Advocacy Update

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAWritten by Forrest Wall, CAE, Staff Vice President and Industry Relations

Smoke Detector Legislation Introduced

Two bills introduced in the Michigan House of Representatives would mandate the type of smoke detector rental housing providers would install in their properties. House Bill 5680, which amends the Stille-DeRossett-Hale Single State Construction Code Act, and House Bill 5681, which amends the Housing Law of Michigan, propose a requirement that property owners install smoke alarms with photoelectric detection technology. Currently, there are two main types of smoke detector technology: photoelectric and ionization. Some testing has shown that photoelectric alarms respond faster to slow, smoldering fires, thus the rationale for mandating this detection technology. Smoke detector manufacturers produce units that use each of these technologies individually, as well as dual sensor alarms (use both photoelectric and ionization in one unit).

New Overtime Rule Legislation Introduced

As you may have read in my July column, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued its final rule to increase the overtime pay threshold from $23,660 to $47,476 in the regulations governing eligibility for the white collar exemption. The new threshold is set to take effect on December 1, 2016. Legislation was previously introduced in both the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives to overturn the rule, but in July a bi-partisan effort was launched for legislation to incrementally phase in the new threshold over the next few years. The bill is called “The Overtime Reform and Enhancement Act”, and it would use the following timetable for increases in the threshold:

• December 1, 2016 – $35,984

• December 1, 2017 – $39,814

• December 1, 2018 – $43,645

• December 1, 2019 – $47,476

This bill would also eliminate a provision in the final rule that allows for automatic increases to the threshold every three years. The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and National Apartment Association (NAA) are currently supporting this legislation.

 

This entry was posted in 2016, September 2016. Bookmark the permalink.