The House Oversight Committee today considered several bills that create the Corporate Responsibility Act and amend the state and local economic development tools to require that they comply with that Act. The bills would prevent the state or locals from approving abatements or tax credits for companies or people who have a criminal history of financial-related crimes, who move the company out-of-state, who are based in a tax haven, or who violate workers rights.
After taking about an hour of testimony from the MEDC on the procedure dealing with tax credits and not providing them to criminals, the committee got to the bills. I testified that the bills need clarifying language to ensure that locals are not suddenly given a new expense to enforce this law or ensure compliance. We provided language similar to the language that was incorporated into the Hire Michigan First legislation. The committee is expected to incorporate that language into substitutes to be considered tomorrow. We also testified that some of the language dealing with inducing a business to leave the state and determining a violation of international trade is vague and needs to be clarified. Common Cause followed my testimony and agreed with our remarks and expressed the same concerns.
The House Oversight Committee is expected to vote on this legislation tomorrow.
Andy Schor is the Assistant Director of State Affairs for the Michigan Municipal League. Contact him at (517) 908-0300 or by email.
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