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DNR agency bill passes committee after adopting technical amendments; proposals on dams and firearm discharge withdrawn
Summary
The Senate Natural Resources Committee adopted two amendments and passed House Bill 16-16, the Department of Natural Resources agency bill; members withdrew proposed amendments on low‑head dams and firearm discharge near Lake Michigan for separate consideration.
House Bill 16-16, the Department of Natural Resources agency bill, was considered by the Senate Natural Resources Committee, which adopted two amendments by consent and passed the measure with an 8–0 recorded vote (one excused). The committee also declined to adopt or withdrew several other proposed amendments and noted additional opportunities for amendment on the floor or in subsequent committees.
Committee staff summarized amendment number 4, which removes a requirement that county auditors provide electronic access to certain notices through the Department of Local Government Finance’s computer gateway. Staff said the computer gateway is not yet available; the amendment instead preserves existing notice options and removes the premature gateway requirement. The committee adopted amendment 4 by consent.
The committee adopted amendment number 9, which adjusts the residential historic rehabilitation tax credit language: the amendment prevents awarding credits beyond the statutory annual cap and clarifies that certain expenditures approved before March 10, 2025, may be claimed in the taxable year beginning December 31, 2024. Staff said the amendment responds to a backlog and the Department of Revenue’s need to conform awards to the $250,000 annual cap.
Committee members discussed, and then withdrew, amendment number 6—language that would have authorized DNR to access private property to address emergency measures at low‑head dams—saying the subject overlaps with Senate Bill 477, which had already passed. Members also withdrew amendment number 12, which would have created a class B misdemeanor for knowingly discharging a firearm within 300 feet of the shoreline of certain Lake Michigan city parks; members questioned whether local ordinances and existing criminal statutes already address that conduct and said the proposal may be better handled elsewhere.
After adopting the two consent amendments and withdrawing the others for separate consideration, the committee moved and seconded passage of House Bill 16-16 and voted to recommit the bill to the Senate Committee on Tax and Fiscal Policy. The committee recorded passage with eight yays and one excused vote.
