House Bill 4476 Summary

• Creates a land exchange facilitation and management fund in the state treasury to be administered by the Department of Natural Resources and funded from any source.

• Authorizes the fund to be used for purchasing land that meets the strategic plan approved by legislature, covering costs of advertising, appraisals, surveys, environmental assessments, and closings for land transactions.

• Removes requirement that board authorization be obtained before the department purchases land, allowing purchases if the board does not authorize or reject within 60 days.

• Modifies tax payment structure so that for property purchased with Michigan natural resources trust fund money, all payments (both school district assessments and other portions) are charged against the trust fund rather than split between the trust fund and general fund.

• Increases the annual payment to counties for commercial forestlands from $1.20 per acre to $1.30 per acre, with scheduled 5-cent increases every 5 years beginning January 1, 2022.

• Changes certification deadlines for commercial forestland acreage to November 1 and payment disbursement deadline to December 1 of each year.