Podcast 83

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Podcast 83 Legislative Update October 28, 2025 Oct 28, 2025

Host: Stephan Currie

Guests: Deena Bosworth, Jimmy Johnson and Samantha Gibson of MAC

Topics: County leaders should not expect to see a great deal of action in the State Capitol as autumn turns to winter, MAC’s Podcast 83 team reported in their newest episode.

“I mean, there's really no … pressure on the Legislature needing something to get done,” said host Stephan Currie. “They got together (on paid sick time rules early in 2025) and got something done. The next thing really wasn't until the budget, and that took a long time, obviously, to get done. Now, there's really nothing out there that I can think of that would be really an urgent ‘Hey, they need this by this date to get done’ until we get to the next budget, right?”

That said, the MAC team reviewed news affecting counties from the State Capitol and the courts:

House Bill 4726, by Rep. Matthew Bierlein, a former MAC Board president, is expected to reach the House floor by the end of the week. The legislation would extend the sunset for MOE (Maintenance of Effort) payments for county medical care facilities.
Senate Bill 314, by Sen. Kevin Hertel (D-Macomb), has cleared the Senate and moved to the House of Representatives. The legislation would remove the work hour cap for rehired county retirees.
The Michigan Court of Appeals issued a ruling that counties cannot deduct legal expenses from surplus funds generated by tax foreclosure sales before returning those funds to former property owners. The opinion clarifies that only certain costs — such as those that could have been included in a property’s minimum bid price at auction — may be deducted.

See video versions of all Podcast 83 episodes on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@michiganassociationofcount2606
Visit the Podcast 83 page at www.micounties.org

Podcast 83 Special Episode on Drones October 21, 2025 Oct 21, 2025

Host: Stephan Currie
Guests: Matt Rybar of the Michigan Drone Association, Samantha Gibson of MAC
Topic: The expanding role and regulatory future of drones is the focus of a new special episode of MAC’s Podcast 83.

Matt Rybar of the Michigan Drone Association was interviewed by MAC’s Stephan Currie and Samantha Gibson about his organization’s work and the growing use of drones, aerial and otherwise, in county functions.

“So, we've been around as the Michigan Public Safety Drone Association since 2022,” said Rybar. “We recently have gone through a bit of a rebrand to become the Michigan Drone Association.

“Really, there's a bunch of different reasons that drove that change, but the last legislative cycle opened some eyes to us about many parts of the industry could really use a trade organization to help support them …”

“Who are your members?” Currie asked. “Primarily those people who fly the drones, own the drones? Are they businesses? Are they hobbyists?”

“We have about 700 members, with 120 different organizations represented in that membership,” Rybar replied. “To this point, because we're just so new into this change over to be the Michigan Drone Association, most of those are going to be governmental organizations, governmental operators, county sheriff's offices, local police and fire departments and other organizations like that.”

“What are some ways that county governments can utilize drones beyond the public safety aspects of it,” asked Gibson, “and are there opportunities for county governments to work with industry in this space as well?”
“The public safety agencies have been the trailblazers for the use of the technology,” Rybar replied, “but they're helping support many other aspects of the county government, whether it be inspection of parks, roof inspection, road inspections, a lot of different use cases go into that. So, while that technology has traditionally started in public safety, just because of the regulatory environment and really that life-saving use case, we see those departments are then being tapped in for so many different aspects of county government to be used for other aspects …”
“Can you speak to who regulates the use of these?” Currie asked.
“It's a hot question,” Rybar said. “At the end of the day, the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) regulates, on the federal side, anything that leaves the ground, whether it's one inch off the ground or 30,000 feet in the air. The FAA is the regulatory body of that airspace, and what we've seen is, over time, some different carve-outs and abilities for the states to do different things. But, for the most part, the actual application of those drones flying in the airspace is regulated by the FAA.”

