Senate Bill 669: Authorize fine for nuisance noise making
Introduced by Sen. Michael Green (R) on December 15, 2015, to authorize a $100 state civil fine for inflicting a range of nuisance noises on neighbors and the public, including gratuitous or excessive use of car horns, blasting car stereos and boom boxes, keeping barking dogs or other animals that cause “frequent or long continued noise (that) disturb the peace or comfort of any individual of reasonable sensitivity,†running motors without a muffler, operating heavy equipment in the middle of the night and more.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=170787
Senate Bill 670: Create World War I centennial commission
Introduced by Sen. Rebekah Warren (D) on December 15, 2015, to create state World War I centennial commission that would plan and encourage activities to commemorate the centennial of World War I. Also called The Great War, WW I began in August of 1914 and ended on November 11, 1918; the United States entered in April 1917. World War I was the first fully “industrialized†war, introducing on a mass scale modern machine guns, artillery, poison gas, aerial bombing and more.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=170788
Senate Bill 671: Revise wine and grape council
Introduced by Sen. Goeff Hansen (R) on December 15, 2015, to revise the particular interests that must be represented on a government grape and wine industry council, by adding members who represent brewer and distiller interests. In 2014 this entity reportedly received $927,898 from certain liquor license fees (taxes) and spent $797,000 on things that are supposed to benefit the industry, including $373,000 on compensation for its staff.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=170789
Senate Bill 672: Expand children sports liability waivers
Introduced by Sen. Goeff Hansen (R) on December 15, 2015, to camping to include “camping activities†in a law that explicitly states that a parent or guardian of a minor who participates in sports or a recreational activity may release the organizer, sponsor or property owner in advance from liability for economic or noneconomic damages for injuries sustained by the minor.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=170790
Senate Bill 673: Extend tax breaks for local developers program
Introduced by Sen. Kenneth Horn (R) on December 15, 2015, to extend through 2026 the authority of local governments to grant “Obsolete Property Rehabilitation” property tax breaks to particular developers they select. Under current law this expires at the end of 2016.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=170791
Senate Bill 674: Tighten medical facility employee background check mandate
Introduced by Sen. Hoon-Yung Hopgood (D) on December 15, 2015, to revise a mandate that requires nursing homes and similar facilities to perform annual criminal background checks on employees, by eliminating a provision that allows a person to start working with certain restrictions before the check is completed.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=170792
Senate Bill 675: Tighten medical facility employee background check mandate
Introduced by Sen. Hoon-Yung Hopgood (D) on December 15, 2015, to revise a mandate that requires psychiatric facilities and similar facilities to perform annual criminal background checks on employees, by eliminating a provision that allows a person to start working with certain restrictions before the check is completed.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=170793
Senate Bill 676: Tighten medical facility employee background check mandate
Introduced by Sen. Hoon-Yung Hopgood (D) on December 15, 2015, to revise a mandate that requires nursing homes and similar facilities to perform annual criminal background checks on employees, by eliminating a provision that allows a person to start working with certain restrictions before the check is completed.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=170794
Senate Bill 677: Restrict “foreclosure by advertisementâ€
Introduced by Sen. Curtis Hertel, Jr. (D) on December 15, 2015, on certain delinquent mortgages to prohibit “foreclosure by advertisement†(instead of the more costly judicial foreclosure process) for certain owner-occupied residences that contain one to four rental units.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=170795
Senate Bill 678: Let Detroit water system charge higher rates
Introduced by Sen. Coleman Young, II (D) on December 16, 2015, to customers who use more to allow the Detroit water and sewer water authority to charge higher rates on customers who use higher volumes of water (called an “inclining block rate structureâ€).
