Lansing State Journal du lieu suivant : Lansing, Michigan • Page 9

State Government Nowj LANSING STATE JOURNAL Dec. 87 1982 itfatie transit dealing shopping casts may lead to vines, time in prison Blanbhard asks ffoc 'Doaimeirs' So help set yp shop Democrat Basil Brown in vot Increase the rate of interest state-chartered lenders can charge for second mortgages to 18 percent from the current 15 percent until Dec. 31, 1983. Create a task force on international banking to assist foreign banks in locating in Michigan. Allow the deputy state au ditor general to take complete -control of the state auditor's office in the absence of the auditor general.

The bill is designed to clear up problems like that of last July when Auditor General Albert Lee died. Extend the life of the Toxic Substance Control Commission two years beyond Dec. 31. The legislation now goes to Gov. William Milliken for his signature.

By The Associated Press The state House will consider legislation making it a misdemeanor to steal a shopping cart following the bill's approval by the Senate. The bill, based on a recent California law, would achieve substantial savings for Michigan businesses, according to sponsor Sen. Doug Ross, D-Oak Park. Before the law passed in California, the annual cost of replacing shopping carts in that state was $14 million, Ross said. THE SENATE on Tuesday passed the bill on a 25-3 vote, with Republican Sens.

Edgar Fredericks of Holland and John Welborn of Kalamazoo joining ing no. Ross said the bill provides a system by which people such as the elderly who need carts to take groceries or other items home from the store can do so. Those found guilty of shopping cart theft the first time could be fined up to $100. A second conviction could mean a maximum penalty of 90 days in prison and a $1,000 fine. ALSO TUESDAY, the Senate passed legislation that would: Extend for two years the current 5-cent-per-gallon break on state taxes on gasohol.

The discount is designed to encourage the growth of state manufacturing of the blended fuel that contains at least 10 percent alcohol. usiness to get crack at bill plan poshed By NANCY BENAC Associated Press Writer The Legislature is making a last gasp effort to enact a package that would bail out the state's crumbling transportation network. Legislators seeking a "transportation survival package" agreed Tuesday to push a scaled-down proposal that includes a 2-cent-a-gallon increase in the state gasoline tax next year. Tuesday had been the self-imposed deadline for House action on legislation to pump new money into transportation. But the compromise plan was pieced together, in a last-ditch effort to win enough votes to get some form of relief for deteriorating roads and mass transit programs through the lame-duck Legislature.

THE NEW PLAN, approved by an informal group of legislators and highway and mass transit interests, was expected to surface in House caucuses today. "It's a whole lot better than nothing," said Rep. William Ryan, D-Detroit. "Nothing means gross deterioration of roads and bankrupting of transit units." Ryan said the original proposal for a $2 billion, five-year bail-out for transportation had been based on "common sense." The latest plan, which partly counts on new money from a proposed federal gasoline tax increase, "says let's anticipate federal funds so we all don't have to vote 'yes' on taxes," Ryan said. He gave the latest plan a 65 percent chance of enactment this year.

The plan would increase the state gasoline tax from 11 cents gallon to 13 cents on Jan. 1, and possibly increase it another 2 cents on Oct. 1, 1983. IT ALSO WOULD increase the current weight-based license plate fees by 15 percent for cars on Feb, 1, and by 30 percent for trucks on Jan. 1.

However, the weight-based tax would be replaced with a registration fee of 0.4 percent of the sale price of all new cars purchased after Oct. 1, 1983. In addition, the plan would allocate increasing amounts of money to mass transit projects, and offset that drain on the state budget with anticipated new revenue from a proposed federal gasoline tax increase. It was not immediately certain how much new money the package would generate, legislative aides said. The original package had called for a 2-cent gasoline tax increase next year, a 30 percent increase in car registration fees and a 45 percent boost in truck registration taxes.

DETROIT (AP) James Blanchard says he's asking a lot of people for advice as he plots the course of Michigan policy for the next four years. Blanchard said Tuesday he is contacting leaders in government, business, labor, education, agriculture and the clergy for suggestions on policy and on appointments to top spots in his administration. "I will be asking major institutions in Michigan to loan me people, to help us analyze and help us correct the state departments, to loan us a person for four months, six months, for $1 a year," Blanchard said. "OUR PRIORITIES are largely economic: jobs and straightening out the economy and improving the quality of life in Michigan," he said at a news conference before a luncheon meeting of his Blanchard Business Council. "My concern is the national economic recovery," he said.

"We can only do so much here. If we don't have a change in national economic policy, it will be difficult for us to accomplish what we want to in Michigan." The 80-m ember business council, including such members as Lee Iacocca, Chrysler Corp. chairman, and Bendix Corp. President Alonzo McDonald, is one mechanism by which Blanchard said he will determine who to appoint to the top spots. Blanchard said he has watched several presidential transitions, and favors a slow and careful changeover from the administration of Gov.

