Introduced to both the Assembly and the Senate; read for the first time and referred to the Committee on Energy and Utilities in Assembly and the Committee on Elections and Utilities in the Senate.
The bill would prohibit towns, villages, and cities from selling or leasing any part of a water or sewer plant to an investor-owned public utility. This is important because local control and accountability are crucial to ensuring a safe drinking water supply. Recent ideas swirling in the legislature would make it easier for out-of-state companies to come in and take control of local water services, while also making it harder for communities to reject these takeovers. Michigan has had troubles with local water utility takeovers, which contributed to the tragedy in Flint, Michigan that is still an ongoing issue with the hazardously high lead levels in their drinking water. Keeping control in local hands helps to safeguard the water supply from potentially disastrous cost and corner cutting by profit-seeking corporations.