Senate Bill 91: Authorize Sleeping Bear Dunes license plate
Passed 37 to 0 in the Senate on September 17, 2015, to authorize a new license plate recognizing the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, and use the revenue to “preserve historic Sleeping Bear”.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=717072
Senate Bill 134: Appropriations: “Omnibus” education budget
Passed 99 to 2 in the House on September 17, 2015, to authorize spending an additional $4.35 million on government preschool programs in the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=717085
Senate Bill 150: Impose synchronized prescription drug program insurance mandate
Passed 37 to 0 in the Senate on September 17, 2015, to impose a new coverage mandate that would require health insurance policies that contain prescription drug coverage to cover programs for synchronizing prescriptions for multiple maintenance drugs.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=717058
Senate Bill 306: Authorize joining multistate “Compact for a Balanced Budget”
Passed 26 to 11 in the Senate on September 17, 2015, to authorize Michigan’s membership in a “Compact for a Balanced Budget.” This would use the device of a multistate compact to submit an application to Congress calling for an Article V “convention to propose amendments to the U.S. Constitution.” This would be limited to proposing an amendment prohibiting Congress from increasing the national debt without the approval of a majority of state legislatures.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=717071
Senate Bill 364: Exempt trigger locks from sales tax
Passed 37 to 0 in the Senate on September 17, 2015, to exempt trigger locks, gun safes and lockboxes, and other home firearm safety devices from sales tax.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=717063
Senate Bill 365: Exempt trigger locks from use tax
Passed 37 to 0 in the Senate on September 17, 2015, to exempt trigger locks, gun safes and lockboxes, and other home firearm safety devices from use tax.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=717066
Senate Bill 369: Authorize alcohol manufacturer retail shop tax breaks
The amendment failed 13 to 24 in the Senate on September 17, 2015, to require the legislature to appropriate more money from other revenue sources to replace the foregone sales tax revenue implicit in the bill.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=717067
Senate Bill 369: Authorize alcohol manufacturer retail shop tax breaks
Passed 37 to 0 in the Senate on September 17, 2015, to exempt from use tax the tools and equipment purchased by a brewer, winemaker or distilled liquor maker to create products it sells directly to customers at its own locations.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=717068
Senate Bill 370: Authorize alcohol manufacturer retail shop tax breaks
Passed 37 to 0 in the Senate on September 17, 2015, to exempt from sales tax the tools and equipment purchased by a brewer, winemaker or distiller create products it sells directly to customers at its own locations.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=717070
Senate Bill 468: Revise pharmacy assistant licensure mandate
Passed 34 to 3 in the Senate on September 17, 2015, to revise details of a licensure and regulation on mandate imposed by a 2014 law “pharmacy technicians” (assistants), with license fees, continuing education requirements, test-taking mandates and more. The bill would give government permission for a pharmacy assistant at one drugstore to also work at other stores owned by the same company.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=717073
House Bill 4070: Revise “incompatible offices” detail
Passed 34 to 2 in the Senate on September 17, 2015, to revise the law on incompatible public offices to allow a person elected or appointed to a public office in a community with less than 40,000 people to also serve as a firefighter, police chief, fire chief, police officer, or public safety officer, as long as the individual is not involved in negotiating government employee union contracts.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=717057
House Bill 4604: Authorize government erosion control permit exemptions
Passed 66 to 35 in the House on September 17, 2015, to exempt certain routine agricultural practices from the mandate to obtain a government erosion control permit, if the activity would not cause soil to erode into lakes and streams. The exemption would apply to fenceline work, removing trees, shrubs and roots, and installing drainage tiles, irrigation or electric lines.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=717083
House Bill 4790: Expand non-enrolled public school student offerings to kindergarten
Passed 101 to 0 in the House on September 17, 2015, to include kindergarten offerings under a law that allows a school district to offer some classes to a private school or home-schooled student, and collect some state school aid money for the additional children who may participate.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=717084
Senate Bill 64: Revise nursing home regulation detail
Passed 67 to 37 in the House on September 22, 2015, to revise the extensive regulatory regime imposed on nursing homes, so as to establish that patient care policies, compliance procedures, outcome measures and more should be based on nationally recognized, evidence-based guidelines or best-practices (rather than regulations promulgated by state departments), along with other detail changes.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=717146
Senate Bill 65: Revise nursing home medical treatment restriction
Passed 69 to 35 in the House on September 22, 2015, to allow any nursing home to employ or contract with a licensed health care professional to provide a program of planned and continuing nursing care and medical treatment for residents. Under current law medical and dental treatment provided in nursing homes are subject to complex regulatory restrictions and constraints.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=717147
Senate Bill 66: Revise nursing home medical treatment restriction
Passed 69 to 35 in the House on September 22, 2015, to revise the definition of “services in a learned profession” in the Michigan business corporations act to make it conform with the proposal in Senate Bill 65 potentially dismantling various regulatory obstacles to medical care provided being in nursing homes.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=717148
Senate Bill 67: Revise nursing home medical treatment restriction
Passed 69 to 35 in the House on September 22, 2015, to revise the definition of “services in a learned profession” in the Michigan business corporations act to make it conform with the proposal in Senate Bill 65 potentially dismantling various regulatory obstacles to medical care being provided in nursing homes.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=717149
Senate Bill 358: Revise teacher certificate detail for out-of-state teachers
Passed 94 to 10 in the House on September 22, 2015, to remove the current caps on fees charged for the tests given to get a state teacher certification, including a basic skills test, an elementary certification test, and subject area endorsement tests.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=717150