William Milliken. .4 3 Acting Committee Chairwoman Juanita Wat-kins, D-Detroit, said she delayed action on the package to give the Michigan Manufacturers Association and the state Chamber of Commerce more time to try to win changes in the proposal. John Thodis, president of the Manufacturers Association, said the groups would meet with supporters of the plan overnight in an effort to work in their ideas. THODIS SAID his group was seeking more sacrifices from workers, including a payroll tax on all employees and a "waiting week" once workers are laid off before they can qualify for jobless benefits. The state Chamber of Commerce issued a statement blasting the current plan as "a quick fix that will accomplish very little at great By The Associated Press A House committee resumes work today on a plan to raise taxes and tighten benefits to overhaul Michigan's unemployment insurance system.

The House Labor Committee had planned to wrap up work on the plan Tuesday, but delayed final action a day so business critics of the proposal could try to persuade its backers to incorporate more of their ideas. THE COMMITTEE is tackling legislation to tighten jobless aid and increase taxes on employers to revive Michigan's trust account for paying jobless benefits. Michigan, which has been unable to pay benefits on -its own becaus of prolonged double-digit unemployment, owes the federal government $2.2 billion for jobless aid. James Blanchard "I WATCHED President Carter go in and fill up all those slots and never get control of the government," Blanchard said. "I watched President Reagan go in and get control of just the Office of Management and the Budget at first, and have much greater control." He said most of the top 11 posts should be filled by Jan.

1, with the bulk of the remaining policy positions to be filled by the opening of the next legislative session, about two weeks later. Blanchard said he hopes, but does not expect, that Milliken will be able to solve the state's immediate budget woes before the end of the year. "I'd like to get control of it before it gets control of me," he added. He promised to make a "major announcement" on Thursday about the budget, but did not provide any details. More polluted wells in Traverse City area week.

Thirty-six of the 69 wells tested between August and last month in the new area of Grand Traverse County's East Bay Township contained trichlo-roethylene and perchloroethy-lene, Walker said. BOTH ARE industrial chemicals suspected of causing cancer. The source of the contamination is being investigated by the state Department of Natural Resources. Residents of the township whose wells are contaminated have been told not to use the water for drinking or cooking. Four wells are so tainted their water should not even be used for bathing, Walker said.

The new contamination problem is about a quarter-mile from the old one, which was solved by the first use in the nation of federal Superfund money to provide an alternative source of water to a polluted area. State, dune buggy firm sued in man's death By The Associated Press Just after one problem was reported solved, state health officials announced new findings of pollution in water wells near Traverse City. The latest contamination involves different chemicals in another area of the same subdivision where 67 homes are finally hooked into Traverse City's municipal water system, Department of Public Health Director Bailus Walker said this HART (AP) A commercial dune buggy driver whose vehicle crashed and killed a passenger was deliberately careless in order to give his riders a thrill, according to a lawsuit against the state and the dune buggy operator. The suit claims the driver "ducked his head under or in close proximity to the dashboard, all the while the dunemobile was careening down the sand dune at a speed of 25 to 30 mph," despite passenger pleas that he drive more carefully. THE DUNE BUGGY, operated by Mac Wood's Dune Scooters was carrying 18 passengers across sand dunes that border Lake Michigan last August when it struck an embankment, rolled over and pinned most of the riders beneath it, Oceana County Sheriff's officers said.

Russell W. Blair, a 50-year-old Merrill resident, died from injuries he suffered in the accident. Fifteen other passengers were hurt. In nearly identical suits filed in Oceana County Circuit Court and the state Court of Claims in October, Blair's wife, Ina Blair, accuses the state Department of Natural Resources, the dune buggy firm and driver Robert Moss Jr. of negligence.

The suits seek unspecified damages. The DNR is included because it allows Mac Wood's to operate the tourist attraction on dunes at Silver Lake State Park near Hart in exchange for a percentage of the gross receipts of the firm. ROBERT BEAVER, an Ionia man who was among the injured passengers, also filed a suit in Oceana County against Mac Wood's. According to Ina Blair's lawsuit, the company advertises its rides as being intended for "viewing the unique scenic area of sand dunes" and does not warn riders of potential hazards or that the rides are designed to be thrilling or exciting. But the suit claims the company sets it ride routes "to be dangerous, hazardous and life-threatening for the apparent purpose of providing thrills and excitement to passengers." Moss was cleared of any criminal wrongdoing by Lake County Prosecutor D.

David Hill, who was called in because the Oceana prosecutor had represented the Mac Wood's firm on other matters. In a letter to Oceana County Prosecutor Anthony Monton, Hill said Moss should face no criminal charges, but he expressed concern over the safety prac- tices of the dune buggy operators. 1 1 1 i ii i i. i. IN.

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