[nfbmi-talk] snyder breaking up deleg

[joe harcz Comcast]

Snyder breaking up Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth

 

Paul Egan / Detroit News Lansing Bureau

 

Lansing — Gov. Rick Snyder will issue an executive order that breaks up the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth and shifts most of

its job-related functions to the Michigan Economic Development Corp., a spokeswoman said today.

 

The department will retain responsibilities for licensing and regulating businesses, said Geralyn Lasher, Snyder's communications director.

 

 

Snyder wants "the economic development type of activities concentrated with Mike Finney," the new CEO of the state economic development agency, Lasher said.

 

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Lasher said legal details are still being worked on but the order is expected to be issued within a week.

 

She said officials are also looking at making licensing and permits more user-friendly and consistent but would not say whether the state was moving to

a single agency for issuing all required business permits, a step recommended by Russell Harding, a former Michigan Department of Environmental Quality

director who now is with the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.

 

Lasher also would not say whether the governor plans to shift the department's energy functions to the Public Service Commission, which regulates utilities.

In 2008, Granholm added the energy piece to what was formerly the Department of Labor and Economic Growth.

 

She said she didn't know if there would be savings to the state's general fund as a result of the breakup.

 

The department has more than 4,400 employees and a $1.3 billion budget, but only $47.6 million of that comes from the state's $8.3 billion general fund.

Federal funds of about $845 million are the department's largest revenue source.

 

Snyder's officials earlier said they were looking at a restructuring the department, one of only two for which Snyder has not named a permanent director.

Andrew Levin, a former deputy director who was made acting director under former Gov. Jennifer Granholm, remains in charge of the department on a temporary

basis.

 

pegan at detnews.com

 

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