State Water Pollution Control Revolving Fund
There were several items that MITA had been working on throughout the past year that were completed before lawmakers went home for the holidays. One item that will help out the underground industry is the passage of legislation that frees up over $650 million through bonds approved by voters in 2002. The new legislation will set up an easier system to access the lower interest loans for communities seeking to improve their underground water and sewers.
This is in addition to the good news that the Department of Environmental Quality announced in late September that nearly $93 million in loans were awarded to fund wastewater or drinking water projects around the state. These programs will mean increased work throughout the state on much needed repairs to our underground infrastructure in the very near future.
Truck Misloads
On the trucking side, a change regarding how fines for misloaded equipment or materials are given moved through the Legislature on the final day of session. Currently under law, if a commercial motor vehicle is overweight on a given axle by less than 4,000 pounds, a $200 fine is automatically assessed through the local jurisdiction. The new law, which will go into effect on approximately April 1, will do several things. First, it will give the local magistrate the option of whether or not to even assess the fine altogether. Secondly, it will only charge the fine for overweight loads on individual axles from 1,000 – 4,000 pounds, giving some leniency from 0 – 1,000 pounds. Next, the new law will calculate the penalty by pennies per pound overweight and, if that calculation is less than $200, the fine will reflect that level. Finally, when dealing with overweight loads on individual axles when a special permit is issued, the fine will be $200 if the load is less than 1,000 pounds over on any given axle. In addition, the conditions of the special permit would remain valid.
MITA staff had heard from several members, who were receiving fines for axle misloads when operating under a special permit, that the local law enforcement agency was voiding the special permit and calculating the fine based off the legal load weight limits, which in some cases meant tens of thousands of dollars in fines. Staff will continue to watch how this new law is ultimately enforced and seek additional changes if necessary.
Indemnification
Another positive item that passed during the lame duck session affects those members who do work on publicly owned projects. The new law deals with indemnity requirements in construction contracts with public entities. The law would specifically prohibit a public entity from requiring an architect, engineer or contractor to defend the public entity or any other party from liability claims or to indemnify the public entity or other party for an amount greater than the degree of fault of the architect, engineer or contractor. During the final stages of the legislative process, all higher education institutions were exempted from the legislation.
Right to Work
Legislatively, 2012 went out with a bang with one of the most controversial pieces of legislation in recent memory gaining support during the lame duck session. The Republican controlled Legislature had discussed the possibility of Right to Work legislation going through the legislative process for the entire 2011 – 2012 session. After the recent failure of Proposal 2 on the November ballot, they took their opportunity to pass the legislation. Gaining national media attention, the Right to Work issue and its merits will be debated for generations to come and only time will tell whether or not this will actually benefit the economy in Michigan.
Member Legislative Outreach and MITA PAC
A big thank you goes out to all of our members who contacted their elected officials and to those that have contributed to the MITA PAC. Please take some time during the down time and reach out to your state representative and senator as the transportation funding issue will be one of, if not the top priority for the Legislature in 2013. If we can help facilitate a meeting or any other correspondence with those lawmakers, please do not hesitate to contact Lance Binoniemi at (517) 347-8336.
Transportation Funding
The main objective for MITA continues to be getting increased funding for our transportation system, although that hasn’t been accomplished, the stage is set for a vigorous debate during the first six months of 2013. It is anticipated that the Senate Transportation Task Force, which held five hearings during the fall, will have recommendations ready for early in the year to raise an additional $1.6 billion annually.
