Special Policy
Update
CEDAM News &
Views: September 14,
2007 | |
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| Qualified Action Plan (QAP)
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Public Hearings have begun -
please plan to attend!
 Upcoming public hearings about
the QAP have taken place
already in Lansing and will follow in Detroit on Wednesday,
September 19th, and Gaylord on Friday,
September 28th. Please plan to attend one of
these meetings to voice your support and/or concerns. To gain a better understanding of the
proposed QAP, please review MSHDA's draft. Also
available to read are CEDAM's summary and evaluation of how the
draft responds to CEDAM's list of
recommendations.
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| State Budget matters- EITC, MHCDF,
MBT |
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Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)
Freeze
On July 26, 2007 Senate Bill 662 was introduced by
Senators Cassis, Jelinek, and Allen. It proposes to delay the
enactment of the Michigan Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC),
which is scheduled to take effect in the filing season for Tax
Year 2008, until the state's reserve fund reaches $250
million. CEDAM sent letters to these three
senators rejecting the freeze and asking them to reconsider
their positions on the bill. We encourage you to continue to
send letters to your legislators in support of the EITC and
against the SB 662 EITC freeze. Use this template to contact
your legislators!
Michigan Housing and
Community Development Fund (MHCDF)
 It is
expected that Michigan's Housing and Community Development
Fund will be voted on soon! This week CEDAM sent both hardcopy letters and emails
to all legislators informing them of the many benefits to be
gained and the importance of supporting the fund. Click here to review the
letter. As the budget process moves along, it is important to
keep sending letters to your legislators to support Michigan's
Housing and Community Development Fund. It is especially
critical to send letters to the DLEG Conferees: Senators
Mark
Jansen (Committee Chair), Tom George, and Martha Scott and Representatives Richard
Hammel, Joan Bauer, and Jack
Brandenburg. The Living in Michigan
Campaign has made a template
letter available to facilitate your
letter writing campaign.
How is the Michigan Business Tax (MBT) going to affect
CEDAM members?
Michigan's Single Business Tax (SBT) is set to
expire in 2008 and is being replaced by the Michigan Business
Tax (MBT). The MBT is meant to replace the revenue that the
SBT brought into the state, while being fairer and better
distributing the tax burden. However, after further
exploration, it has been brought to CEDAM's attention that the
MBT may be potentially harmful to some of our members,
particularly those who own or operate real estate through
LLCs. A Powerpoint
presentation was developed by George L. Larimore, CPA
at Grubb & Ellis, to better explain the potential impact
of the MBT on CEDAM's housing development members. A workgroup
of CEDAM members is being pulled together to take a closer
look at this issue and, if necessary, suggest a legislative
fix. If you believe your organization will be affected by the
MBT and/or you would like to be part of this workgroup, please
contact Alicia Quintero at
CEDAM. |
| Predatory Lending in
Michigan |
Notice of Public Hearings on Predatory Lending
Issues
The House Committee on Banking and Financial
Services will be holding hearings regarding predatory lending
in our state. The upcoming hearings will be held at 10:30 a.m.
at the House Office Building in Room 326 for several different
groups on the following dates:
Tuesday,
September 18: Office of Financial and Insurance
Services
Tuesday,
September 25: Consumer Groups
Tuesday,
October 2: Bankers
These hearings are to set the stage for the
introduction of the Michigan Home Loan Protection Act (HLPA).
Please plan on attending the Consumer Groups hearing - or all
of the hearings - to show your support for change regarding
predatory lending. For background information about the HLPA,
please review CEDAM's summary of the bill and
newspaper clippings
about the HLPA.
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|
CEDAM Industry
Report & Events next
week |
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For those groups not yet represented... PLEASE TAKE THE
SURVEY! We want
to include you in the Industry Report that we will
publish this fall. But first, you must take
the 2007 Industry
Accomplishments
Survey.
A hard copy of this survey was mailed
out to all of our CDC members in mid-August; if you did not
receive it or need another copy, please call Emily at (517)
485-3588 immediately.
(Note: This is different from our
membership opinion survey from early August.)
Those of you
who completed the survey by the deadline:
- We will be
notifying the winner of the Lowe's $100 gift certificate
next week!
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| Interested in Online Trainings in Energy Efficiency and
Comprehensive Change?
(They are coming up next week - Check them
out!) |
Compliments of CEDAM
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