As the lame duck legislative session is winding down, we’re taking a look at some key pieces of legislation in Lansing.

Restoring charitable tax credits

First, bills which would restore two charitable tax credits in Michigan could go for a vote on the House floor in Lansing this week.

Last week, HR 6433 and HR 6434, were voted out of committee and are scheduled for a vote this Wednesday.

If passed, the bills would provide charitable tax credits for contributions to homeless shelters, food kitchens and food banks, as well as gifts to endowment funds held by community foundations in Michigan.

The bills cover two of the three charitable tax credits that were in place in Michigan prior to 2011.

"Restoration of these important tools for Michigan philanthropy will have a profound effect on giving," Kyle Caldwell, president and CEO, CMF said. 

Leaders from the Capital Region Community Foundation and the Kalamazoo Community Foundation, both CMF members, joined CMF and the Michigan Nonprofit Association (MNA) in attending last week’s committee hearing for the bills.

Carrie Pickett-Erway, president and CEO, Kalamazoo Community Foundation who was at the hearing, told CMF about the impact the community foundation felt following the elimination of the charitable tax credit for gifts to endowment funds.

“In the two years following the elimination of the tax credit, we saw an 89 percent decline in the number of $200 and $400 gifts,” Pickett-Erway said. “This is a significant drop, independent of other issues. However, it’s the loss of the relationship building opportunities that is truly concerning. We may never fully know the negative impact for our community when this valuable tool was not available to introduce new donors to the Kalamazoo Community Foundation.”

CMF has been advocating for the restoration of the charitable tax credits for several years. This is the fourth consecutive year the legislation has been introduced.

While we wait to see if these two bills pass this session, here’s a quick roundup of other key pieces of legislation in Lansing.

Paid sick leave and minimum wage

The Legislature passed two bills which amend the legislation lawmakers approved earlier this fall around paid sick leave and increasing our minimum wage.

One bill will gradually increase our state’s minimum wage from $9.25 to $12.05 an hour by 2030, instead of $12 an hour by 2022, which was the original proposed increase.

The Michigan League for Public Policy (MLPP) released a statement saying in part that this legislation, “maintains an inequitable tipped wage, increases the minimum wage at a slower rate and does not tie it to inflation, meaning it will stagnate and fail to serve its literal, intended purpose almost immediately.”

The other bill will limit the amount of mandatory annual leave to 40 hours, instead of 72 hours. Businesses with fewer than 50 employees will also now be exempt from having to offer paid sick time.

Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission

As CMF reported, the Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission, approved by voters, transfers the authority of drawing our political maps from elected officials (the Michigan Legislature) to an independent, nonpartisan committee of registered voters. The committee will be comprised of 13 commissioners who are randomly selected from a pool of registered voters, consisting of four members who self-identify as Republican, four members who self-identify as Democrat as well as five non-affiliated members. Currently under consideration in Lansing is SB 1254, which would set certain rules and procedures for how the commission would be governed and selected. Specifically, the legislation provides a set of standards for how the state will affirm the political party of commission members. The legislation states that an individual is “conclusively presumed to be affiliated with a political party” if they have contributed to a political party within the last six years.

The Personal Privacy Protection Act or SB 1176, if passed, would prohibit public agencies from requiring certain nonprofits to disclose certain donor information. This bill has passed the Senate and is going to the House for consideration.

The Legislature’s session is expected to wrap up next week. Any legislation that isn’t passed will be considered “dead” and would need to be reintroduced in 2019 for consideration.

CMF will keep you updated on any major developments on these pieces of legislation via our social media channels.