See video versions of all Podcast 83 episodes on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@michiganassociationofcount2606
Visit the Podcast 83 page at www.micounties.org

Podcast 83 Special Episode on DTE Electric's Work October 14, 2025 Oct 14, 2025

Host: Stephan Currie

Guests: Brian Calka of DTE Electric and Samantha Gibson of MAC

Topic: Michigan residents frustrated by power outages can lay a good deal of blame on our leafy companions, said an executive with one of the state’s largest utilities in a new episode of Podcast 83.

“Trees cause 50 percent of the (electric) outages,” explained Brian Calka, senior vice president for distribution operations for DTE Electric.

“You think about these 60- to 70-mph winds. They are ripping trees out of the ground and throwing them into our infrastructure,” Calka said. “We have over 1,000 people out there every day trimming trees to minimize that …”

Calka and his team are responsible for an electric grid serving 2.3 million customers with 45,000 miles of wire and cable and more than 1 million electric poles – “those things that you see on the side of the road,” Calka noted.

Pushing against this system, on top of the normal aging process for equipment, is the increasing wrath of Mother Nature.

“It is at an all-time high for the frequency of (extreme weather) events that we are seeing, the magnitude of these events that we are seeing,” Calka said. “It's been growing at a much higher rate than what we've ever seen before. So, it's really incumbent on utilities like DTE to harden the grid, to make it more resilient.”

These challenges to the lines must be addressed at the same time the utility is engaged in a transformational project to create the power to send through them.

DTE has invested $5 billion in renewable energy since 2010 and plans to invest an additional $8 billion by the end of the decade, Calka noted.

“(I)n Michigan, we started doing this type of work with wind and solar 15 years ago. Or you think about the original RPS (renewable portfolio standard). This was set many, many years ago, and we built out a number of projects to support that,” Calka said. “And then in the latter part of the previous decade, it increased a little bit. But then, gosh, a couple of years ago, really, it got moving again through very noble ambitions to clean up all the generation sources.”

See video versions of all Podcast 83 episodes on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@michiganassociationofcount2606
Visit the Podcast 83 page at www.micounties.org

Podcast 83 Legislative Update October 7, 2025 Oct 07, 2025

Host: Stephan Currie

Guests: Deena Bosworth, Jimmy Johnson and Samantha Gibson of MAC

Topics: A “pretty tumultuous” state budget process for fiscal 2026 ended last week in a flurry of action in Lansing ― and yielding a generally positive result for Michigan counties, MAC’s Deena Bosworth reported in the newest episode of Podcast 83.

“Our county commissioners stepped up to the plate and communicated with their legislators about revenue sharing and what that really means for county government,” Bosworth noted. “And at the end of the day, we ended up with the same number that we had in FY25 so we avoided a 12 percent cut to our county revenue sharing thanks to all of our efforts, which was awesome.

“But there was a lot more in that budget that I think we also have need to celebrate,” Bosworth continued. “We've talked for many months about the Public Safety Trust Fund bills and how monies would be set aside for public safety and for our members. … We've got a $2.5 million, one-time appropriation to counties for that they can use toward public safety. And then (there’s) an ongoing fund that is $11.6 million, so although our statutory revenue sharing was flat, there are these (wins).”

See video versions of all Podcast 83 episodes on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@michiganassociationofcount2606
Visit the Podcast 83 page at www.micounties.org

Podcast 83 Legislative Update September 29, 2025 Sep 29, 2025

Host: Stephan Currie

Guests: Deena Bosworth, Samantha Gibson and Jimmy Johnson of MAC

Topics: Michigan’s state government is likely to shut down at the end of Sept. 30 as legislators continue to wrangle with details for a fiscal 2026 budget year that is supposed to start on Oct. 1.

That was the view in MAC’s Lansing offices at midday on Monday, Sept. 29 as the association convened its Podcast 83 team for a quick update episode.

