Late Thursday night (or rather early Friday morning) SB 1072, the bill that would expand PA 312 to fire authorities and other authorities, died at the end of legislative session.
You will recall the bill passed the Senate in February and the House in June; however, the Senate failed to give the bill immediate effect and never sent the bill to the Governor. The League testified about its concerns (chiefly failure to include a definition of ability to pay) in the Senate and continued to express concerns in the House.
In a procedural twist, the House asked the Senate to send the bill back on Thursday evening so the House could amend the bill to strip out other authorities. The bill would have kept the fire authority expansion.
The Senate adjourned around 4 in the morning before the House could send SB 1072 back to the Senate. Both chambers have scheduled session for December 15, but it's highly unlikely there will be legislation passed at that time.
The League is excited to start 2011 with a blank slate that we hope can result in an ability to pay definition added to PA 312.
Samantha Harkins works for the Michigan Municipal League handling municipal services issues. She can be reached at 517-908-0306 or email at sharkins@mml.org
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