KEY LEGISLATION:
Committee Phases In Tax Exemption
A bill to exempt the first $10,000 of a business’s
personal property tax was
amended after a difficult battle in the House Tax Policy Committee;
the
exemption will be now phased in over three years. HB 4234, sponsored
by Rep.
Glenn Steil, Jr., (R-Grand Rapids), was the first bill in the highly
vaunted
Jobs II Plan recently unveiled by House and Senate Republicans.
Committee Chair Rep. Lorence Wenke (R-Richland) allowed
little time for
testimony and could not garner sufficient votes to pass the bill from
committee, so he was forced to recess the committee until after session
was
completed. That gave municipalities and townships enough time to put
enough
pressure on lawmakers to agree to the phase-in. Republicans were forced
to
agree to the change when testimony focused on how much the exemption
would
cost local units of government.
The phase-in essentially says that in 2005, the first
$3,000 of personal
property would be exempt, then $6,000 in 2006 and $10,000 (the original
amount) in 2007. The bill is still not certain to pass on the House
floor,
but odds are in its favor, as both the Speaker and Senate Majority Leader
have made the bills’ passage a priority.
MRA Secures Exemption For Movie-Piracy Bill
A bill making its way through the legislature seeks
to prohibit individuals
from operating an audiovisual recording device in a facility where a
motion
picture is being exhibited and sets penalties for doing so. HB 5347
has
already passed the House and is before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The
bill, introduced at the request of the Motion Picture Association, is
aimed
at piracy of films in movie theatres. The bill was cruising along until
MRA
was alerted to the possibility that retailers could be penalized for
simply
showing movies on televisions for demonstration purposes.
The concern is that such a retailer could be at fault
if a customer were
somehow able to record any of the film’s images, even if done by
a cell
phone with photo capabilities. MRA recently met with the bill sponsor
and
the representative for the Motion Picture Association and was able to
get
retailers exempted from the bill. The bill should now be set for passage
in
the Senate.
House Hits The Books
Thursday’s House session was cancelled and members
are off all next week in
order to read to schoolchildren in their districts, an activity held
in
conjunction with National Reading Month. The Senate will continue to
be in
session, however. The House will return to business on March 9 and work
for
four weeks before both the House and the Senate leave for a three-week
break.
KEY BILL INTRODUCTIONS:
HB 5599, sponsored by Rep. Jacob Hoogendyk, (R-Portage),
to require
electronic payment of wages.
HB 5603, sponsored by Rep. Kathleen Law, (D-Rockwood),
to increase penalties
for violators of the emerald ash borer and other plant pest and insect
quarantines.
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
