2023 House Bill 4246

1. Amend page 12, line 19, after “program” by striking out “50,000,000” and inserting “100,000,000” and adjusting the subtotals, totals, and section 201 accordingly.

2. Amend page 92, following line 6 by inserting:

“Sec. 1138. (1) From the funds appropriated in part 1 for Michigan housing and community development program, the Michigan state housing development authority shall allocate $100,000,000.00 general fund/general purpose dollars to create a program to assist in the implementation of Michigan’s statewide housing plan by reducing housing cost burdens on Michigan residents and increasing the supply and preserving the existing supply of affordable housing. The program shall adhere to the requirements of this section.

(2) As used in this section:

(a) “Owner” means a limited dividend housing corporation as that term is defined in section 11 of the state housing development authority act of 1966, 1966 PA 346, MCL 125.1411, that owns the property funded with the affordable housing tax credit gap financing funds and controlled by the sponsor.

(b) “LIHTC” means low-income housing tax credit, as defined by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.

(c) “Authority” means the Michigan state housing development authority created in section 21 of the state housing development authority act of 1966, 1966 PA 346, MCL 125.1421.

(3) From the funds appropriated in part 1 for Michigan housing and community development program, the authority may expend up to 5% of the funds for administration costs for the program.

(4) The funds appropriated in part 1 for Michigan housing and community development program shall be allocated to help defray the costs of projects, sponsored by for-profit and nonprofit developers, that emphasize the creation of affordable housing supply in this state, as determined by the authority. Of the funds available for the program, grants or loans shall be allocated to developments that qualify for tax credits under section 42 of the internal revenue code of 1986, 26 USC 42, as follows:

(a) Of the funds available for the program, 40% shall be allocated as a grant or forgivable loan to an eligible recipient for the development and construction of new affordable housing units through the authority’s pass-through bond program. For the purposes of this subsection, “new affordable housing units” means housing units that meet both of the following requirements:

(i) Use of the property as multifamily housing commences after the owner’s acquisition and development of the property.

(ii) The property has not been used as multifamily housing at any point during the 10-year period immediately prior to the owner’s acquisition of the property.

(b) Of the funds available for the program, 20% shall be allocated as a grant or forgivable loan for the development or construction of affordable housing for projects awarded 9% tax credits under section 42 of the internal revenue code of 1986, 26 USC 42, and owners that have not received an unconditional form 8609 from the authority as of the effective date of this act. Priority of awards under this subsection shall be as follows:

(i) First, to owners that received an initial LIHTC reservation on or before December 31, 2020.

(ii) Next, after the priority in subparagraph (i), to owners that received an initial LIHTC reservation on or before December 31, 2021.

(iii) Next, after the priorities in subparagraphs (i) and (ii), to owners that received an initial LIHTC reservation on or before December 31, 2022.

(iv) Last, after the priorities in subparagraphs (i), (ii), and (iii), to owners that received an initial LIHTC reservation after December 31, 2022.

(c) Of the funds available for the program, 25% shall be allocated as a grant, loan, or forgivable loan for the development or construction of affordable housing for properties that meet 1 or more of the following:

(i) Have already received loans through the authority’s direct lending program.

(ii) Are existing properties for projects that meet all of the following:

(A) Are properties that previously obtained tax credits under section 42 of the internal revenue code of 1986, 26 USC 42.

(B) Are properties subject to an existing use restriction from previously obtained tax credits.

(C) Are properties that receive an allocation of volume cap through the authority’s direct lending program.

(d) Of the funds available for the program, 15% shall be allocated as a grant or forgivable loan for the development or construction of affordable housing for properties that meet all of the following:

(i) Are properties that previously obtained tax credits under section 42 of the internal revenue code of 1986, 26 USC 42.

(ii) Are properties subject to an existing use restriction from previously obtained tax credits.

(iii) Are properties that receive an allocation of volume cap through the authority’s pass-through bond program.

(e) Notwithstanding existing rules or requirements under the authority’s pass-through bond program or direct lending program, the authority may set aside not more than 15% of the funds identified in subdivisions (a) through (d) for rural communities as designated by the United States Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

(f) Any request for funds allocated under subdivisions (a) through (d) shall include a letter of support from the municipality in which the property or project is located.

