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A bill that made it out of a House committee on Tuesday would ban communities from negotiating agreements over things like wages with developers that get incentives.

(MLive file photo)

LANSING, MI -- A bill that would prevent local units of government from executing community benefits agreements with developers seeking incentives narrowly made it out of the House Competitiveness Committee on Tuesday with strong opposition from some Detroiters.

"We are overreaching here, colleagues," Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, told the committee.

Community benefits are items that a local unit of government can negotiate with developers that get tax incentives. Examples include things like access to job training for jobs related to the development, a minimum wage workers at the new development must be paid or an amount of work to be completed by local contractors.

Those would all be forbidden under HB 5977, which advances to the House floor.

Tlaib has been an advocate for community benefits for years, notably leading the charge for a community benefits package in relation to the New International Trade Crossing (NITC).

Michigan Chamber of Commerce lobbyist Wendy Block testified in support of the bill at a hearing last week. She said local communities right now could potentially have largely variant frameworks for things like how much workers must be paid, making a large company with multiple developments subject to these different rules face an "administrative nightmare."

Chris Fisher, president of the American Builders and Contractors, also testified in favor of the bill, saying companies now could face a "patchwork of confusion."

Wages and benefits in Michigan are "matters of state concern," the bill says, and local governments would be prohibited from entering agreements that regulate those at the local level with specific employers.

Fisher said that would clarify that these things are only state questions.

"Local units of government erroneously believing they have the ability to regulate wages and benefits is a serious problem," Fisher said.

Rep. Harvey Santana, D-Detroit, said in a hearing on the topic last week that this would mean the same rules for rich and poor communities "even though the economics are completely different and the environmental issues are completely different."

Tlaib said that the Detroit community was starved for good jobs, something that community benefit agreements can help guarantee.

"It pains me every day, chairman, that I speak to a young man whose family can't afford to send him to college," Tlaib started, choking back tears, "And I know this young man, three buses so he can go to Oakland County for a job at a mall," she said.

The Detroit City Council passed a resolution opposing the bill.

Committee members also received a letter from Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan in opposition to the bill.

"Simply put, the legislation -- no matter how well-intentioned -- infringes on the time-honored principles of home rule and local control," wrote Duggan.

The House Competitiveness Committee voted 8-7 to report the bill to the House floor. It would have to be considered by the full House and Senate before making it to the governor's desk.

Although several Democratic amendments failed in committee, Santana said House leadership had expressed willingness to consider changes to the bill on the floor and urged those interested to get some proposals together.

Emily Lawler is a Capitol/Lansing business reporter for MLive. You can reach her at elawler@mlive.com, subscribe to her on Facebook or follow her on Twitter: @emilyjanelawler.