“I anticipate a government shutdown. I do,” said Deena Bosworth, MAC’s director of governmental affairs. “And I know that they're doing their very best to avoid it. But we've all worked on the inside, right? We've all worked in the Legislature at one point or another, and we know how long it takes to get bills drafted, to fly spec them, to have it run through the Legislative Service Bureau and have the numbers run by the fiscal agencies in the boilerplate put together and have that whole budget bill done. It takes a long time just for that process.”

And while the process remains in flux, Bosworth urged county commissioners to renew their contacts with legislators over the available money for statutory revenue sharing for counties.

“We've talked about this on our podcast. We’ve sent out action alerts. We've written about it in the Legislative Update.” Statutory revenue sharing,” Bosworth said. “The governor recommended a small increase … the Senate increased that even further … The House passed out their version of the budget, which eliminated the taxable value payment and decreased us back to around fiscal 2024 number … So, it was a 12 percent decrease on the House side.

“When you're talking to your legislators, please remind them that we provide services other than roads and public safety, and that we rely on that revenue sharing for those services, whether it be courts or jails or public health or, you know, juvenile justice … Tell your legislators about it, because we're trying to ensure that statutory revenue sharing stays where it is.”

See video versions of all Podcast 83 episodes on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@michiganassociationofcount2606
Visit the Podcast 83 page at www.micounties.org

Podcast 83 Legislative Update September 23, 2025 Sep 23, 2025

Host: Stephan Currie

Guests: Deena Bosworth, Jimmy Johnson and Samantha Gibson

Topics: MAC’s participation in a press conference last week to draw attention to a state plan that threatens local public control of mental health services was one of several topics discussed in this week’s episode of Podcast 83.

The event was designed to showcase opposition to the PIHP RFP process, started by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, to alter oversight of community mental health services. MAC First Vice President Antoinette Wallace was among local leaders to speak.

“We’re hoping this press conference is going to get a little bit more traction here in the press,” said Jimmy Johnson, governmental affairs specialist. “And we'll be able to start putting some pen to paper and getting some changes.”

Of course, the news in Lansing continues to revolve around the Legislature’s inability to adopt a fiscal 2026 budget.

“We thought they were really getting close,” said Governmental Affairs Director Deena Bosworth. “And then we heard today (Sept. 22), it all fell apart. The devil is in the details. … They (have to) decide they can't live with one thing or another and they have to dig in their heels. So here we sit a week out. We don't have a budget. We're not in great shape. We're not in terrible shape, but we're not in great shape. And everybody's preparing for a government shutdown.”

See video versions of all Podcast 83 episodes on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@michiganassociationofcount2606
Visit the Podcast 83 page at www.micounties.org

Podcast 83 Legislative Update September 16, 2025 Sep 16, 2025

Host: Stephan Currie

Guests: Deena Bosworth, Samantha Gibson and Jimmy Johnson of MAC

Topics: Frustration remains high in Lansing as state legislators appear little closer to a fiscal year 2026 budget, with only two weeks to start of the budget year.

MAC’s concerns center around the House’s budget plan to ax $35 million in county revenue sharing, said Director of Governmental Affairs Deena Bosworth in the latest episode of Podcast 83.

“They're meeting. They're talking, they're trying to sort out some of the details of it, but we're still a long way from having it done,” Bosworth noted.

A rising point of confusion in Lansing, especially in House Republican circles, is that their proposed increases in public safety dollars for sheriffs and for more road dollars somehow compensate for revenue sharing dollars.

“That’s the education campaign that we're on right now with our legislators,” Bosworth explained “Same with the road plan; most counties do not use general fund dollars to pay for the county roads. So, cutting revenue sharing means cutting our general fund budget. The road funding dollars don't make up for that.”

In the good news segment of this week’s episode, Governmental Affairs Specialist Jimmy Johnson said support for so-called “Maintenance of Effort” (MOE) fees for county medical care facilities looks strong. “A lot of people understand the important work that (medical care facilities) are doing. And the exciting aspect of this as well is that there is an opening, it would appear, where the (House Insurance Committee) chair is open to completely removing the sunset (on MOE fees).

