Act No. 353

Public Acts of 2002

Approved by the Governor

May 23, 2002

Filed with the Secretary of State

May 23, 2002

EFFECTIVE DATE: May 23, 2002

STATE OF MICHIGAN

91ST LEGISLATURE

REGULAR SESSION OF 2002

Introduced by Rep. Julian

ENROLLED HOUSE BILL No. 5713

AN ACT to amend 1956 PA 40, entitled "An act to codify the laws relating to the laying out of drainage districts, the consolidation of drainage districts, the construction and maintenance of drains, sewers, pumping equipment, bridges, culverts, fords, and the structures and mechanical devices to properly purify the flow of drains; to provide for flood control projects; to provide for water management, water management districts, and subdistricts, and for flood control and drainage projects within drainage districts; to provide for the assessment and collection of taxes; to provide for the investment of funds; to provide for the deposit of funds for future maintenance of drains; to authorize public corporations to impose taxes for the payment of assessments in anticipation of which bonds are issued; to provide for the issuance of bonds by drainage districts and for the pledge of the full faith and credit of counties for payment of the bonds; to authorize counties to impose taxes when necessary to pay principal and interest on bonds for which full faith and credit is pledged; to validate certain acts and bonds; and to prescribe penalties," by amending sections 271 and 323 (MCL 280.271 and 280.323).

The People of the State of Michigan enact:

Sec. 271. Any drain taxes that may have been assessed and returned upon any lands under any drain law enacted before this act and remaining unpaid, may be sued for by the commissioner of the county in which the delinquent lands are situated in any court of competent jurisdiction and collected from the owner of the lands or the taxes, if properly returned to the county treasurer, may be ordered charged back by the county board of commissioners and reassessed upon the lands in the same manner that unpaid or rejected taxes may be charged back by the state treasurer and reassessed under the general provisions of law.

Sec. 323. Before a drain is constructed along a public highway, the drain commissioner or drainage board shall consult with and obtain the written consent of the highway authorities having jurisdiction over the highway, as to the proposed location of the drain and the disposition of all material excavated. Whenever an apportionment is made against a state trunk line highway, the amount of the assessment based on the apportionment shall be paid out of any state transportation funds on hand. On or before December 1 of the year when the assessment is made, the drain commissioner or drainage board shall certify to the state treasurer the amount due from the state to the drainage district by reason of the assessment of benefits, and the state treasurer shall, if satisfied of the correctness of such certificate, cause the certificate to be paid within 30 days thereafter.

If a ditch or drain was constructed prior to 1923 primarily for drainage of private lands, and was constructed along a public highway, and if the records including the original survey of the drain are not of public record nor turned over to the county drain commissioner, or have not been entered in the records of the county drain commissioner as a county drain, then the actual location of the drain shall be sufficient to make the drain comply with the provisions of this act with respect to the location thereof, and the drain shall be a county drain upon compliance with the other provisions of this act with respect to county drains. No proceedings shall be instituted for the widening of the drain or the deepening thereof below its original bottom.

This act is ordered to take immediate effect.

Clerk of the House of Representatives.

Secretary of the Senate.

Approved

Governor.