Bill
SB 102
Allows counties to provide electronic parcel records for the specifically requested tax year, even if not currently maintained, and sets open formats with new per-record fees.
Status / Timeline
- Introduced: January 23, 2025 (Senate Bill 102, Wojno, et al.).
- Action noted in provided documents: reported and passed the Senate (as passed by the Senate version dated April 23, 2025). (Bill amends Section 1 of 1895 PA 161 — MCL 48.101.)
Purpose and intent
- Update a long‑standing 1895 statute that requires county treasurers to furnish transcripts and abstracts of records on request so the law better accommodates electronic records and practical timing of tax‑year data.
- Improve public access to parcel and property tax data (including electronic datasets) for a requested tax year (rather than limiting requests to the “current” tax year) and clarify how fees are charged for such requests.
Key provisions (what the bill changes)
- Tax year requested: Requires a county treasurer to produce requested documentation for the specifically requested tax year if the treasurer possesses those records — not limited to the “current” tax year as in the post‑2022 statute.
- Electronic records — possession standard: Expands the obligation to provide certain electronic parcel records where the county treasurer “possesses” the records, not only where the treasurer “maintains, controls, or manages” them.
- Electronic file format and delivery: Requires electronic responses to be transmitted in an open‑standard, documented format with defined, delimited fields.
- Fee rules for electronic requests:
- Maximum charge is $0.30 per parcel record, capped at $2,000 per request for an electronic data file.
- A request that includes both winter and summer tax bill amounts is treated as a single request; if both amounts are available at the time of request the combined maximum charge is $2,000.
- Copies obtained under the electronic‑records provision may not be resold for commercial purposes.
- Retains existing paper/abstract fee structure (e.g., 25¢ per year for abstracts, 25¢ per 100 words for copies, minimums), except that electronic requests are not subject to those subsections.
- No obligation to produce information the treasurer does not maintain, control, manage, or possess.
Who is affected
- County treasurers: operational changes to how they respond to records requests, potential need to compile or produce electronic exports in a specified format.
- Requesters: researchers, title companies, real‑estate platforms, local governments, academics, journalists and members of the public gain clearer access to parcel/tax data for specified tax years and (in some cases) electronic datasets.
- Local governments: potential modest revenue impact where separate requests would previously have generated separate fees (the bill treats winter and summer bill amounts as a single request). The state fiscal impact is expected to be negligible; local fiscal impact is indeterminate but likely small.
Fiscal and policy notes
- Nonpartisan fiscal analyses included with the bill indicate no state fiscal impact; local revenue may change modestly depending on request patterns (e.g., combined winter/summer requests reduce fee receipts per requester).
- The change to allow provision of records the treasurer “possesses” (not only those he/she manages) is intended to reduce compliance problems where county systems or timing mean current‑year data are only available later.
Other notes
- The bill is a legislative reintroduction of prior efforts (e.g., reintroduces concepts from earlier SB 705 in 2023–24).
- Text amends MCL 48.101 (Public Act 161 of 1895).
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
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