LANSING, Michigan - A bill to require local road agencies to annually certify that they are in compliance with several "best practices" as a condition of receiving future funding is scheduled for a House Transportation Committee hearing on Wednesday February 8 at 12pm. HB 5302 would require that beginning September 30, 2014, each local road agency must annually certify to MDOT that it satisfies all of the following:

- Must be in compliance with PA 152, the public funded health insurance act of 2011. 
- Provide defined contribution plans for new employees. 
- Have adopted and are acting under a road safety plan designed to ensure uniform high safety standards on all roads that requires local road agencies to do  the following:
- Tabulate the location and causation of traffic accidents.
- Review warrants and traffic control orders for all traffic control devices erected on its roads at least every 7 years and remove all unwarranted devices.
- Review and adjust the timing of signal devices on its roads to reflect traffic volumes and actual operating speeds at least every 5 years. 
- Conduct a multidisciplinary road safety audit of each project over $1,000,000 and of each high accident location.
- Employ or contract for the services of a licensed traffic engineer.

According to the bill, if the local road agency does not certify to the conditions above, MDOT is to withhold funding for the period of noncompliance. Additonally the bill requires each local road agency to develop and implement an accountability dashboard.

The League has some serious concerns about this bill and will be testifying on the bill. Please contact Jason Mancini in the Lansing office if you would like to testify or would like to submit testimony on HB 5302.

Jason Mancini works for the Michigan Municipal League handling transportation issues. He can be reached at 517-908-0303 or by email at jmancini@mml.org.

LANSING, Michigan - The Michigan House of Representatives today (feb. 2, 2012) passed HB 5142, sponsored by Rep. Marc Ouimet (R-Ann Arbor). This legislation will allow Corridor Improvement Authorities to have a board consisting of members of different communities.  Under current law, each community must create a Corridor Improvement Authority Board then use the Urban Cooperation Act to have the boards work together.

This has proven to be difficult in terms of recruiting people to be on each board, and is inefficient because the boards then have to work together. Because major corridor roads often go through multiple communities, HB 5142 will allow for creation of a joint authority board which would be a regional entity instead of a conglomeration of several individual community boards. The board shall consist of up to 3 individuals appointed by the chief executive officer of each city, village, or township that is a member of the joint authority. Each of those individuals shall be appointed for terms of 2 years, 3 years, and 4 years. The Michigan Municipal League supported this bill, which passed 100-6 and now goes to the Senate for consideration.

Andy Schor is the Assistant Director of State Affairs for the Michigan Municipal League. Contact him at (517) 908-0300 or by email at aschor@mml.org.

The Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) has released its 2011 Annual Video Competition Report. It may be viewed online here: http://www.dleg.state.mi.us/mpsc/comm/video/

The Commission encourages customers to submit complaints to them if the customer is unable to resolve a dispute with a video/cable provider. Additional information regarding filing a complaint is avaialble on the MPSC's website.

Samantha Harkins works for the Michigan Municipal League handling municipal services and energy and technology issues.  She can be reached at 517-908-0306 or email at sharkins@mml.org.

Tuesday afternoon the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously passed HB 4589, a bill that would reinstate the long-standing two inch rule for sidewalk liability.

In 2009 the Michigan Supreme Court reversed the rule in Robinson v. City of Lansing. This is the second legislative session where the League has been pushing to reinstate the rule.

The committee passed version may be viewed here: 2 Inch Rule Sub.pdf (220.91 kb)

The bill now goes to the full Senate for its consideration.

Samantha Harkins works for the Michigan Municipal League handling municipal services and energy and technology issues. She can be reached at (517) 908-0306 or by e-mail at sharkins@mml.org.