State House passes lighting authority legislation
Copyright 2011 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Posted: 12/13/2012
LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Lawmakers in the state House have passed bills aimed at restoring light to huge swaths of Detroit.
One part of Thursday's legislation will allow Detroit and some other cities to establish public authorities to run their lighting systems while another would allow part of a utility users' tax to fund public lighting repairs.
The bills now go to Gov. Rick Snyder for his signature.
Fewer than half of Detroit's 88,000 streetlights work. Mayor Dave Bing has called for spending up to $160 million on repairs and improvements.
Bing had hoped the lighting legislation would have been passed and signed into law by the end of the summer, but the package of bills was stalled for months until extensive negotiations led to state Senate approval last week.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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