Terms Used In Michigan Laws > Chapter 125 > Act 270 of 1984 > Chapter 1

• Advice and consent: Under the Constitution, presidential nominations for executive and judicial posts take effect only when confirmed by the Senate, and international treaties become effective only when the Senate approves them by a two-thirds vote.
• annual meeting: when applied to townships, mean the annual meeting required by law to be held on the Saturday immediately preceding the first Monday in April. See Michigan Laws 8.3d
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
• Baseline: Projection of the receipts, outlays, and other budget amounts that would ensue in the future without any change in existing policy. Baseline projections are used to gauge the extent to which proposed legislation, if enacted into law, would alter current spending and revenue levels.
• Board: means the board of directors of the Michigan strategic fund, except where the context clearly requires a different definition. See Michigan Laws 125.2004
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• Economic development project: means an endeavor related to industrial, commercial, or agricultural enterprise. See Michigan Laws 125.2004
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Financial institution: means a state or nationally chartered bank or a state or federally chartered savings and loan association, savings bank, or credit union whose deposits are insured by an agency of the United States government and that maintains a principal office or branch office in this state under the laws of this state or the United States. See Michigan Laws 125.2004
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. ^{Source: OCC}
• Freedom of Information Act: A federal law that mandates that all the records created and kept by federal agencies in the executive branch of government must be open for public inspection and copying. The only exceptions are those records that fall into one of nine exempted categories listed in the statute. ^{Source: OCC}
• Fund: means the Michigan strategic fund created under section 5, except where the context clearly requires a different definition. See Michigan Laws 125.2004
• FWC Qualified Settlement Fund: means the FWC Qualified Settlement Fund described in the settlement agreement approved by the court in In re Flint Water Cases, No. See Michigan Laws 125.2004
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Green chemistry: means chemistry and chemical engineering to design chemical products or processes that reduce or eliminate the use or generation of hazardous substances, while producing high-quality products through safe and efficient manufacturing processes. See Michigan Laws 125.2004
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• in writing: shall be construed to include printing, engraving, and lithographing; except that if the written signature of a person is required by law, the signature shall be the proper handwriting of the person or, if the person is unable to write, the person's proper mark, which may be, unless otherwise expressly prohibited by law, a clear and classifiable fingerprint of the person made with ink or another substance. See Michigan Laws 8.3q
• Interest rate: The amount paid by a borrower to a lender in exchange for the use of the lender's money for a certain period of time. Interest is paid on loans or on debt instruments, such as notes or bonds, either at regular intervals or as part of a lump sum payment when the issue matures. ^{Source: OCC}
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Majority leader: see Floor Leaders
• MEDC: means the Michigan economic development corporation, the public body corporate created under section 28 of article VII of the state constitution of 1963 and the urban cooperation act of 1967, 1967 (Ex Sess) PA 7, MCL 124. See Michigan Laws 125.2004
• Minority leader: See Floor Leaders
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Municipality: means a county, city, village, township, port district, development organization, institution of higher education, community or junior college, or subdivision or instrumentality of any of the legal entities listed in this subdivision. See Michigan Laws 125.2004
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Person: means an individual, sole proprietorship, partnership, limited partnership, limited liability partnership, limited liability company, joint venture, profit or nonprofit corporation including a public or private college or university, public utility, municipality, local industrial development corporation, economic development corporation, other association of persons organized for agricultural, commercial, or industrial purposes, a lender, or any other entity approved by the board. See Michigan Laws 125.2004
• person: may extend and be applied to bodies politic and corporate, as well as to individuals. See Michigan Laws 8.3l
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Port facilities: means seawall jetties; piers; wharves; docks; boat landings; marinas; warehouses; storehouses; elevators; grain bins; cold storage plants; bunkers; oil tanks; ferries; canals; locks; bridges; tunnels; seaways; conveyors; modern appliances for the economical handling, storage, and transportation of freight and handling of passenger traffic; transfer and terminal facilities required for the efficient operation and development of ports and harbors; other harbor improvements; or improvements, enlargements, remodeling, or extensions of any of these buildings or structures. See Michigan Laws 125.2004
• Private sector: means other than the fund, a state or federal source, or an agency of a state or the federal government. See Michigan Laws 125.2004
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Project: means an economic development project and, in addition, means the acquisition, construction, reconstruction, conversion, or leasing of an industrial, commercial, retail, agricultural, or forestry enterprise, or any part of these, to carry out the purposes and objectives of this act and of the fund, including, but not limited to, acquisition of land or interest in land, buildings, structures, or other planned or existing planned improvements to land including leasehold improvements, machinery, equipment, or furnishings which include, but are not limited to, the following: research parks; office facilities; engineering facilities; research and development laboratories; warehousing facilities; parts distribution facilities; depots or storage facilities; port facilities; railroad facilities, including trackage, right of way, and appurtenances; airports; bridges and bridge facilities; water and air pollution control equipment or waste disposal facilities; theme or recreational parks; equipment or facilities designed to produce energy from renewable resources; farms, ranches, forests, and other agricultural or forestry commodity producers; agricultural harvesting, storage, transportation, or processing facilities or equipment; grain elevators; shipping heads and livestock pens; livestock; warehouses; wharves and dock facilities; dredging of recreational or commercial harbors; water, electricity, hydro electric, coal, petroleum, or natural gas provision facilities; dams and irrigation facilities; sewage, liquid, and solid waste collection, disposal treatment, and drainage services and facilities. See Michigan Laws 125.2004
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• seal: shall be construed to include any of the following: