’t just provide health insurance to low-income workers who are uninsured today,” said Thomas Bardwell, President of the Michigan Association of Counties (M.A.C.) Board of Directors, “but it also would require some responsibility from the participant in the form of co-pays, along with incentivizing participants to practice a healthy lifestyle.” M.A.C. supports the passing of HB 4714 and would like to thank Rep. Lori for sponsoring the bill, Governor Snyder for his continued support of this bill, Rep. Shirkey (R-Jackson County), and all legislators working to pass this important piece of legislation. Below are the numbers, by county, of workers who would gain insurance under HB 4714. This information was provided by www.reformmedicaidmi.com via the Small Area Health Insurance Estimates (SAHIE) data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

 Your involvement is needed to help slow down the movement of the newest PPT proposal. See below for ways to get involved and how to figure out the impact this latest plan will have on your county. Lt. Governor Calley unveiled his latest personal property tax reform package to the media on Tuesday and to the House Committee on Tax Policy on Wednesday this week.   In response to the public unveiling of the plan, MAC and the Replace Don’t Erase coalition held our own media round table to discuss our take on the changes to the proposal. The tax breaks for businesses remain the same as they were when the bills passed the Senate in May, but the new plan makes significant changes to the method and amount of revenue reimbursement to locals.  The new proposal represents an improvement over the Senate passed bills (1065-1072), and we appreciate the Lt. Gov. listening to our initial concerns about subjecting our reimbursement to the annual legislative appropriations process.  However, there remains many uncertainties with this new proposal and MAC has significant concerns about the potential for inequitable losses to counties and the unintended consequences of creating an authority to disburse our replacement revenue. The plan has not been put into bill format yet, so we can only base our response, concerns and opinions on the stated intent of the legislation.  As proposed the reimbursement plan would work as follows: ·         Local units of government would be allowed to implement an Essential Services Assessment (ESA) on industrial real property in an amount equal to the total lost PPT revenue that was dedicated to police, fire and ambulance services.  Please note, this is not all public safety expenses, just those associated with police, fire and ambulance. ·         The remaining loss from PPT would be replaced up to 80% by the state with funds diverted from use tax collections. ·         The electorate would have to vote on the diversion of a portion of the state’s use tax – these funds would be directed to a newly created statewide authority.  This vote would happen in November 2014. PPT CALL TO ACTION – YOUR INVOLVEMENT IS NEEDED It is very urgent that you contact your legislators and get involved. There are only six session days left and the legislature and the administration have made passing PPT reform a priority.  But there are still too many questions that need to be answered, and lame duck is not the time to rush legislation as crucial as this. Please keep the following points in mind when discussing the issue with your Representative and Senators: ·         This proposal may be better than the Senate passed version, but there is still no guarantee.  If the state-wide vote doesn’t pass, then we do not have a dedicated revenue source for our reimbursement.  This will leave us at the mercy of the annual appropriations process, and we all know how that worked out for us with revenue sharing. ·         This legislation is moving too fast. We do not know how the plan will affect our counties, communities and schools.  We need time to analyze the numbers and assess the impact.   In addition, the Essential Services Assessment should be allowed for ALL public safety, not just police, fire, and ambulance.  It must include all public safety functions, including 9-1-1 and jails. ·         The bill language still has not been released.  We know the intention of the legislation, but the devil is in the details.  Without bill language, numbers and a guarantee, we cannot accept this proposal. ·         We have yet to receive any calculations for the Essential Services Assessment (ESA), making it very difficult to determine the impact this will have on each county. ·         We do not have specifics on the authority of the state-wide entity that will be created to reallocate the use tax and what strings could possibly be attached to such authority. ·         MAC is still supportive of the repeal, but there need to be more guarantees and fewer holes in the proposal.  Though this reform package is a huge step forward, and progress is being made, this is still not an ideal plan. Please take action and speak to your legislators. The Lt. Governor’s new proposal needs to be fully vetted and any concerns rectified before action in the Legislature is takes action. HOW DOES THIS NEW PROPOSAL AFFECT YOUR COUNTY MAC has hired a consultant to help us determine the financial impact this proposal will have on our member counties.  We are hoping to have a formula and financial calculator completed early next week.  We will also be sending out a special alert requesting information to help further determine the potential impact. Please email your information to Emily Dobson at Dobson@micounties.org  

Hello MAC Members and followers, and welcome to the new blog of the Michigan Association of Counties. Today felt like an appropriate day to launch our new blog seeing as it is such a crucial day to our nation.  Government, from local up to federal, has such an impact on our daily lives, and it is an amazing opportunity to take part in the decisions that are made through the ability to vote. Here at MAC, we are continuing to fight for the interests of county government and their residents.  As we head into lame duck, MAC will be working on your behalf for favorable outcomes to issues as important as personal property tax, indigent defense, labor issues, court reform and PILT. You can follow the progress on these issues and more on our Facebook page, twitter feed, and website. It is our hope that this blog will be an additional source to keep our members and followers informed and up-to-date on what we are up to.  So stay tuned!  There is way more to come! Thank you for following, and happy voting!