Michigan Senate Passes License Plate/Launch Site/State Park Legislation

[Skulley]

I was reading the January 1st, 2010 edition of the Michigan Outdoor News.  In the article on the front page lower right about the year 2009 in review.  In the December section it read that the Michigan Senate passed by a vote of 25 to 12 allowing in-state residents to pay an extra $10 for their annual vehicle registration in return for unlimited annual access to the state parks and recreational areas.  Sounds like this is a done deal except for the Governor's signature.  It did not say when it would take effect.........just that it passed the Senate.   

BD                 

[LAPORTE]

I posted about this in the fall when the bill was in the house... it was taking forever because both sides of the house (dem & rep) had there own ideas on what the the rules should be before it went to the senate. I hope this gets done before it's time to purchase state park passes... and ramp passes.

Don L

[Skulley]

I would like more info on what it says in the bill.  Does anyone know what the number of the bill is??  I am sure it is on their website and shouldn't be too hard to find.

BD             

[LAPORTE]

Here you go big dog enjoy...:-)



1  Biology, Conservation, Legislation & Regulations / Conservation, Ecology, Legislation & Regulations / House Bills 4677 and 4688.
on: May 12, 2009, 12:45:32 PM
Started by LAPORTE, Message by LAPORTE
Relevance: 73.1%
hello All GLB folks,


Below is the response from my district reps. When I asked about the house bills being reviewed in the house and senate. One main concern I had was to see if the DNR ramps were going to be covered as well as the state park entry. Enjoy the reading if you choose to do so. This is where your voice is going to do the best for you.... Speak up fore or against.





Dear Mr. Laporte,

Thank you for calling Rep. Deb Kennedy's office yesterday.  I wanted to follow up regarding your questions on House Bills 4677 and 4688.

These bills would authorize an annual $10 vehicle registration surcharge ($5 for motorcycles) on non-commercial vehicles. This would replace state forest, park and boating access fees for residents.  When a citizen received notice from the Secretary of State to renew their vehicle registration, they would be asked to pay a $10 fee for one year access to state parks and state-operated public boating access sites.  One could opt not to pay, however, that vehicle could not go to a state park or state-operated public boating access site.  So, to answer your questions, the fee would be per vehicle, not per household and would cover access to state-operated public boating access sites.  If you are interested, I can mail you the amended versions of these bills, the language that is currently on the House floor.  Also, you may be interested to note that the Senate is considering very similar bills, Senate Bills 388 and 389, which are currently before the full Senate for consideration.

Please let me know if you have any further questions, or would hard copies of the bills.

Sincerely,
Karin Gyger
Rep. Deb Kennedy's office



Mr. Laporte:

Per our phone conversation I am sending you the links the Senate website where you can find additional information regarding the Michigan parks registration proposal.

Click on Committee Information in the top menu bar. Then Minutes and testimony in the menu bar to the left. These bills were in the Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs Committee. Hearings for these bills occurred from mid April to last week. If you enter those dates all the posted information should be available for download.

http://www.senate.michigan.gov/

Also here are the links to all the senate bills:

SB 388
http://www.legislature.mi.gov/(S(hgzt5k3vjh0tel555yzh4055))/mileg.aspx?page=getObject&objectName=2009-SB-0388

SB 389
http://www.legislature.mi.gov/(S(hgzt5k3vjh0tel555yzh4055))/mileg.aspx?page=getObject&objectName=2009-SB-0389

Please let me know if you need anything else.

Scott Jones
Sen. Patterson's office

If you are wondering why there is 4 different numbers. 2 are from house Dem. and 2 are from house Rep. If both parties have what they think is a good idea they each shove a bill thru the system and they meet in the middle and become one.. at leat this is my understanding.. Please correct me if I have mispoken.

[djkimmel]

My understanding is once the bill passes, everyone will have access to the State Parks and MDNR public access sites. There would be no checking of who paid and who didn't. I'll have to see if that has changed.

