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E-M:/ Keeping an Eye on the Legislature
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Enviro-Mich message from anne.woiwode@sfsierra.sierraclub.org
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Folks:
As the legislature starts up, we are hearing selectively in the regular media
about bills that some wish to push, while other legislation which will
drastically effect the environment is being introduced with no fanfare. This
is a reminder that you can personally check what is going on in the
Legislature by calling up the webpage of the Michigan Legislature:
<www.michiganlegislature.org>
Right now (MLKing Day), there are 32 Senate bills and about a dozen House
bills listed. This site will carry calendars, committee meeting schedules,
journals of both the House and Senate, and information about individual
legislators as the session starts rolling. Mark it as a favorite or bookmark,
and use this site to check on the status of legislation you are interested in.
I would also urge people with different expertise to regularly check the site
for new legislation and let all of us on Enviro-Mich know what is happening --
too often, in the flood of legislative activity and with a small group in
Lansing who follow environmental legislation, bills that someone should have
kept an eye on have shown up and slipped through without public notice or
comment.
On the House side nothing so far falls into the environmental category, and
the text of all bills has been posted. On the Senate side there are several
bills identified by number and short title that do effect the environment, but
none of them have the text yet posted so the extent of the impacts if passed
are unclear. Below is a quick synopsis:
Senator Dunaskiss has introduced three bills (SB 22, 23, & 24) which are
evidently his effort to put the Utility Deregulation back on the calendar
early, however SB 22 and 23 are tie-barred, and the short title for SB 23 says
that it has to do with exempting uses from wetlands regulations. That seems a
might of a stretch to be tie-barred to Utility Dereg, which is problematic all
by itself!
Senator Schuette has two bills as well:
-- SB 28 would regulate oil and gas development under the Great Lakes
-- SB 29 would establish Agricultural Security Zones -- this is an issue that
has cut both ways in others states. The idea is to create areas where
agricultural lands can be more easily preserved and farming can continue. The
problem has come with tying this concept to removing local controls and
exempting activities from nuisances and environmental regulations. Since the
legislation text is not yet up on the web, no analysis of the effect of this
bill is yet available.
Anne Woiwode
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