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=170797
Senate Bill 679: Mandate county corrections binding arbitration
Introduced by Sen. Kenneth Horn (R) on December 16, 2015, to mandate binding arbitration in labor negotiations between county corrections officers (jail guards) and their employers.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=170798
Senate Bill 680: Rename a state facility
Introduced by Sen. Peter MacGregor (R) on December 16, 2015, to rename a state facility after a former state department director.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=170799
Senate Bill 681: Revise aquaculture regulations
Introduced by Sen. Darwin Booher (R) on December 16, 2015, to add and revise existing regulations, definitions and procedures for aquaculture facilities, including existing and new licensure and registration mandates, with variations depending on if they are based on land or in bodies of water.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=170800
Senate Bill 682
Introduced by Sen. Darwin Booher (R) on December 16, 2015, to authorize the use of Great Lakes bottomlands for aquaculture facilities if they meet the rules and requirements specified by Senate Bill 681. The facilities would not need to get permits mandated by the state environmental law, but would require permits required under a separate law regulating these facilities, as it is amended by that other bill.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=170801
Senate Bill 683: Revise aquaculture regulations
Introduced by Sen. Darwin Booher (R) on December 16, 2015, to revise the state law regulating livestock operations to include aquaculture. See Senate Bills 681 and 682.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=170802
Senate Bill 684: Declare cherry to be official state fruit
Introduced by Sen. Rebekah Warren (D) on December 16, 2015, to establish that henceforth, as a matter of law and statute, the cherry shall be the official fruit of the state of Michigan. Several previous cherry bills specified that only the tart cherry, prunus cerasus, shall be the official fruit, and no other cherry, but this bill does not specify any particular variety.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=170803
House Bill 5150: Require voters approve local “judgement leviesâ€
Introduced by Rep. Earl Poleski (R) on December 15, 2015, to restrict the power of a local government to borrow and levy a property tax dedicated to paying a court judgment in a lawsuit it has lost. Among other things a local “judgment levy†property tax increase would have to approved by voters.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=170773
House Bill 5151: Require voters approve local “judgment leviesâ€
Introduced by Rep. Earl Poleski (R) on December 15, 2015, to revise the state property tax law to conform to the proposal in Senate Bill 630 to restrict the power of local governments to impose a property tax to pay damages ordered by a judge in a lawsuit.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=170774
House Bill 5152: “Push back†against EPA “Waters of the U.S.†regulatory expansion
Introduced by Rep. Larry Inman (R) on December 15, 2015, to specify in the state environmental protection law that state and federal enforcement of wetlands and water pollution laws and regulations are limited to “navigable waters†as defined in federal statute, rather that the greatly expanded jurisdiction claimed by the federal Environmental Protection Agency in a rule promulgated on June 29, 2015.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=170775
House Bill 5153
Introduced by Rep. Peter Lucido (R) on December 15, 2015, Close schools with polls on election day to close schools that are used as polling places on election days.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=170776
House Bill 5155: Strike fishing without a license from list of crimes
Introduced by Rep. Triston Cole (R) on December 15, 2015, to eliminate the criminal penalties for catching a fish in an inland lakes without a license or out of season. Current law also authorizes a $100 civil fine, and this would not change.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=170778
House Bill 5156: Revise school “professional development†rules
Introduced by Rep. Lisa Lyons (R) on December 15, 2015, to prescribe in greater detail the procedures and content of “professional development†and continuing education requirements for public school teachers and administrators. This is part of a package consisting of House Bills 5156 to 5159.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=170779
House Bill 5157: Revise school “professional development†rules
Introduced by Rep. Daniela Garcia (R) on December 15, 2015, to prescribe in greater detail the procedures and content of “professional development†and continuing education requirements for public school teachers and administrators. This is part of a package consisting of House Bills 5156 to 5159.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=170780
House Bill 5158: Revise school “professional development†rules
Introduced by Rep. Amanda Price (R) on December 15, 2015, to prescribe in greater detail the procedures and content of “professional development†and continuing education requirements for public school teachers and administrators. This is part of a package consisting of House Bills 5156 to 5159.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=170781
House Bill 5159: Require voters approve local “judgment leviesâ€
Introduced by Rep. Ken Yonker (R) on December 15, 2015, to prescribe in greater detail the procedures and content of “professional development†and continuing education requirements for public school teachers and administrators. This is part of a package consisting of House Bills 5156 to 5159.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=170782
House Bill 5160: Mandate high school CPR and defibrillation classes
Introduced by Rep. Thomas Hooker (R) on December 15, 2015, to mandate that public and private middle and high schools provide instruction in cardiopulmonary resuscitation and awareness of automated external defibrillation, and prohibit a student from graduating unless he or she has successfully completed this instruction.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=170783
House Bill 5161: Ban firing medical marijuana users if not incompatible with job
Introduced by Rep. Sam Singh (D) on December 15, 2015, to make it unlawful for an employer to fire or take adverse employment action against an employee with a medical marijuana card who uses marijuana in a way that is not incompatible with the job or that hinders job performance.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=170784
House Bill 5162: Ban state and local agencies from participating in federal “metadata†collection
Introduced by Rep. Martin Howrylak (R) on December 15, 2015, to prohibit state agencies, local governments and their employees from assisting or providing material support to a federal agency in collecting electronic data or metadata concerning any person, unless it is pursuant to a specific search or arrest warrant.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=170785
