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
Senate Bill 340: Increase penalties for tobacco sales to minors
Passed 37 to 0 in the Senate on October 6, 2015, to increase the penalties for selling tobacco to minors, from $50 to $100 for a first offense, and $500 for a subsequent offense. The increased penalties would also apply to a minor who tries to buy or who possesses tobacco.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=717574
Senate Bill 526: Ban Great Lakes aquaculture
Introduced by Sen. Rick Jones (R) on September 29, 2015, to ban fish farms in the Great Lakes and connecting waters.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=170307
Senate Bill 528: Authorize ISD dissolution
Introduced by Sen. Darwin Booher (R) on September 29, 2015, to require an Intermediate School District to be dissolved and its constituent regular districts attached to contiguous ISDs if regular districts representing at least half the students in the ISD request this.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=170309
House Bill 4521: Authorize official service dog ID, tag and vest
Passed 37 to 0 in the Senate on October 6, 2015, to require the Department of Civil Rights to create an identification card, tag, and vest for a service animal (for example a seeing-eye dog) that is used by a person with a disability, which would demonstrate that the person with their animal is allowed to enter public accommodations where dogs are usually not allowed. The bill would also authorize service dog users to submit complaints the department via an existing 800-number “hotline.” See also House Bill 4527.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=717575
House Bill 4527: Revise service dog regulations
Passed 37 to 0 in the Senate on October 6, 2015, to authorize criminal penalties of up to 90 days in jail for falsely claiming to have a disability that makes a person eligible for the service animal identification, tag and vest authorized by House Bill 4521. Also, to expand the range of disabilities that makes a person eligible to bring a service animal (such as a seeing-eye dog) into a place of public accommodation where animals are usually not allowed.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=717576