Gaylord/Otsego County Chamber of Commerce

Government Relations Update from Jamie Callahan

December 10, 2007

Voter Registration Deadline For Presidential Primary Dec. 15th

People who would like to vote in the January 15, 2008 Presidential Primary election need to register by next Monday, December 17^th.To be eligible to vote, an individual must be a U.S. citizen, at least 18 years old by Election Day, and a Michigan resident.Citizens can register to vote at the local Secretary of State branch office, or their local county, city or township clerk’s office (the person needs to be a resident of the city or township where they are applying to register to vote).

Water Bills Start Moving

Bills bringing Michigan into alignment with other Great Lakes states on water regulation moved forward as House and Senate committees passed bills that would ratify the Great Lakes – St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact.The compact will serve as the basis for legislation regulating water use and diversions of waters from the Great Lakes and connecting rivers.The agreement creates a resources management system that can be adopted by all the states in the Basin.

The differences between the House and Senate on the Compact bills, SB 212 and HB 4343, will be worked out on the floor before a House or Senate vote.The bills will most likely be worked on over the holiday break for action in January.

The remaining bills in both packages, Senate Bills 858-860 and House Bills 5065 – 5073 remain in committee and will continue to be discussed in that venue into 2008.All of the bills can be viewed at the Michigan Legislature website at www.mileg.org.

The chamber will continue to monitor this legislation, as the degree of regulation will impact companies and industries across northern Michigan, including agriculture production, tourism industries such as ski slopes and golf courses, manufacturing plants, and local power generation.

DNR Funding Agreement Reached

It has been reported that a deal has been reached to replace funding previously cut in the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) FY2008 budget without raising hunting or fishing fees.The agreement would use $5 million from the Michigan Business Tax to restore much of the conservation funding eliminated through budget cuts.In the deal, $4 million dollars would go to the Game and Fish Fund and preserve state fish stocking programs, game habitat restoration and conservation officer layoffs. The remaining $1 million dollars would be returned to local conservation districts for forestry programs.

To help muddy the funding agreement, it was just reported that the DNR actually has a $10 million fund balance in its Fish and Game Fund – the same fund that was to receive the $4 million from the MBT to cover a shortfall.The DNR contends that the surplus funds are in reserve to cover a possible dam failure.It is likely that attempts will be made to pull the funds from this reserve instead of the MBT.

In other DNR funding news, a new proposal to create greater stability in DNR funding for parks and recreation programs would have Michigan motorists pay an additional $9 fee annually on vehicle license plate/registration and $4.50 per motorcycle plate/registration. The fee would not apply to tow-behinds or commercial vehicles.

In exchange, the state parks’ $6 per day entrance fee and $6 per day boating access permit would be eliminated, though camping fees would still apply to state park, forest campgrounds and pathways.There is an opt-out refund provision for those who certify that they will not be visiting any of the facilities and do not wish to support the park system.It is estimated that with 75 percent of Michigan motorists participating, the license fee increase would general just over $48 million annually, and approximately $41.6 million with 65 percent participation.

The House Appropriations subcommittee on Natural Resources will be discussing both funding and the vehicle registration proposal this week.

Service Tax Amnesty Bill Enacted

For those businesses that were subject to the short lived tax on services but did not collect the tax during the 19 hours it was in effect, legislation giving legal amnesty to those businesses was signed by the Governor.Senate Bill 845 can be viewed at the Michigan Legislature website at www.mileg.org.