LANSING, Mich. (MIRS News) – The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, Insurance and Financial Services was the first to move its budget recommendation Tuesday, which included an additional $36.2 million towards a revamped Renewable Energy and Electrification Infrastructure Enhancement and Development fund.

During the Tuesday committee meeting, Committee Clerk Marcus Coffin presented the LARA budget first in the form of HB 4280.

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Chair Phil Skaggs (D-Grand Rapids) said the largest transformation in the H-2 substitute to the bill was the $36.2 million in General Fund funding for grants to businesses, non-profit organizations and local government units for planning, developing, designing or constructing renewable energy and electrification infrastructure projects.

Skaggs said the goal of the previous iteration of the program was noble, but through conversations with members and stakeholders, the program can be improved by focusing on solar power grid hookups.

He was referring to electrification programs to allow solar arrays larger than 5 megawatts (MW) to connect to the grid.

The House Fiscal Analysis also references grant money towards renewable natural gas facilities and electric vehicle fast charging infrastructure upgrades within 1,000 feet of a U.S. highway or state trunkline roadway.

The total appropriation towards the fund is $36,244,500, of which $24.5 million is one-time funding and $11.7 million is ongoing.

Under boilerplate language changes, the grant application process would be developed and implemented within six months, and grant approvals that meet the goals of the MI Healthy Climate Plan would be prioritized.

Applicants would be required to submit an impact study, along with a report on how the money was used within 30 days after a project’s completion.

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Other major changes referenced by Coffin included a cut to the investment Gov. Gretchen Whitmer proposed for the Michigan Indigent Defense Commission (MIDC)’s grant distributions, for which she proposed $72 million be allocated from the GF.

The grant distributions to district and circuit court units would assist with the education and training of defense counsel, along with ensuring poor criminal defendants receive a higher standard of legal representation through higher incentives and rates of payment to salaried public defenders.

The House lowered the amount for that program to $57.2 million, however.

That was the only instance where the House lowered a funding rate from the Governor’s recommendation, but Skaggs did recommend an additional $900,000 in state restricted funding authorization from the Construction Code Fund to allow LARA to increase the pay rate for elevator inspectors, with collaboration from the Office of the State Employer.

Skaggs also recommended $700,000 in one-time General Fund funding to allow the Bureau of Construction Codes to implement changes intended to decrease the average length of time to process and review submission plans for modular homes.

The subcommittee recommendation also concurred with the Governor’s recommendation in many cases, including:

– Removing $25.0 million General Fund in grant funding for businesses, nonprofits and local governments to construct low carbon energy facilities, including natural gas, combined heat and power facilities and electrification programs.

– $5 million one-time General Fund funding for non-profit green bank Michigan Saves. The funding would be used to offer credit enhancement tools to incentivize lending.

– $4.4 million of state restricted funding authorization from the Marihuana Regulation Fund to establish a CRA reference laboratory to perform testing to support investigations and industry audits. The $2.8 million in one-time funding would support equipment purchases and construction, while the $1.6 million ongoing funding would pay staff and cover operations costs.

– $2.2 million General Fund with $2 million ongoing, to support costs associated with childcare background checks.

– $1.6 million in one-time General Fund funding for the Bureau of Fire Services to purchase and distribute sealed battery smoke detectors to Michigan residents.

– $1.5 million in state restricted liquor law enforcement grants, with funding supported by retailers’ liquor license and license renewal fees.

– $514,600 in state restricted funding authorization to hire a department specialist, manager and finance position within the Michigan Liquor Control Commission.

– Removing $8.3 million Gross one-time funding allocated in the FY ‘22-’23 budget to support smoke detectors, a cannabis market taxation and regulatory compliance analysis pilot program and a Michigan task force on foreign trained medical professional licensing.

While other changes included an addition of language regarding the standard list of report recipients, which included subcommittees, the Senate and House fiscal agencies and policy offices and the state budget office.

The House also retained language deleted by the executive that prohibits LARA from taking disciplinary action against employees for communicating with legislators or their staff, unless the communication is prohibited by law.

Other retained language that the executive recommended be deleted included the requirement that LARA maintain a searchable public website with information on expenditures, employees, wage rates and a scorecard, along with an in-person work policy and prioritization of in-person work by employees.

The House also increased the cap on appropriation of private grant revenues from $1.5 million to $2 million, while the Governor recommended eliminating the cap altogether.

Boilerplate changes that remained from the Governor’s recommendation included a deletion of COVID-19 vaccine stipulations for accessing facilities and services, and ending a requirement that LARA employees participate in two hours of customer service and business ethics training.

The total LARA budget as recommended by the House subcommittee was $625,071,200, a $25 million increase from Whitmer’s proposed $600,471,200.

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Skaggs said that if all went well while reviewing the changes, the subcommittee would be the first to vote out a budget to the general Appropriations Committee.

With no questions about the LARA budget, the substitute was adopted and voted out, with all five Democrats voting yes and the three Republican members abstaining.