It has changed - see below for the latest.

[djkimmel]

Okay, so far the final version of has not been approved as a match between the House and the Senate.

The House and Senate has appeared to agree with Senate Bill 388 that before 4/1/2010, the state park fees may stay the same as they are now. That one is a done deal, signed by the Governor and approved with immediate effect.

Senate Bill 0388 (2009)
Public Act 197 of 2009
12/30/2009   SJ 107 Pg. 2567   PRESENTED TO GOVERNOR 12/22/2009 @ 3:38 PM
12/30/2009   SJ 107 Pg. 2569   APPROVED BY GOVERNOR 12/28/2009 @ 12:08 PM
12/30/2009   SJ 107 Pg. 2569   FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE 12/28/2009 @ 1:48 PM
12/30/2009   SJ 107 Pg. 2569   ASSIGNED PA 0197'09 WITH IMMEDIATE EFFECT

The actual end result of the passport fee plan is still in question though close I think though referred back to committee, probably for the Senate to review the new amended substitute H-3 and see if they agree? That would be Senate Bill 389.
12/3/2009   HJ 104 Pg. 2387   reported with recommendation with substitute H-2
12/3/2009   HJ 104 Pg. 2387   referred to second reading

And House Bill 4678
12/10/2009   HJ 107 Pg. 2472   read a second time
12/10/2009   HJ 107 Pg. 2472   substitute H-2 not adopted
12/10/2009   HJ 107 Pg. 2472   substitute H-3 adopted and amended
12/10/2009   HJ 107 Pg. 2472   placed on third reading
12/10/2009   HJ 107 Pg. 2472   placed on immediate passage
12/10/2009   HJ 107 Pg. 2472   read a third time
12/10/2009   HJ 107 Pg. 2472   passed; given immediate effect Roll Call # 621 Yeas 83 Nays 24
12/10/2009   HJ 107 Pg. 2472   title amended
12/10/2009   HJ 107 Pg. 2472   transmitted
12/17/2009   SJ 104 Pg. 2418   REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS

Here is the latest version from the House that the Senate should be reviewing in the Natural Resources committee: http://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/2009-2010/billengrossed/House/pdf/2009-HEBH-4678.pdf

Looks like the House amendments deal with how the money collected will be distributed among the fund and how much will go to the Secretary of State for administration for collecting the money.

It is a percentage arrangement with a cap of $1,000,000 to the SOS. The next $10,700,000 goes into the State Park Improvement fund. The next 1,030,000 goes into the Waterways fund.

Remaining revenue will be divided as follows:
83% for various State Park funding
10% to local public recreation facilities fund
7% to the Forest Recreation Account

I'm not sure, but it looks like if you don't buy the $10 passport fee ($5 for motorcycle) through the Secretary of State when you register your motor vehicle, that you will still have to pay original State Park or boating access site fees to get in. I'll have to ask for clarification about that since it is a little confusing between the latest two versions of the House and Senate bills.

Note: the Senate version bill 389 says the change will not take effect until October 1, 2010. That is not final, but it wouldn't surprise me.

[fiker]

I have to purchase new tabs by the end of this month.  I hope they figure it out by then.

[Skulley]

Just from what I have read in the newspaper and Michigan Outdoor News it is to my understanding that we will still be buying stickers for 2010 and by 2011 we will be paying the extra 10 dollars per vehicle.  For me owning three vehicles that would be $30.  Not bad considering that I paid about $44 dollars total or something like that.  I save $14 a year.  I consider this a small price to pay for the amount of times I use state launches and state parks.  I like it!!   

Thanks for all the info Don.  It makes for good reading.

BD       

[djkimmel]

I do not think the change will occur for 2010 considering the latest Senate bill states 10/1/2010 effective date.

[Waterfoul]

Well, I paid for my tabs 2nd week of December and tehre was no option to pay the $10.  So as Dan said it's not official yet.