The Governor signed a whole host of bills Tuesday that the League helped shepherd through the legislative process.
The Governor signed the brownfield/sewer bond package. The two bills dealing with allocating Great Lakes Water Quality Bond money for wastewater project loan application assistance grants, additional funding for State Revolving Fund/municipal wastewater projects, additional money for the municipal brownfield grant and loan program, and the creation of the SRF reform advisory council (SB 1443 and HB 6416) were part of that signing and are now Public Acts 231 and 232 of 2010, effective immediately. I will be talking with the DNRE/DEQ staff before the end of the year to find out what their timeline is for rolling out the $40 million of S-2 grants and I will share that information as soon as it is available. You can read more about these bills here.
The changes that the League requested to Public Act 51 to allow municipalities to use their state transportation payments for necessary capital outlay projects was signed. SB 1180 is now Public Act 261 of 2010, effective immediately. You can read more about this bill here.
The Private Investment Infrastructure Financing act (PIIF) was approved. This is the local-level public-private partnership tool that allows for a tax capture to repay a private investor for funding a project. HB 5461 is now Public Act 250 of 2010, effective immediately. You can read more about this bill here.
The Transit-Oriented Development package was also signed yesterday. The bills make amendments to the Planning and Zoning Enabling Acts, Tax Increment Financing and Corridor Improvement Authority laws, along with a host of other local economic development tools. The Governor sided with us on the one issue in the brownfield TOD bill (SB 1233) that Treasury had opposed…she signed the bill over their opposition. The League's Andy Schor details this package here.
Overall, a pretty good day! Please let me know if you have any questions about these bills, or any other legislation.
Chris Hackbarth handles transportation and environmental issues for the Michigan Municipal League. Chris can be reached at 517-908-0303, or by email at chackbarth@mml.org.
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