KEY LEGISLATION:
Senate Majority Leader Names Recycling Task Force
Senate Majority Leader Ken Sikkema (R-Wyoming) recently
created a Republican
task force to study recycling in Michigan. The task force is especially
timely as Governor Granholm is expected to make mention of pending
legislation to expand the bottle deposit law in Michigan.
Efforts to expand the law to require deposits on such
items as fruit juices,
teas, sports drinks, and water bottles have been attempted for years,
but
have always been defeated by industry groups like MRA. The issue is
continuing to evolve however, and a petition initiative to place this
issue
on the ballot is a very good possibility. Numerous opinion polls have
shown
the public overwhelmingly behind the current law and expansion of it.
This
fact has caused industry groups to rethink our strategy and be proactive
in
our efforts.
The Michigan Recycling Partnership is a coalition of
industry groups,
including MRA, concerned about the current bottle deposit mandate, and
determined to win relief for those required to deal with this onerous
law by
moving returns out of retail locations and into either curbside recycling
programs or drop-off centers. MRP has been working diligently to change
the
focus from simply a bottle deposit law and those items that should be
included in it, to one of an overall comprehensive recycling strategy
for
the state. MRP hopes to show that Michigan’s recycling efforts
overall have
lagged far behind other states, and this is partly due to our state’s
narrow
focus on bottle deposits.
Sen. Sikkema’s task force will provide a good venue
for MRP to make our
educated argument to the legislature. The task force is expected to
meet
approximately 8 times before the fall in various locations throughout
the state.
Members of the task force are: Sens. Cameron Browne,
Mike Bishop, Patty
Birkholz, Alan Cropsey, Jud Gilbert, and Michelle McManus.
Inspirational
Granholm offers few details
on how to solve budget deficit
Governor Jennifer Granholm was long on style and short
on specifics during
her first State of the State address before a joint session of the Michigan
Legislature. While she definitely scored points in energizing the crowd
and
promising to tackle the budget deficit without raising taxes, she stopped
short of discussing the specific cuts to come. The details will come
when
she presents her proposed 2003-04 budget in late March or early April.
Granholm did announce a number of initiatives in her
55-minutes speech.
They include:
• Creation of a Council of Economic Advisors that will be charged
with
finding ways to ensure the state leads the nation in private investment
and
job growth.
• Submission of a federal waiver seeking additional federal funds
to
expand EPIC (Elder Prescription Insurance Coverage), to allow the state
to
more than double the number of low-income Michigan seniors who rely
on the
program for prescription service.
• Community Health Director Janet Olszewski will begin negotiating
with
other states to form a multi-state compact for prescription drugs to
reduce
Medicaid costs.
• A call to the Legislature to pass legislation allowing the state
to
refuse to accept solid waste that contains batteries, bottles, cans
and
toxic substances.
• Tying school attendance to receiving a Michigan's drivers license.
• A request to department directors to cut every contract with
an outside
vendor by 7 percent.
Recycling Task
Force begins hearings
February 17 in Grand Rapids
The Senate Republican task force charged with studying
recycling issues in
Michigan is scheduled to hold its first hearing on February 17 in Grand
Rapids. It is imperative that retailers from West Michigan appear at
the
hearing and voice their opposition to possible expansion of the state’s
bottle bill to include fruit juice, tea, water and sports drink containers.
Simply expanding the current law and foisting it upon
retailers without
investigating other comprehensive approaches to recycling would be a
huge
unfunded mandate that would add greater burden on retailers. Subsequent
hearings will be held across the state in the next few months, and it
is
absolutely crucial that retail make its voice heard on the issue.
The first hearing will be held from 7-9 p.m., February
17 at the Eberhart
Center in Grand Rapids. The second is scheduled for March 3 at Oakland
University in Rochester Hills. If you’re interested in attending,
please
coordinate your participation through MRA Governmental Affairs.
Granholm names members of land use commission
Gov. Granholm is assembling a commission to study land
use in Michigan and
how "smart growth" can be achieved. The commission will consist
of 26
members and be chaired by former Governor William Milliken and former
Attorney General Frank Kelley.