See video versions of all Podcast 83 episodes on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@michiganassociationofcount2606
Visit the Podcast 83 page at www.micounties.org

Podcast 83 Legislative Update September 9, 2025 Sep 09, 2025

Host: Stephan Currie

Guests: Deena Bosworth, Samantha Gibson and Jimmy Johnson of MAC

Topics: A fiscal 2026 state budget seems ever more distant, even as the start of that fiscal year and a possible government shutdown loom ever larger over Michigan.

That’s the assessment of MAC’s Podcast 83 team in its latest Legislative Update report from Lansing.

While all three players in the budget process (governor, House, Senate) now have advanced budget documents, the variances in them are massive and create far too much uncertainty for counties.

“We are not very happy at all with the House-passed version of the budget, especially when it comes to revenue sharing,” said Deena Bosworth. “And I want to be upset with many of our former county commissioners (now in the Legislature), but honestly, they didn't have time to look at this budget. The House budget skipped votes in subcommittee, skipped votes in the full Appropriations Committee. It was discharged onto the House floor, and they had an hour to look over this budget, which is, I don't even know how many pages, hundreds and hundreds … and they had an hour to vote on it.”

The House plan, in fact, would cut $35 million from county revenue sharing in FY26, as part of a bid to carve out hundreds of millions of dollars for road work.

It’s not all doom and gloom on budget particulars, so watch the full episode (recorded on Sept. 8) for details on public safety funding and more.

MAC continues to encourage county leaders to reach out to legislators to reverse the House’s bid to cut revenue sharing. Complete contact details can be found in our Advocacy Center at https://micounties.org/advocacy-resources/.

See video versions of all Podcast 83 episodes on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@michiganassociationofcount2606
Visit the Podcast 83 page at www.micounties.org

Podcast 83 Special Episode on Prosecutor Funding, August 26, 2025 Aug 26, 2025

Host: Samantha Gibson of MAC

Guest: Doug Lloyd, prosecuting attorney of Eaton County

Topic: County commissioners need to send a clear and consistent message to state lawmakers that continued inaction on prosecutor funding will not end well for Michigan.

That was the message from Eaton County Prosecutor Doug Lloyd in a new special episode of Podcast 83.

Lloyd, a former president of the Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan and an announced candidate for the Republican nomination for state attorney general in 2026, discussed the critical need for increased prosecutor funding and the impact of the Michigan Indigent Defense Commission on county prosecutor offices with MAC’s Samantha Gibson during the episode.

“In my county, there's 34 departments. I'm one of those departments, and at the prosecutor level, if we aren't able to secure some separate grants, so some separate funding to actually increase the funding or help with the funding in our in our office, then we are stuck with whatever budget the county commissioners develop in their budget each year,” Lloyd explained.

Lloyd emphasized the unfunded mandates and the challenges in retaining and recruiting prosecutors and noted that the governor's $250 million budget allocation for indigent defense excluded prosecutors.

“If you want your community safe, then your local prosecutors have to be able to do their job,” Lloyd concluded. “Because if they can't, you're just going to see your local county go downhill. And I don't believe that's any citizen wants that, and I'm sure there's no county commissioner who would want that.”

See video versions of all Podcast 83 episodes on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@michiganassociationofcount2606
Visit the Podcast 83 page at www.micounties.org

Podcast 83 Special Episode on Opioid Settlements Aug. 15, 2025 Aug 15, 2025

Host: Stephan Currie
Guests: Matt Walker, Michigan Attorney General's Office; Amy Dolinky and Jimmy Johnson of MAC
Topic: Counties now have new reporting requirements for their opioid settlement funds, said Assistant Attorney General Matt Walker in a special episode of Podcast 83 this week.
Those rules are a result of the new Purdue/Sackler settlement released publicly this month.
“These settlements are rather complicated from a legal standpoint, but they've been trying to make them as easy as possible for local governments to sign on to,” Walker explained. “There's what I usually refer to as an implementation manager, and it's a company named Rubris. They have a software program where they can push out DocuSign packages to local governments, and then so they get them in their email and they're able to sign them via DocuSign.”
Beyond the funding, the Purdue settlement also sets new rules on reporting, beginning in fiscal 2026. To address what has been a long-standing challenge with opioid fund use, the Michigan Attorney General’s Office will provide guidance on what is appropriate or inappropriate expenditures.

