 Michigan
Developments
Eric Rule,
Director of Governmental Affairs
New Leadership
The new legislature includes 32 new House members and seven new senators. All seven senators previously served in the House.
Rep. Andy Dillon (D-Redford) is the new speaker of the House. Previous House Democratic leader Diane Byrum (D-Onondaga) was term-limited out of the legislature.
Former speaker Craig DeRoche (R-Novi) remains atop the Republicans, but as minority leader.
Sen. Mike Bishop (R-Rochester) leads the Senate, having narrowly edged out Sen. Wayne Kuipers (R-Holland). He succeeds Sen. Ken Sikkema (R-Wyoming), who was term-limited out of the Senate.
Legislative session wrap-up
The 93rd Michigan Legislature wrapped up the remainder of its agenda after a marathon-like three days of activity. Any bills not sent to the governor for her signature died on Dec. 29 and need to be reintroduced in the new legislative session.
While the 93rd legislature’s lame-duck session was not as productive as some in the past, several issues of importance to the business community were debated. Some were signed into law while others faced a last-minute death. Here is an overview:
• Item-pricing modernization
This issue has plagued retailers since its inception in 1976. A bill sponsored by Dave Hildenbrand (R-Lowell), which would have provided retailers with moderate relief from this price-stickering burden, proceeded further than any previous attempt before ultimately dying in the Senate.
The bill passed the full House and a Senate committee prior to stalling on the Senate floor on the last day of session. The Senate chose not to pass the measure because Gov. Granholm indicated she would veto the bill if it reached her desk.
• Billboard moratorium
Public Acts 567 and 568 of 2006 in, essence, prohibit new billboard permits after Jan. 1, 2007.
Michigan ranks relatively high in the number of billboards in the state, with 14,000 of them in use and 1,200 unused permits for others. The legislation encourages owners of these locations to consolidate the unused billboards with those already being used, to reduce potential construction.
• Penny Plan for recycling
A package of bills designed to fund recycling efforts—the so-called “Penny Plan”—died in committee after MRA, the lone business group opposing the bill, joined with committee Democrats to poke holes in the plan.
MRA’s testimony pointed out the costs to all retail businesses that would have been forced to add a penny to all retail transactions over $2 and remit that amount to the state, to be distributed to local governments to pay for curbside recycling programs.
Other major business groups supported the plan as a compromise to prevent expansion of Michigan’s bottle-deposit law to include water, juice and sports-drink containers. MRA also opposes expansion efforts, but believes the Penny Plan unfairly burdened retailers who would not see any benefit from the compromise on expansion.
 Update
from Washington
James Goldberg,
MRA Washington Counsel
Postal Service rate reorganization approved
The outgoing 109th Congress approved a sweeping reorganization of the way the U.S. Postal Service sets its rates, giving more predictability to retailers and other large mailers.
The legislation would replace the lengthy and litigious process currently used to raise the price of stamps and some other postal rates with a price cap, limiting rate increases to the rate of inflation for a 10-year period. The change would inject more predictability into postal increases, which would benefit large mailers.
Congress extends faster depreciation schedule
The 109th Congress adopted a package of so-called tax “extenders” that, among other things, extends the 15-year timetable for depreciating leasehold improvements to Dec. 31, 2009.
However, the accelerated schedule—which would have otherwise reverted in 2007 to the 39-year period for depreciation of real estate—is only applicable to leasehold improvements in leased property.
MRA’s Washington Office is working with the National Retail Federation and other groups in an effort to have the 15-year depreciation period also made applicable to improvements in structures owned by retailers.
Among the other tax credits extended by Congress is the welfare-to-work credit, which encourages employers to hire former welfare recipients by providing a tax credit toward their wages.
Proposed access rules could impact stores
The Justice Department agency charged with proposing changes in architectural guidelines to make places of public accommodation more accessible for disabled people is reportedly considering a major modification of current rules that could impact many retailers.
Under current access rules, only one entry door must be accessible to the disabled. However, the proposal under consideration would require 60 percent of the entrances to be accessible, but with an additional requirement that the percentage be rounded up. Thus, a small retailer with two entrances (one in the front and one in the back, for example) would have to make both entrances accessible, such as by widening doors, installing ramps, etc.
In addition, the proposal would also reportedly require that all “back of store” areas also be accessible to disabled people. This could hit restaurants especially hard.
The proposal from the Justice Department will reportedly be published for public comment by mid-summer.
Labor seeks comments on family leave rules
The U.S. Department of Labor has published a detailed request for information on the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which may be the target of an expansion push by the new Democrat-controlled Congress.
Review of the FMLA has been on the department’s official regulatory agenda for four years, but the timing of the information request has caused concern among some business groups, who fear that any action by the agency will embolden Democrats to expand coverage (now applicable to employers of 50 or more workers) or require paid leave instead of the law’s unpaid leave mandate.
Among the information being sought by the department is input on what should constitute a “serious health condition” that would trigger FMLA leave, the conditions under which an employer could mandate the use of paid leave (such as vacation time) instead of unpaid FMLA leave, and which employees should be classified as eligible to receive FMLA leave.
Feds appeal currency redesign
Redesigning the nation’s currency to make bills more “user-friendly” to blind people would be too expensive and would cause undue hardships to the vending machine industry, the federal government said in an appeal filed with a federal court in Washington.
The government is seeking to overturn a trial judge’s November ruling that the government is violating the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 by not requiring such currency features as Braille lettering, micro-perforations or varying sizes for different bills.
A ruling on the appeal is expected in the middle of 2007. |
