LANSING – Bills regulating how much in incentive money the Michigan Economic Development Corporation can use in its business attraction and retention programs as well as toughening some reporting requirements cleared the House Commerce Committee on Thursday.
Several changes were made to the bills.
In the H-2 substitute for SB 269 , instead of removing the fiscal year 2014-15 sunset on the requirement that at least $75 million of the tobacco settlement revenue go to the 21st Century Jobs Trust Fund, as the Senate version required, the bill would instead set a maximum of $100 million.
In the H-2 substitute for SB 270 , the Senate language that would have authorized the Strategic Fund to spend up to $7.25 million of the $75 million annually appropriated from the 21st Century Jobs Trust Fund for business development and marketing costs was returned to the 5 percent in current law. Going to $7.25 million would have roughly doubled the amount.
In the H-4 substitute for SB 271 , the committee approved a smaller maximum grant award in the Michigan Community Revitalization Program than what the Senate proposed. The Senate called for raising the maximum award from $1 million to $2.5 million. The House version would set the maximum at $1.5 million.
In the H-3 substitute for HB 4480 , there is new reporting language for the 21st Century Jobs Fund. The MEDC must now split projected jobs resulting from awards into new and retained and only list permanent jobs that would be created. The new language also adds a requirement that any company receiving an incentive that later files for bankruptcy must report the situation to the MEDC.
The bill adds site visits to award recipients to ensure compliance with their grant agreements. For every program requiring a site visit, the MEDC must produce a copy of the site visit guidelines, the number of site visits conducted and the number of site visit reports that were audited to ensure compliance. The bill also would consolidate the number of annual reports the MEDC must prepare.
An audit released earlier this year scorched the MEDC for not doing enough to ensure that renaissance zones were creating jobs or that the businesses in them were complying with development agreements.
The committee also reported SB 272 (no changes from the Senate version). This bill includes port facilities in the definition of an economic development project. It also includes dredging of commercial and recreational harbors in the definition of a project.
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