“If you have a question, please email our opioids litigation box (AG-OpioidLitigation@michigan.gov) and we're happy to respond,” Walker said.
Walker emphasized the importance of broad participation in this process to maximize the funding: “Participation is the key factor in how much money Michigan gets. So, the more participation, the more we get from the incentives in the structure of the settlement. … So please, if you have questions, ask, and please participate.”

See video versions of all Podcast 83 episodes on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@michiganassociationofcount2606
Visit the Podcast 83 page at www.micounties.org

Podcast 83 Special Episode on Rehmann's Energy Tax Credit Services Aug. 12, 2025 Aug 12, 2025

Host: Stephan Currie

Guest: Tony Licavoli of Rehmann

Topic: How counties can use federal energy tax credits is the focus of a special episode of Podcast 83, featuring MAC Premier Partner Rehmann.

Tony Licavoli of Rehmann was interviewed by host Stephan Currie on the benefits for counties of credits under the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act and how time-pressed local leaders can most quickly navigate the rules.

These credits can be claimed by filing a federal tax return, using a modified form 990-T, Licavoli explained. Qualified projects include solar installations, geothermal HVAC systems, EV charging stations and EVs.

“I think one of the major misconceptions that we come across on some of these conversations is that these are credits are only for large-scale projects,” Licavoli said. “You think about utility-type scale, but the ones that we work with the majority of the time are what we call smaller-scale projects. And these are typically the projects that we're working with, with governmental entities.”

Credits can range up to 30 percent based on project size and can extend to 50 percent with additional requirements.

See video versions of all Podcast 83 episodes on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@michiganassociationofcount2606
Visit the Podcast 83 page at www.micounties.org

Podcast 83 Legislative Update Aug. 5, 2025 Aug 05, 2025

Host: Deena Bosworth

Guests: Samantha Gibson and Jimmy Johnson of MAC

Topics: Budget stalemate.

That’s the theme of the summer at the State Capitol in Lansing, reports MAC’s Podcast 83 team in a new episode this week.

Sitting in for regular host Stephan Currie, Director of Governmental Affairs Deena Bosworth led her team through the “whys” and “what nows” of Michigan’s current budget mess.

“The elephant in the room is roads,” said Samantha Gibson, governmental affairs specialist. “The governor says, ‘I don't want a budget that doesn't have a road funding deal negotiated as part of it.’ And in the meantime, the political landscape in Lansing and at the federal level is no party is passing the other party's legislation. The six bills that have been signed into law this year are, I would say, nonpartisan issues.”

“It's going to be difficult for local units of government that don't know what their allocations are going to be, right (due to the budget delays)?” responded Bosworth. “We've seen lots of numbers come out on that ‘One Big Beautiful Bill Act and what that financial implication is on Michigan's budget. We're talking a revenue shortfall of almost $700 million, and we're talking increased costs. So that brings us about $1.1 billion that they have to come up with in order to make things work right.”

“Speaker (Matt) Hall and House Republicans have put their road funding plan out,” noted Gibson. “The Senate has yet to be forthcoming on what their plan may or may not be. The governor has been vocal in her need for a road funding plan and that she's not interested in a budget that doesn't include one.”

To learn more about what August and September may bring to the State Capitol, click here or on the image above.

See video versions of all Podcast 83 episodes on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@michiganassociationofcount2606
Visit the Podcast 83 page at www.micounties.org

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