(5) To the extent that any funds awarded by the authority under this program include federal funds received by this state under the federal American rescue plan act of 2021, Public Law 117-2, to ensure that all such funds are obligated on or before December 31, 2024, the following provisions shall apply:

(a) Until April 1, 2024, American rescue plan act funds shall be obligated and deployed before any other funds.

(b) After April 1, 2024, the set-aside identified in subsection (4)(e) no longer applies, and federal American rescue plan act funds shall be allocated on a first-come, first-serve basis until such funds are fully obligated to 1 or both of the following:

(i) Any alternative method to achieve the program goals, if funds are administered in the form of a grant or forgivable loan.

(ii) Any project that meets the requirements identified in subsection (4)(a) to (d).

(6) The unexpended funds appropriated in part 1 for Michigan housing and community development program are designated as a work project appropriation, and any unencumbered or unallotted funds shall not lapse at the end of the fiscal year and shall be available for expenditure for projects under this section until the projects have been completed. The following is in compliance with section 451a of the management and budget act, 1984 PA 431, MCL 18.1451a:

(a) The purpose of the project is to implement Michigan’s statewide housing plan by reducing housing costs for Michigan residents and increasing the supply of, and preserving existing, affordable housing.

(b) The project will be accomplished by utilizing state employees or by contracts with service providers, or both.

(c) The total estimated cost of the project is $100,000,000.00.

(d) The tentative completion date is September 30, 2027.”.

1. Amend page 79, line 8, after “to” by striking out all of the remaining section and inserting “a nonprofit workers’ compensation group self-insurance fund headquartered in a county with a population between 284,000 and 285,000 according to the most recent federal decennial census to support safety education and safety training efforts within the construction industry in this state.”.

2. Amend page 80, line 29, after “than” by striking out “$100,000.00” and inserting “$50,000.00”.

3. Amend page 81, following line 5, by striking out all of subsection (2).

4. Amend page 88, line 7, after “to” by striking out all of the remaining section and inserting “an entity developing an initiative based on the US Department of Labor “YouthBuild” model that will serve emancipated youth and emerging adults (opportunity youth) ages 16-24 that have vulnerable circumstances preventing them from engaging in education, professional training, and ultimately living wage employment opportunities, and is located in a township with a population between 1,808 and 1,810 and in a county with a population between 132,000 and 135,000 for a youth career development program.”.

5. Amend page 90, line 9, after “in” by striking out “a city with a population between 111,000 and 114,000” and inserting “a township with a population between 32,000 and 33,150”.

1. Amend page 22, line 15, by striking out all of section 226 and inserting:

“Sec. 226. Money appropriated in part 1 must not be used to require actions related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI); to restrict or impede any community’s access to government resources, programs, or facilities; or to diminish, interfere with, or restrict an individual’s ability to exercise rights as outlined under the State Constitution.”.

1. Amend page 5, line 19, after “FTEs” by striking out “201.0” and inserting “197.0”.

2. Amend page 5, line 19, after “201.0” by striking out “36,018,500” and inserting “31,240,700” and adjusting the subtotals, totals, and section 201 accordingly.

1. Amend page 22, following line 23, by inserting:

“Sec. 227. (1) Any department, agency, board, commission, or public officer that receives funding under part 1 shall not:

(a) Require as a condition of accessing any facility or receiving services that an individual provide proof that he or she has received a COVID-19 vaccine except as provided by federal law or as a condition of receiving federal Medicare or Medicaid funding.

(b) Produce, develop, issue, or require a COVID-19 vaccine passport.

(c) Develop a database or make any existing database publicly available to access an individual’s COVID-19 vaccine status by any person, company, or governmental entity.

(d) Require as a condition of employment that an employee or official provide proof that he or she has received a COVID-19 vaccine. This subdivision does not apply to any hospital, congregate care facility, or other medical facility or any hospital, congregate care facility, or other medical facility operated by a local unit of government that receives federal Medicare or Medicaid funding.

(2) A department, agency, board, commission, or public officer may not subject any individual to any negative employment consequence, retaliation, or retribution because of that individual’s COVID-19 vaccine status.

(3) Subsection (1) does not prohibit any person, department, agency, board, commission, or public officer from transmitting proof of an individual’s COVID-19 vaccine status to any person, company, or governmental entity, so long as the individual provides affirmative consent.

