SB-0881, As Passed Senate, March 16, 2006

SUBSTITUTE FOR

SENATE BILL NO. 881

     A bill to create the veterans memorial property commission; to

authorize the acquisition of certain property; and to provide for

certain duties of certain state agencies.

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

     Sec. 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the

"veterans memorial property commission act".

     Sec. 2. (1) The veterans memorial property commission is

established. Within 90 days after the effective date of this act,

the governor shall appoint 7 commission members from a list of

recommended members provided by the senate majority leader and the

speaker of the house of representatives. One member shall represent

the department of veterans and military affairs. The commission

members shall serve at the pleasure of the governor.

     (2) If a vacancy occurs in the commission, the vacancy shall

be filled for the unexpired term in the same manner as the original

appointment.

     (3) The governor may remove a member of the commission for

incompetency, dereliction of duty, malfeasance, misfeasance, or

nonfeasance in office, or any other good cause.

     Sec. 3. The commission shall meet at least 1 time in a

calendar year. The members of the commission shall serve without

compensation. However, members of the commission may be reimbursed

for actual and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of

their official duties as determined by the legislature. The

commission shall determine whether any military-related site in

this state should be acquired, by purchase or other means, so that

the site can be protected as a military or veterans memorial site.

In deciding whether property is available for acquisition, the

commission may consider input from all of the following:

     (a) The department of military and veterans affairs.

     (b) The department of history, arts, and libraries.

     (c) The Michigan historical museum.

     (d) The general public.

     Sec. 4. Upon a request from a member of the Michigan

legislature concerning an existing military-related site or

veteran's memorial on public property that may be subject to

encroachment, the commission shall review the request and make

recommendations to the legislature about addressing the

encroachment, including, but not limited to, a recommendation to

relocate the memorial or a recommendation to the local unit of

government where the memorial is located.

     Sec. 5. Within 180 days of considering input from the parties

enumerated in section 3, the commission may determine whether to

recommend that the property be acquired for protection under this

act and, if a majority of commission members recommend acquisition

of specific properties, the commission may report recommendations

to the legislature. After reviewing the report, the legislature

shall determine how and whether to proceed.

     Sec. 6. As used in this act:

     (a) "Encroachment" means any obstruction of a military-related

site that has the result of obscuring the view of the public or

otherwise reducing the public enjoyment and usefulness of the site.

     (b) "Military-related site" means property where a military

base, installation, or reserve unit operation once stood, a site

where a battle took place in our nation's history, or any veteran's

memorial site or other site owned by local government honoring

veterans.

     Enacting section 1. This act does not take effect unless

Senate Bill No. 882 of the 93rd Legislature is enacted into law.