The members were "mutually agreed upon" by
the governor and the Democratic
and Republican legislative leaders. It will also have five cabinet directors
serving as non-voting members and four sitting lawmakers: Sens. Patty
Birkholz (R-Saugatuck) and Liz Brater (D-Ann Arbor) and Reps. Ruth Johnson
(R-Holly) and Chris Kolb (D-Ann Arbor).
Also named to the commission were James Barrett, president
of the Michigan
Chamber of Commerce; Jim Brooks, a retired business executive; Keith
Charters of New Designs for Growth and chair of the Natural Resources
Commission; Dan Gilmartin, deputy executive director of the Michigan
Municipal League; Gordon Guyer, former director of the departments of
Natural Resources and Agriculture and former president of Michigan State
University; Colin Hubbell of the Hubbell Group; Robert Jones, former
president of Michigan Home Builders Association; Dan Kildee, Genesee
County
Treasurer; Mick McGraw, a home builder and developer; Chris MacInnes,
vice
president of Crystal Mountain Resort; James Okrazewski of MeadWestvaco
Papers Group; Lana Pollack, president of the Michigan Environmental
Council;
Helen Taylor, state director of The Nature Conservancy; Kevin Turner,
president of M.O.S.E.S., Hans Voss, executive director of the Michigan
Land
Use Institute; Brian Warner, environmentalist with Wolverine Power;
Hester
Wheeler, executive director of Detroit NAACP; Gil White, director of
Michigan Association of Realtors; and Wayne Wood, president of the Michigan
Farm Bureau.
New attorney
general discusses priorities
with Michigan Retailers
In one of his first appearances before a state trade
association, new
Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox thanked the Michigan Retailers
Association for its support in last November’s election and discussed
his
major priorities for the office.
Cox, the state’s first Republican attorney general
in 40 years, spoke to the
boards of MRA, Michigan Retailers Services, Inc., and Retailers Fund
during
a joint luncheon at the Association’s headquarters in Lansing.
The former
Marine and assistant prosecutor said he’s been working to update
the
office’s internal organization so it can "fight the battles
of 2003"—not
those "of 1985 or 1990." And he emphasized his strong intention
to carry out
campaign pledges to make the attorney general’s office play a greater
role
in fighting violent crime and cracking down on parents who avoid paying
child support.
"I can’t be the cop on the street, I can’t
replace the county prosecutor,
but I can help set the agenda and get the public involved and the
legislature involved," Cox said.
KEY BILL INTRODUCTIONS:
HB 4144, sponsored by Rep. Jacob Hoogendyk (R-Portage),
to prohibit sale or
dispensing of lottery tickets a vending machine.
HB 4151, sponsored by Rep. Dave Woodward (D-Madison
Heights), to enact
Michigan prescription drug fair pricing act and include medicaid
prescriptions.
HB 4152, sponsored by Rep. Jerry Kooiman (R-Grand
Rapids), to establish
solid waste disposal surcharge and earmark to fund recycling programs.
HB 4160, sponsored by Rep. Fulton Sheen (R-Plainwell),
to prohibit future
living wage ordinances.
HB 4163, sponsored by Rep. Jack Minore (D-Flint),
to prohibit smoking in
public restaurants.
HB 4165, sponsored by Rep. Minore, to increase
minimum wage and index to
inflation rate.
HB 4167, sponsored by Rep. John Stewart (R-Plymouth),
to provide for small
employer group health market changes and general amendments to health
care
corporations.
SB 147, sponsored by Sen. Valde Garcia (R-Howell),
to prohibit disposal of
consumer electronics in landfills and provide for recycling.
To view the content and current status of retail-related
bills, visit BillTrack,
MRA's legislative tracking database exclusively for members, at
www.retailbilltrack.com
If you are currently receiving Capitol F@cts by fax
and would like to receive
it via e-mail, please contact Kathleen Wilson at 517.372.5656 or
kawilson@retailers.com.
For back issues of online Capitol F@cts, visit MRA's main Capitol F@cts page.
Specific comments or questions regarding this bulletin
should be directed to:
Kathleen Wilson, Administrative Assistant to the Governmental Affairs
Office at
kawilson@retailers.com.
Michigan Retailers Association
603 South Washington Avenue
Lansing, MI 48933
517.372.5656
Toll-Free: 800.366.3699
Fax: 517.372.1303
govt_affairs@retailers.com
www.retailers.com
www.mallofmichigan.com
