Government Relations Update
From Jamie Callahan
November 9, 2007

Services Tax Repeal Bills Move

Momentum to repeal the recently enacted sales tax on services continues.Both chambers have passed legislation that either repeal the sales tax on services that is set to begin on December 1^st or repeals the tax and add a revenue stream to replace the over $600 million estimated by the administration that the service tax would have generated.

The Traverse City Area Chamber testified in support of repealing this onerous tax in House committee and submitted testimony in the Senate as well.Testimony in opposition to the service tax was also submitted by the Northwest Michigan Regional Chamber Alliance.The Chamber and Alliance statement in support of repealing the services tax can be viewed by clicking this link.

The Senate passed SB 838, which repealed the service tax by a vote of 23-15.The House passed HB 5408, which repeals the tax and contains a revenue replacement mechanism by assessing a surcharge on a company’s MBT (Michigan Business Tax) liability, by a 58-48 margin.The surcharge is written to replace the $615 million in budgeted revenue estimated to be generated by the service tax.

All the bills can be tracked through the Michigan Legislature homepage, www.mileg.org.

The chamber continues to be active in working for the repeal of this burdensome tax.Testimony and comment can still be submitted via email to the Government Relations Division.Make sure to notify your Representative and Senator of your position on this oppressive tax as well.Contact information for your local legislators are available on the Traverse City Area Chamber of Commerce website.

January Presidential Primary in Limbo

Last week, Ingham County Judge William Collette ruled that Michigan’s January 15, 2008, presidential primary law is unconstitutional.The State announced this week that they will file an emergency appeal and include a request for a stay to the ruling.

The law creating the primary date was ruled unconstitutional as the voter information from the results would be available only to the state Democratic and Republican parties.The lawsuit was filed by voter data collection companies who would be denied access to the data.

Last week, the Senate passed legislation which excluded the contested language from the previous law that set the January 15^th date.However, the bills did not receive the 26 needed votes to give the bills immediate effect, which renders any law change to resolve the judge’s decision irrelevant.

The vote for immediate effect was down party lines.It was reported that democrats were looking for agreement on additional items such as no-reason absentee voting.As no agreement was made, the negative votes were cast.Both parties have backup plans if the primary vote is not held.Stay tuned.

Term Limits Proposal Nixed

The possibility of a proposal to expand term limits on the January 15, 2008, ballot has come and gone.There had been discussion to put a proposal on the ballot to extend term limits for state representatives and senators to a total of 12 years in either chamber or a combination of the two.The proposal would have required the both chambers of the legislature to pass legislation sixty days prior to the January election.Agreement could not be reached between the chambers, so the November 15 deadline will pass without action by the legislature on the issue.