GOVERNMENT RELATIONS- August 2011

 

Please take the time to go to www.legislature.mi.gov and register for alerts on different bills. You can have alerts on everything from taxation to health or business issues.  Click on that link and you can also check on any bill listed below. You can contact us for help at bob.funkey@hotmail.com or funkeyca@comcast.net

 

GAMING/LIQUOR SALES

  1. SB 100- Allow local governments to opt out of early Sunday morning liquor sales.  Became Public Law on 5/17/2011.
  2. Representative Brunner is investigating the Keno law to have it revised to conform to our by-laws.

HEALTH

  1. HB 4447- Alllow smoking in the outdoor patio area of a food service establishment.  The Smoking Law is enforced by local Health Departments, so check with them to see how this is treated in your area.
  2. HB 4127 - referred to regulatory reform committee 1/2/2011; would allow smoking rooms under certain conditions.

 Both of these bills have been stalled since the beginning of the year.  

3. SB 0421 and HB 4825- both would require a bittering agent to be added to antifreeze.  Additional cost in production is minimal

 

IRS/TAXATION

  1. The 990 form: This is mandatory for all Chapters and Lodges, no matter how much or little you make in a year.  You can file any time after April 30th.  Failure to file for 3 consecutive years will result in loss of tax-exempt status as of the filing year.  We have FRU’s in Michigan that have lost their tax-exempt status. Direct 990 questions to Jan Pederson in Finance Dept. at 630-966-2201 or jpederson@mooseintl.org.  There is a new 990 tab on the “Members Only” page at www.mooseintl.org
  2. SB 0028: allows payment of State Taxes by credit or debit card.  The State Treasury did a study a few years ago and said that even with processing fees, the benefits of collecting delinquent taxes, outweighs the additional credit card fees.  8/24/2011 passed by the Governor.
  3. SB 0283- Property tax assessments.  If your taxes were reduced on appeal the Assessor would be required to use the new assessment as the baseline for next year’s taxes.  Referred to Committee on Economic Development.

 

There are 2 bills pending in the house that deal with tax exemptions. We are not on a level playing field with VFW Posts, which are exempt from paying property taxes.  But, they are chartered thru the Federal Government and are mandated to be tax exempt.

We will be talking to Rep. Wayne Schmidt who sponsored HB 4032 to see if he thinks a modified bill where we have a 3-5 year property tax abatement would have a better chance for success.  We need to show the Legislators how much we contribute to the community and charities.  Lodges and Chapters need to combine their community service reports and send testimonials to your Legislators so we can align ourselves closer to non-profit organizations.  We need to show them that the Moose are filling the gap in the community for programs that have been lost thru budget cuts. This cannot be done without each of you.

 

  1. HB 4034- originally included Fraternal organizations with certain non-profit organizations to exempt them from paying school operating millage tax for 3 years. Referred to Committee on Tax policy 1/13/2011.  The bill changed and now is for non-profits only.
  2. HB 4032 is the new bill to exempt fraternal organizations from school millage.

Prior tax appeals by fraternal units for tax exemption have been denied because they had minimal financial community service contributions.  and I think they were afraid certain non-profits would suffer if they were all under one bill.

 

NATURAL RESOURCES, OUTDOOR RECREATION

  1. HB 4371- Allow hunting license to be issued to a child under 10 yrs old under Mentored Youth Hunting Program. Mentor must be 21 or older.  Enacted 7/27/2011.  Takes effect 9/1/2011.  The mentoring program was tightened up.
  2. ASIAN CARP:  July 2011, Asian carp DNA was found in Lake Calumet, beyond the electronic barrier. Additional sampling found the DNA in the Calumet River, which feeds into Lake Michigan.  In 2010 one 19 lb Asian Carp was fished out of Lake Calumet which is 6 miles from Lake Michigan and in the last 2 months there have been 11 more positive DNA samples from this lake.  Senate Bill 2946 and HB 4472, the (CARP Act) looks to close the shipping canal and would require a feasibility study from the Army within 18 months, to determine if the Mississippi and Great Lakes Basins could be separated to keep out invasive species.   Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin have joined Michigan in a lawsuit to close the shipping canal. Go to http://www.asiancarp.org/faq.asp for more information.
  3. The Enbridge oil spill of 2010 dumped more than 800,000 gallons of oil in Talmadge Creek and the Kalamazoo River.     766,ooo gallons have been recovered and they are still monitoring water and air quality and are re-evaluating isolated pockets of contamination in the area.

 

CRIMINAL PROCEDURES/JUDICIARY

  1. SB 0080, 0081, 0454,0459,0463, and 0465 – All deal with exploitation of a vulnerable adult.  This is a hot topic now     and includes financial and physical abuse. 
  2. HB 4329,4338,4339, and 4340- House bills to deal with exploitation of a vulnerable adult.  The goal is to increase the sentencing guidelines based on the degree of financial of physical abuse.
  3. SB 0059- eliminates licensing boards for concealed weapons licensing and transfer the licensing to the Secretary of State by 1/1/2012.

 

SPECIAL OLYMPICS:

  1. SB 3081 and 3082- passed the Senate 6-6-2011, providing a check-off option for Special Olympics on the Michigan Income Tax.
  2. HB 4632 and 4631- Special Olympics check-off.  Introduced 5-10-2011 by Rep. Kevin Cotter with support from 23 Representatives.  The printed version was filed 5-11/2011 and is waiting to be introduced to the committee on Tax Policies.  Please e-mail your Representatives in support of this bill.  Opposition to the bill is coming from members who feel there are too many check-boxes on the tax form.  They are all optional and on one page, so you can just ignore them when filing your taxes.  This is a weak objection, but carries weight with members who want to promote their own causes. There are similar bills pending for Autism, Firefighters, Alzheimer’s, Girl Scouts and other groups.  We need your help to get this passed.

 

Please read the July newsletter from Speaker of the House Jase Bolger .  It is easy to sign up for these.  Effective 1/1/2012, House legislative offices will be reduced 13.9%.  Also the health insurance plans are being revamped.  The house has passed bills adopting the elimination of legislator retiree healthcare.  They are attempting to have the Senate adopt the same measure. Effective October 1, 2011, legislator and House staff will be paying more for their health insurance along with looking at different health plans to save money.