Senate Bill 64: Replace detailed nursing home regulations with “best practices” guidelines
Passed 69 to 37 in the House on September 29, 2015, to repeal sections of the extensive regulatory regime imposed on nursing homes, and instead 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 detailed regulations promulgated by government agencies).
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=717381
Senate Bill 360: Create college saving plan for disabled students
Passed 35 to 0 in the Senate on September 29, 2015, to increase from $235,000 to $500,000 the maximum balance allowed in Michigan “section 529” education savings plans for a particular beneficiary. This is part of a legislative package comprised of Senate Bills 359 to 362 and House Bills 4542 to 4544, which create a new type of such account.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=717297
House Bill 4389: Redesignate a road
Passed 35 to 0 in the Senate on September 29, 2015, to designate a segment of US 12 in Berrien County as the “ Trooper Steven B. Devries Memorial Highway”.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=717296
House Bill 4542: Create college saving plan for disabled students
Passed 35 to 0 in the Senate on September 29, 2015, to authorize a new “ABLE account” tax advantaged savings plan to cover education and living expenses for beneficiaries who are disabled. Mirroring the federal law that created these accounts, under House Bill 4544 balances and distributions from a beneficiary’s account would not be included in gross income or assets for purposes of caps limiting various state aid programs. House Bill 4541 would increase the maximum balance allowed in these and other “529” savings plans to $500,000.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=717298
House Bill 4543: Create college saving plan for disabled students
Passed 35 to 0 in the Senate on September 29, 2015, to authorize an income tax deduction of $5,000 for an individual, $10,000 for a joint account, for contributions to a disabled person’s “ABLE” education and living expense savings account that House Bill 4542 would authorize.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=717299
House Bill 4544: Create college saving plan for disabled students
Passed 35 to 0 in the Senate on September 29, 2015, to prohibit the state from considering contributions, distributions, earnings or balances in a disabled person’s ABLE education and living expense savings account (see House Bill 4542) in the calculation used to determine financial eligibility for various welfare-related benefits.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=717300
Senate Bill 195: Revise pharmacy licensure detail
Passed 105 to 1 in the House on October 1, 2015, to revise a licensure mandate requirement that an applicant for a new pharmacy, drug manufacturer or wholesale distributor license who is not a licensed health care professional licensed must submit fingerprints. Under the bill the requirement would not apply if the individual had already submitted fingerprints. As introduced and passed by the Senate the bill would have eliminated the requirement.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=717544
Senate Bill 225: Ban gun dealers keeping photos of buyers
Passed 36 to 1 in the Senate on September 30, 2015, to revise the law that requires an individual who obtains a pistol from a private person to first get a government permit. (This does not apply to purchases from a licensed firearms dealer.) The bill would clarify that a person who inherits a pistol would have 30 days to get this government license after taking physical possession of the pistol.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=717448
Senate Bill 366: Impose regulation on government record services
Passed 35 to 0 in the Senate on October 1, 2015, to impose regulations, disclosure requirements, price caps and more on businesses that solicit a fee for providing copies of various government records. Financial institutions and real estate brokers would be exempt.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=717507
Senate Bill 458: Revise termination of parental rights detail
Passed 34 to 1 in the Senate on October 1, 2015, to revise details of the termination of parental rights of a parent subject to a child support order who hasn’t complied for two years or more, when the other parent gets married or remarried and his or her spouse wants to adopt the child.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=717508
Senate Bill 500: Revise unemployment benefits employer assessment detail
Passed 26 to 9 in the Senate on October 1, 2015, to authorize a change in the formula that determines employer payroll tax assessments to a state fund that provides expeditious payment of unemployment benefits, based on whether the fund has sufficient money to cover expected claims.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=717511
House Bill 4102: Appropriations: “Omnibus” state budget
Passed 30 to 5 in the Senate on October 1, 2015, to appropriate $7.725 million to settle a lawsuit over injuries sustained in a crash caused by a State Police car chase. Also, to make a $100 “placeholder” appropriation related to the possibility of changing Flint’s municipal water supplier back to the Detroit system (which serves most communities in the metropolitan region).
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=717512
House Bill 4137: Reduce maximum probation time
Passed 101 to 5 in the House on October 1, 2015, to revise details of probation rules, and of funding and eligibility for a probation program of more intense supervision that reduce recidivism but costs more.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=717542
House Bill 4138: Authorize “presumptive parole”
Passed 67 to 39 in the House on October 1, 2015, to require that parole be granted to prisoners who have served their minimum time if the person has a “high probability” under a “validated risk assessment instrument” of not being a risk to public safety, and also meets other criteria specified in the bill and current law, subject to a number of restrictions and exceptions.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=717540
House Bill 4168: Replace paper tax rolls with electronic
Passed 34 to 1 in the Senate on October 1, 2015, to eliminate a requirement that local governments keep a hard (paper) copy of tax rolls if the information is maintained on computerized database.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=717506
House Bill 4193: Allow electronic “proof of insurance”
Passed 37 to 0 in the Senate on September 30, 2015, to revise the state’s no-fault insurance law to allow “proof of insurance” documents motorists are required to have when driving to be an electronic communication from the insurance company visible on a mobile device. If asked a driver could be required to forward the information to a designated site.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=717446
House Bill 4354: Revise insurance company trade secret detail
Passed 37 to 0 in the Senate on September 30, 2015, to allow insurance companies or rating organizations filing on the insurer’s behalf to designate certain information in filings they are required to make with the state as a trade secret. If the state insurance commissioner agrees the information is proprietary then it would not be subject to open records law disclosure.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=717447
House Bill 4713: Require “culpable mental state” for criminal conviction
Passed 106 to 0 in the House on October 1, 2015, to establish that (with some significant exceptions) if a law does not indicate whether a “culpable mental state” (“mens rea”) is required to establish guilt, the presumption will be that this is required, meaning that prosecutors must show that the defendant violated the law “purposely, knowingly or recklessly.” This would not be the case if a law explicitly imposes a “strict liability” standard. Under current law, many complex “administrative” offenses authorize criminal penalties for actions that a regular person would not know are illegal. However, the bill would not apply to offenses.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=717541
House Bill 4904: Establish GOP presidential primary as official state election date
Passed 105 to 1 in the House on October 1, 2015, to establish that a Michigan Republican presidential primary election held early in a presidential election year will be considered one of the official state election days.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=717545