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Victory! Minimum Wage Law
Fixed:
After months of meetings, letters, phone calls and
negotiating, the Legislature finally fixed the
“unintended consequences” brought about when Governor
Jennifer Granholm signed legislation in March 2006 to
increase the state’s minimum wage. MGA successfully moved
a three-bill package through the legislature:
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Senate Bill 1364, sponsored by Cameron Brown (R-Fawn
River Township), establishes a new Youth Minimum Wage
for employees under age 18. The youth wage will be 85%
of the minimum wage. The bill also retains the training
wage of $4.25 an hour for 90 days. |
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House Bill 6213, sponsored by Bill Huizenga (R-Zeeland),
restored limitations on employees who are eligible for
overtime pay. Basically everyone who is currently paid
overtime will still be eligible for it, and anyone who
was not eligible will remain ineligible. The only new
exceptions are for some home health care workers and
child care workers who are age 18 or older. |
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Senate Bill 453, sponsored by Nancy Cassis (R-Novi),
allows a taxpayer to take a credit on his or her
Michigan income tax equal to 20% of the Earned Income
Tax Credit claimed on the federal tax return. The credit
will be phased in over a two-year period beginning in
2008.
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Item Pricing Bill Voted Out of Committee:
For the
first time in 20 years, legislation to reform Michigan’s
Item Pricing Law was voted out of committee in the
Michigan House. While the original bill did not apply to
food items, MGA successfully lobbied for the insertion of
frozen foods and dairy products in the list of items
exempt from price marking. We were able to secure a
substitute bill that included our items and secure the
votes to move it out of committee. While this is only a
first step to modernizing item pricing, it is a huge
victory for us. House leadership decided to hold the bill
and continue to meet with interested parties over the
summer with the goal of getting enough votes for the full
House to eventually pass the bill. MGA will continue to
urge lawmakers to consider increased exemptions for food
retailers and support this legislation.
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Promote Recycling;
Stop Proposed Expansion of Bottle Deposit Law:
We have stopped expansion
over the last two decades, but pressure to expand the
Bottle Deposit Law becomes greater every year. The
Michigan Recycling Partnership,
of which MGA is the
founding member,
released a
study that shows improved recycling in Michigan would
help create thousands of jobs. MGA continues to advocate
for a statewide approach to recycling that captures the
majority of our solid waste and to support Rep. Goeff
Hansen’s “Penny
Plan for Recycling Makes Cents” (a one-penny
transaction fee to fund recycling) legislation HB 5163 and
to oppose bottle bill expansion.
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SBT Eliminated:
Michigan’s Single Business
Tax will be repealed December 31, 2007. MGA supported
legislative initiatives and a statewide ballot initiative
to repeal the tax. We are now working with other business
groups to explore alternatives. A special joint House and
Senate Committee has been charged with recommending a
replacement plan to the Legislature before December 1,
2006.
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MGA Prevents Pharmacy-Only Sales of Cold
Products:
Sales restrictions of cold products took
effect December 15, 2005. Thanks to MGA, retailers will
have four options for merchandising ephedrine and
pseudoephedrine products. MGA successfully stopped an
amendment from passing that would have required ALL
products containing ephedrine or pseudoephedrine to be
kept behind a pharmacy counter.
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Michigan Pharmacists May Now Fill Prescriptions by Mail:
Public Act 85 of 2005 allows in-state pharmacies to fill
prescriptions through the mail and use centralized
prescription processing and filling facilities. The goal
is to give retailer pharmacies a better chance to compete
with mail-order pharmacies, which are widely used by
Michigan corporations to save money on health care costs.
MGA supported the new law because it is an important first
step to help bricks-and-mortar pharmacies compete for drug
coverage business under employee-paid benefit systems.
However, we want our members to be able to dispense
multi-month supplies of prescription drugs just like mail
order pharmacies do. MGA will continue to pursue
legislation that allows this.
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New Resort Liquor Licenses Now Available:
MGA scored
a major victory when the governor signed Public Act 97 of
2005, introduced as Senate Bill 257 by Senator Bev
Hammerstrom. The law allows the Michigan Liquor Control
Commission to issue 10 new resort SDD licenses a year.
Previously, MGA was forced to get a bill introduced and
passed to continue the availability of the licenses each
year. This year, after much negotiation, we were able to
retain the cost of the SDD resort license at the current
price of $600. Restaurants and bars agreed to increase the
cost of a resort Class C license to $20,000. The sunset
date of the legislation was removed so all 10 SDD liquor
licenses will not expire at the end of the year.
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Law Removes Cap on Liquor Pricing:
Retailers may now price liquor
above the state-set minimum. MGA worked with other members
of the Michigan Liquor Advisory Committee to get
legislation passed that removes the cap for retailers on
liquor prices by amending the Michigan Liquor Control Code
to replace the previous requirement of a “uniform” price
for spirit products with a “minimum” price that retailers
can increase. The legislation, introduced by Rep. Sal
Rocca, gives Specialty Designed Distributors more
flexibility and options to offset the rising cost of
business; it also treats retailers more like bars and
restaurants, which may sell spirits at any price above
cost.
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SOT Tax
Permanently Repealed: The Special Occupational Tax
(SOT) on alcoholic beverages has been permanently
repealed. MGA has long supported the permanent elimination
of this unfair and antiquated tax. It will save grocers
who sell alcoholic beverages from $250 to thousands of
dollars a year.
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Law
Enacted to Allow SDD Retailers to Sell Spirits at Discount
to Dispose of Inventory:
The
law corrects an unintended consequence of Public Act 407
of 2004 passed to lift the ceiling on the selling price of
spirits. PA 407’s language requires that spirits not be
sold below the minimum retail selling price. This language
stopped a long-standing practice of the Michigan
Liquor Control Commission setting a lower price to
allow retailers to sell spirits below the minimum
price to dispose of inventory.
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Loophole Closed - Youths
Prohibited from Purchasing Tobacco:
The Youth Tobacco Act
prohibits those under age 18 from possessing or using
tobacco, but it did not prohibit them from actually
purchasing tobacco products. MGA supported legislation to
close this loophole. With the new law, a minor who
purchases or attempts to purchase tobacco is subject to a
fine the same as someone who sells tobacco to a minor. MGA
succeeded in getting a provision removed from the original
bill that required special licensure of all retailers who
sell tobacco products.
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Extended Holiday Hours for Student Employees:
To help its members with holiday staffing needs, MGA once
again secured a deviation in the hours standards contained
in the Youth Employment Standards Act for this Holiday
Season. This exclusive MGA member benefit extends from
November 18, 2005 to January 2, 2006 allowing all 16- and
17-year old employees to work until midnight. MGA also
supported Senate Bill 320 (vetoed by the Governor) that
would have amended Section 11 of the
Youth Employment Standards Act. Public Act 418 of 2000
allows minors 16-17 years of age to work until 11:30 p.m.
on Fridays and Saturdays without a deviation.
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Supported Post Labor Day
School Opening Legislation:
On September 29, 2005,
Governor Granholm signed into law House Bill 4803
requiring that all Michigan schools begin after Labor Day
starting with the 2006 school year. MGA worked on this
issue for many years and supports the measure because it
helps our members in resort areas maintain employees and
encourages travel and tourism in August.
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MGA-Supported
SUTA Legislation Becomes Law
: In May, the Michigan Employment Security Act was amended
in response to a federal law requiring states to prohibit
SUTA dumping, which generally refers to the transfer of
employees to a different employing company to obtain a
lower experience rating and thus a lower state
unemployment tax rate. (SUTA refers to “State Unemployment
Tax Act.”) |
