U.P. State Fair Focus of New Bills
Legislation removing obsolete rules and regulations from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development’s books was approved today by the Michigan House.
State Rep. Ed McBroom sponsored House Bill 5209 in the seven-bill package to rescind the department’s section on operating the Upper Peninsula State Fair.
“The fairgrounds were deeded over to Delta County and the operations are now managed by the UP State Fair Authority made up of all 15 counties and the Hannahville Indian Community, so the state department isn’t really involved anymore,” said McBroom, R-Vulcan. “This legislation is required to eliminate a few unnecessary pages from the ag department’s binder of rules.”
State funding for the Upper Peninsula State Fair ended in 2009.
The bill package also removed other outdated or unused rules in the agriculture department including the annual submission of cherry production reports; operation of a seal of quality promotional program; conflicting rules for liquid measuring devices; rules for the now-defunct Michigan State Apple Commission; duplicate rules for grain dealers that are also law; and inspection and certification requirements for tomatoes, gladiolas, Dutch elm and dahlias.
The total package repeals one law, 18 of the department’s 98 regulations and 217 of its 878 rules.
HBs 5206-5212 now go to the Senate for consideration