Legislature Approves Airport Funding
After months of political wrangling, the House sent a bill to the governor’s desk that will provide over $160 million to Michigan’s airports to upgrade their infrastructure. The money was federal dollars that needed to be appropriated by state legislators in order to be used.
Final passage of the bill was a victory for MITA, which lobbied hard for quick approval in order to begin construction projects this year. Unfortunately, the exercise was also a lesson in gamesmanship and partisan bickering, as the seemingly easy task got bogged down in political debate for months, forcing many of the airport construction projects to be delayed until next year.
MBT Materials Fix Overcomes Another Hurdle
The MITA-led effort to get approval of the MBT materials deduction took a step forward on Tuesday, as the House passed their own version of the legislation to the state Senate. Last month, the Senate approved an identical bill which is now pending in the House. Now that both bills are in the final houses for approval, negotiations are underway between the chambers to determine which bill to use as the final bill to be sent to the governor, which will give a final resolution to this long-sought tax fix for the construction industry.
Please contact Mike Nystrom at mikenystrom@mi-ita.com or Keith Ledbetter at keithledbetter@mi-ita.com or call the MITA office at 517-347-8336 with any questions or comments.
