KEY LEGISLATION:
Legislature Adjourns After Completing Budget Work
State lawmakers finished their work for the year after
reaching agreement on
a budget package that includes a business tax cut and a temporary pause
in
the scheduled income tax rollback. The agreement followed tough negotiations
between the Governor’s Office and Senate and House leaders.
The legislature reduced by 50 percent the Single Business
Tax (SBT) burden
employers must pay for providing health benefits to their employees.
That’s
10 percent more than called for in an earlier budget deal worked out
by
Governor Jennifer Granholm and Senate Majority Leader Ken Sikkema
(R-Wyoming), but opposed by House Speaker Rick Johnson (R-LeRoy).
In return, the legislature froze for six months the
0.1 percent drop in the
income tax rate that was scheduled to take effect January 1. The rate
will
remain at its current 4 percent until July 1, 2004. Although Republicans
in
the House initially refused to go along with the temporary freeze, they
approved it after the SBT cut was sweetened and the other parties agreed
to
an additional $12 million in spending cuts.
MRA’s Work Delays Gasoline Minimum-markup Bill
The House Transportation Committee delayed action on
legislation, House Bill
4757, that would require a minimum markup of 13.38 cents on every gallon
of
gasoline and diesel fuel sold at retail. After MRA strongly opposed
the bill
during hearings on the measure, the committee referred it to a work
group
that will study the issue in depth.
Gas station
owners will continue to lobby hard for
the legislation, and the outcome is far from certain.
MRA said the bill amounts to nothing more than price
fixing and would result
in a more than $200 million tax increase on Michigan consumers that
would
serve no public good. MRA also opposes the measure because it would
interfere with market forces and establish a dangerous precedent of
retail
price setting.
State of the State Scheduled for January 27
Gov. Granholm will deliver her second State of the State
address to a joint
session of the Michigan Legislature at 7 p.m., Tuesday, January 27.
The
address will review her first year in office—a year characterized
by
constant attention to balancing the budget in the face of reduced revenues—
and lay out her agenda for 2004. That agenda, or at least her ability
to
carry it out, will depend heavily on the comeback of the state’s
economy.
KEY BILL INTRODUCTIONS:
No bills to report at this time.
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
