MOWRA LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
State Representative Gene DeRossett is sponsoring House Bill 6346, which is endorsed by MOWRA, the Michigan Association of Realtors (MAR), and the Michigan Homebuilders Association. The Bill covers the local government signoff requirements for onsite cluster systems. This Bill would relieve the local government from liability, allow cluster projects to move forward without a local government signoff, and impose DEQ safeguards on cluster systems.
This Bill was introduced by Representative DeRossett in last year's session. It has been reintroduced starting this year, and will receive a House Bill number of 4009. It will not officially be reintroduced until January 28, 2003, and you will not be able to see it on the www.michigan.gov website until then. I have spoken with Representative DeRossett's office regarding the time frame for this Bill. They claim that committee assignments have just been made, and at the end of January the various reintroduced bills will then be assigned to committee. We assume that it will be assigned to the same committee as last year, which is Land Use and Environment. At that time the committee members and chairs will begin discussion of the various bills. Representative DeRossett's office will be discussing the Bill with different stakeholders and interested organizations and parties. Depending on the response that the committee receives, there may be testimony taken in the spring or summer regarding the Bill. If that happens, then various MOWRA members would be needed to testify before the committee regarding our industry viewpoint.
The Land Use and Environmental Committee Chairperson is Representative Ruth Johnson. The other committee members besides Gene DeRossett have not been assigned yet, but they should shortly be available on the www.michigan.gov website. We would need to contact these committee members and the chairperson to make our viewpoints known.
House Bill 6357 dealt with onsite disposal systems and the DEQ's establishing statewide performance standards for the design and installation of such systems. This Bill was introduced by Representative DeVuyst, who was term limited and did not return this session. It is unclear if any current Representative will reintroduce this Bill. He represented part of Montcalm and Ionia counties, and the person who replaced him is Representative Judy Emmons. I have contacted her office and am waiting to find out if she will be reintroducing the legislation or if it will die. That Bill called for not only performance standards for onsite systems but also manufacturers' warranties and financial assurance, time of sale county inspections, and onsite homeowner education manuals. Hopefully a Representative will pick this legislation up and reintroduce it. If you know of any Representative, please suggest this.
Lastly, the voters approved the Great Lakes Water Quality Bond Act for environmental cleanup, of which 10% of this money was slated to be funded into the Strategic Water Quality Initiative Fund (SWQIF).
That money is set aside to provide low-interest loans for non-point source pollution control projects. The SWQIF would provide low-interest loan funds for local units where population would not be considered a project criterion, unlike the State Revolving Fund, which must consider population. Eligible projects would include upgrades or replacements of failing onsite systems. This is significant, in that septic tanks are almost exclusively sited and maintained privately. Use of public dollars for direct benefit of private property are authorized only when there is legislative or judicial finding of "public purpose" and remediation of failing septic systems is now recognized in this legislation as such, and crucial to public health, safety and welfare. The SWQIF removes consideration of local unit population from the priority list requirements, presumably to accommodate septic tank system eligibility, which have not been allowed in the past. The question of whether the State of Michigan is actually going to issue the Water Quality Bonds and begin funding the SWQIF is still unanswered. I spoke to Joe Felix at the Department of Treasury's Bureau of Bond Finance, who stated the State makes a decision to issue bonds based upon project requests. If they feel there is a great demand for projects they will issue the bonds and the funds will become available. He suggested anyone having a project that would qualify under SWQIF contact Chip Heckathorn at the DEQ (517-373-4718) and make sure he knows about it. The DEQ and Department of Treasury will then discuss the amount of bonds to be issued (e.g. $100 million per year). Mr. Felix felt that if enough project demand was shown, then the State would most likely issue bonds this year under the Act.