Michigan Technology related politics
LANSING - For the first time in a decade - in fact, for the first time since Michigan last increased its tobacco tax - tobacco tax revenues increased during the 2014-15 fiscal year, figures show. The increase does not appear related to more people smoking. Rather, the increase seems due largely to lower gasoline prices
LANSING - A Michigan Senate committee meeting has been scheduled for this week for a three-bill package that would give exemptions to sales, use and property taxes for a major data center based out of Nevada looking to expand in the Grand Rapids area. The Senate Michigan Competitiveness Committee is scheduled to meet at 8
LANSING - Hewlett Packard met a judge-imposed deadline of 5 p.m. Friday to turn over the source code for information technology projects it had been pursuing for the Department of State, a department spokesperson said Monday. A week ago, a Kent Circuit judge ordered HP Enterprise Services to turn over the source code for the
LANSING - The farms contributing to nutrient loads in Lake Erie also benefit from substantial federal subsidies, the Less=More Coalition said in a report released Thursday. The group found that subsidies to confined animal feeding operations outpaced fines for pollution violations, though pollutant levels in the western Lake Erie Basin increased. "While agricultural runoff has
LANSING - Customers of Consumers Energy will pay $1.28 more monthly for their electricity service, effective December 1, under new rates approved Thursday by the Michigan Public Service Commission. The PSC authorized Consumers Energy to increase its electric rates by $130 million annually, due in part to the company's retirement of seven coal plants in
LANSING – Michigan has about $25 million leftover in federal funding to update its voting equipment from when it received federal funding through the Helping America Vote Act passed in 2002, but the state still needs another potentially $35 million to get its voting equipment ready for the November 2018 general election when current systems
LANSING - The Michigan Department of State will be unable to implement the vehicle registration fee changes Gov. Rick Snyder signed into law this week to raise funding for roads unless Hewlett Packard turns over the source code for the troubled information technology project to upgrade secretary of state online services, officials say. Attorneys for the
LANSING - Michigan revenues from its primary taxes fell slightly short in October, according to figures released Tuesday by the Senate Fiscal Agency, and ended the 2014-15 fiscal year $156 million short of estimates. While the initial estimate of $21.61 billion during the 2014-15 fiscal year is still a 3.1 percent increase from 2013-14, it
LANSING - It was a quick day in the Senate for one of the first bills the chamber introduced this year to eliminate straight-ticket voting, as it cleared a Senate committee Tuesday morning and the full chamber by the evening. The bill, SB 13, would eliminate the ability for voters to vote for all the candidates
LANSING - Michigan's gas tax revenues were down more than $120 Million to $820.6 million in fiscal year 2013-14 since their peak more than a decade before, a report by the Department of Treasury shows. During the same time frame, total gasoline usage is down more than 600,000 gallons annually. What is now the state's