(4) If a department, agency, board, commission, subdivision, or official or public officer is required to establish a vaccine policy due to a federal mandate, it must provide exemptions to any COVID-19 vaccine policy to the following individuals:

(a) An individual for whom a physician certifies that a COVID-19 vaccine is or may be detrimental to the individual’s health or is not appropriate.

(b) An individual who provides a written statement to the effect that the requirements of the COVID-19 vaccine policy cannot be met because of religious convictions or other consistently held objections to immunization.

(5) As used in this section, “public officer” means a person appointed by the governor or another executive department official or an elected or appointed official of this state or a political subdivision of this state.”.

1. Amend page 11, following line 19, by inserting:

“Child care facility grant program

2,000,000”

and adjusting the subtotals, totals, and section 201 accordingly.

2. Amend page 92, following line 6, by inserting:

“Sec. 1139. From the funds appropriated in part 1 for child care facility grant program, the department shall allocate $2,000,000.00 to establish a child care facility grant program. Grant funding from the program must be awarded to eligible entities to build new childcare facilities and may not be awarded for renovations of existing child care facilities. To be eligible for a grant, an entity must be affiliated with the tri-share program in this state.”.

1. Amend page 18, line 27, following “exceed” by striking out “$30,000,000.00” and inserting “$15,000,000.00”.

2. Amend page 19, line 10, following “exceed” by striking out “$2,000,000.00” and inserting “$1,000,000.00”.

3. Amend page 19, line 16, following “exceed” by striking out “$2,000,000.00” and inserting “$1,000,000.00”.

4. Amend page 21, following line 2, by inserting:

“(2) By March 1 of the current fiscal year, the departments and agencies shall report to the senate and house appropriations committees, the senate and house appropriations subcommittees on general government, and the senate and house fiscal agencies the following information:

(a) Number of employees who were engaged in remote work in 2022.

(b) Number of employees authorized to work remotely and the actual number of those working remotely in the current reporting period.

(c) Estimated net cost savings achieved by remote work.

(d) Reduced use of office space associated with remote work.”. and renumbering subdivisions accordingly.

5. Amend page 21, following line 6, by inserting:

“Sec. 219. Total authorized appropriations from all sources under part 1 for legacy costs for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2024 are $54,175,800.00. From this amount, total agency appropriations for pension-related legacy costs are estimated at $35,646,400.00. Total agency appropriations for retiree health care legacy costs are estimated at $18,529,400.00.”.

6. Amend page 22, following line 23 by inserting:

“Sec. 227. If the state administrative board, acting under section 3 of 1921 PA 2, MCL 17.3, transfers funds from an amount appropriated under this part and part 1, the legislature may, by a concurrent resolution adopted by a majority of the members elected to and serving in each house, intertransfer funds within this part and part 1 for the particular department, board, commission, officer, or institution.”.

7. Amend page 23, following line 12, by inserting:

“Sec. 235. By April 1, the state budget director shall submit a report to the senate and house appropriations committees and the report recipients required in section 205 of this part. The report shall recommend a contingency plan for each federal funding source included in the state budget of $10,000,000.00 or more in the event that the federal government reduces funding to this state through that source by 10% or greater.”.

1. Amend page 33, following line 9, by inserting:

“Sec. 1014. As a condition of receiving funds in part 1, for any project being considered for strategic outreach and attraction reserve fund funding, the fund shall provide a foreign entity report from the committee on foreign investment in the United States that provides a review of any foreign persons or entities that may provide foreign investments in a project.”.

1. Amend page 54, following line 26, by inserting:

“Sec. 1077b. (1) From the funds appropriated in part 1, the unemployment insurance agency shall post on its public website the amount of money in the unemployment compensation fund.

(2) The unemployment insurance agency shall examine a claim for benefits and make a determination within 15 calendar days or 20 calendar days if the claim occurs during an exigent period. If the unemployment insurance agency cannot make a determination within the time period because the claimant or employer did not provide the necessary information then the unemployment insurance agency shall immediately notify the claimant that they cannot make a determination and the reasons why.

(a) As used in this section, “Exigent period” means a group of or more consecutive calendar weeks that immediately follows a measuring week if the total number of claims for benefits received by the unemployment agency in each calendar week in the group is at least 50% greater than the total number of claims for benefits received by the unemployment agency in the measuring week.

