Bill > HB4694

This bill amends the Recreational Authorities Act to expand and clarify the powers and procedures for establishing and operating recreational authorities in Michigan. The bill allows one or more municipalities to create a recreational authority that can acquire, construct, operate, and maintain various public facilities, now explicitly including public forests and natural resources areas. Key changes include expanding the permissible purposes of recreational authorities to include managing public forests, establishing more flexible rules for board operations (such as creating advisory committees), and providing more comprehensive guidelines for authority activities like selling assets, establishing endowment funds, and managing sustainable commercial activities like forestry and carbon credits. The bill also adds new provisions for what happens when an authority dissolves, specifically addressing the disposition of public forest and natural resources areas, ensuring that such lands either continue their designated use or revert to state ownership. The legislation maintains existing provisions about tax levies, with authorities still limited to a 1-mill tax for up to 20 years, which requires voter approval. Additionally, the bill clarifies that recreational authorities are governmental subdivisions and public bodies corporate, with expanded powers to enter contracts, sue or be sued, and manage properties both within and outside their original territory.

Agriculture and Natural Resources

https://legislature.mi.gov/Bills/Bill?ObjectName=2025-HB-4694