(b) As used in this section, “Measuring week” means a calendar week in which the total number of claims for benefits received by the unemployment agency is less than 50% of the total number of claims for benefits received by the unemployment agency in the immediately following calendar week.”.

2. Amend page 56, line 18, by striking out all of section 1080.

1. Amend page 62, line 5, after “state.” by inserting “At least 25 per cent of the projects receiving grant funding shall be for investments in rural areas.”.

2. Amend page 62, line 12, after “shall be” by inserting “higher education institutions, economic development organizations, or”.

3. Amend page 62, line 29, by striking out “a 20% local cost share” and inserting “a 10% local cost share for rural area projects and a 20% local cost share for nonrural projects.”

1. Amend page 89, line 21, by striking all of subsections (a), (b), and (c) and inserting:

“(a) $21,000,000.00 shall be allocated for a workforce training grant program established by the department to award grant funding to entities throughout the state for workforce training programs. As used in this section, workforce training includes, but is not limited to, talent enhancement, increasing worker productivity, development of workforce skills, leadership and management training, and worker retention.

(b) $3,000,000.00 shall be allocated for training center equipment grants.”.

1. Amend page 23, following line 12, by inserting:

“Sec. 231. The department shall provide an annual report which shall include a comparative analysis of certain metrics after the repeal of right to work. The report shall include, but not be limited to, a comparative analysis of the following:

(i) Changes in the rates of union membership.

(ii) Changes in job creation statistics.

(iii) Average number of unionized jobs sites before and after the repeal of right to work.”.

1. Amend page 23, following line 12, by inserting:

“Sec. 230. The department shall not use any taxpayer funds, or any funds appropriated under part 1, to provide classes or direct assistance to any groups or individuals to establish, operate, or join a union. This section does not prevent any activity required under the Employment Relations Commission Act or Public Employment Relations Act.”.

1. Amend page 11, line 7, after “project” by striking out “4,000,000” and inserting “10,000,000” and adjusting the subtotals, totals, and section 201 accordingly.

2. Amend page 78, line 16, by striking out “$4,000,000.00” and inserting “$10,000,000.00”.

1. Amend page 8, following line 28, by inserting:

“Michigan defense center

5,000,000”

2. Amend page 12, line 17, by striking out all of line 17 and adjusting the subtotals, totals, and section 201 accordingly.

3. Amend page 33, following line 9, by inserting:

“Sec. 1014. The funds appropriated in part 1 for the Michigan defense center shall be used by the Michigan strategic fund to protect and grow the defense and homeland security industry in Michigan by protecting the state’s current department of defense missions, infrastructure, and industry, including securing new missions and increasing defense and homeland security spending in the state. These funds may be used for, but are not limited to, the following activities:

(a) Helping Michigan businesses identify federal defense contract opportunities.

(b) Providing technical assistance for bid responses to federal defense contracts.

(c)Strengthening cybersecurity compliance at Michigan businesses to qualify for federal defense contracts.”.

4. Amend page 91, line 5, by striking out all of section 1135.

1. Amend page 12, following line 15, by inserting:

“Economic development and renovation project

10,000,000”

and adjusting the subtotals, totals, and section 201 accordingly.

2. Amend page 92, following line 6, by inserting:

“Sec. 1140. From the funds appropriated in part 1 for economic development and renovation project, the department shall allocate $10,000,000.00 to a city with a population between 139,000 and 140,000 for the purchase of obsolete property and buildings and for related infrastructure construction and demolition to support the redevelopment of a shopping center into a mixed-use town center.”.

1. Amend page 11, following line 18, by inserting:

“Arsenal of innovation

2,000,000”

and adjusting the subtotals, totals, and section 201 accordingly.

2. Amend page 92, following line 6, by inserting:

“Sec. 1141. (1) The funds appropriated in part 1 for the arsenal of innovation shall be used by the department to support innovation of new mobility-defense technologies, the testing of new defense focused applications for mobility-based technologies, or new defense systems that will support the future of mobility and electrification. Funds shall be awarded on a competitive basis for projects that help deploy, test, research, develop, or bring to market mobility technologies and new defense solutions for advanced mobility.

(2) The department shall develop program guidelines and an application process for these funds and shall post that information on a publicly accessible website prior to the due date of the application. When making awards, the department shall consider the extent to which each project leverages federal resource opportunities, the extent to which each project increases research and development capital in this state, and the extent to which each project drives economic development.”.