House Bill 5163: End government “land bank†authorities
Introduced by Rep. Kurt Heise (R) on December 16, 2015, to repeal the 2003 law that authorized state and local “land bank†authorities empowered to acquire tracts of tax-reverted or other properties and develop them or sell them to developers, and which exempted these agencies from many of the taxes, rules, procedures and taxpayer safeguards that apply to private persons in such matters.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=170811
House Bill 5164: Revise some recorder of deeds fees
Introduced by Rep. Lee Chatfield (R) on December 16, 2015, to repeal an extra fee charged to file and record a subdivision plat with a recorder of deeds, and specify that the fee would be the same as for entering and recording a real estate mortgage.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=170812
House Bill 5165: Revise some recorder of deeds fees
Introduced by Rep. Jeremy Moss (D) on December 16, 2015, to specify that the fee for recording real-estate related judgments and decrees would be the same as for entering and recording a real estate mortgage.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=170813
House Bill 5166: Revise, expand aquaculture regulations
Introduced by Rep. Edward McBroom (R) on December 16, 2015, to add and revise existing regulations, definitions and procedures for aquaculture facilities, including existing and new licensure and registration mandates, with variations depending on whether they are based on land or in bodies of water.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=170814
House Bill 5167: Revise some recorder of deeds fees
Introduced by Rep. Triston Cole (R) on December 16, 2015, to specify that the fee for recording real-estate related judgments and decrees would be the same as for entering and recording a real estate mortgage.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=170815
House Bill 5168: Revise, expand aquaculture regulations
Introduced by Rep. Triston Cole (R) on December 16, 2015, to add and revise existing regulations, definitions and procedures for aquaculture facilities, including existing and new licensure and registration mandates, with variations depending on whether they are based on land or in bodies of water.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=170816
House Bill 5169: Expand property tax income tax credit for disabled veterans
Introduced by Rep. Earl Poleski (R) on December 17, 2015, to eliminate a property value cap that limits the size of an income tax credit for property tax payments, if the owner is a disabled veteran.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=170817
House Bill 5170: Take foregone Pyramid and data center tax revenue from non-school spending
Introduced by Rep. Jim Townsend (D) on December 17, 2015, to require the legislature to appropriate money to public schools from other revenue to compensate for the amount that tax breaks granted to “data centers†reduce current state school aid fund revenue. See also Senate Bills 616 and 617 (signed into law at the end of 2015), which began as tax breaks for a particular developer’s project in the vacant “Pyramid†building near Grand Rapids, but finished by authorizing sales and use tax breaks for all data center facilities (if approved by local governments where they are located).
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=170818
House Bill 5171: Require drivers over 75 renew license at SOS office
Introduced by Rep. Ben Glardon (R) on December 17, 2015, to require drivers age 75 or older to renew their license in person at a Secretary of State office.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=170819
House Bill 5172: Repeal “training wage†for youth
Introduced by Rep. Kristy Pagan (D) on December 17, 2015, to repeal a “training†wage provided as an exception to the law that makes employment for less than a minimum wage determined by the government illegal. Under current law, during a young worker’s first 90 days on the job the mandated minimum wage is $4.25 per hour, and after 90 days it is 85 percent of the minimum amount prescribed for adult workers.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=170820
House Bill 5173: Revise mail-in registration/first-time absentee vote ban
Introduced by Rep. Kristy Pagan (D) on December 17, 2015, to allow first-time voters to vote absentee if they send in identification that meets a standard specified by federal law with their ballot. Under current law first-time voters who registered by mail must vote in person, so that election officials can confirm they are a real individual.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=170821
House Bill 5174: Ban coal-tar driveway sealants
Introduced by Rep. Kristy Pagan (D) on December 17, 2015, to ban the sale or use of coal tar sealant or other high PAH sealant for pavement.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=170822
House Bill 5175: Mandate employers grant certain employee shift change requests
Introduced by Rep. Robert Wittenberg (D) on December 17, 2015, to mandate that, unless prevented by a “bona fide business reason,†employers must grant an employee’s request for a specified change in the terms and conditions of employment, including shifts, schedules and hours, if the request is based on specified personal matters. The bill would also impose additional pay and minimum hour mandates on employers in the retail, food service, or cleaning service sectors.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=170823
House Bill 5176: Revise 2014 “personal property tax†reform law detail
Introduced by Rep. Jeff Farrington (R) on December 17, 2015, to revise details of a mechanism created by a 2014 legislative package enacted to distribute some state use tax revenue to local governments, which would replace revenue they lose due to associated reductions in the “personal property tax” imposed on business tools and equipment.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=170824
House Bill 5177: Prohibit water authorities from charging for water from public “access pointsâ€
Introduced by Rep. Edward Canfield (R) on December 17, 2015, to require that if a municipal water system has “access points to obtain water for drinking and household purposes†it may not charge a fee for this. The bill does not define “access pointsâ€.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=170825
House Bill 5178: Require regular billing for delinquent water service customers
Introduced by Rep. Edward Canfield (R) on December 17, 2015, to require municipal water and sewer systems to keep billing customers on a regular basis even if their accounts are delinquent.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=170826
House Bill 5179: Revise property tax “poverty exemption†procedures
Introduced by Rep. Wendell Byrd (D) on December 17, 2015, to revise details of the procedures specified in a law that allows a local government to grant property tax exemptions to certain individuals who claim poverty.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=170827
House Bill 5180: Give subsidies to some grocery stores
Introduced by Rep. David Pagel (R) on December 17, 2015, to authorize selective state subsidies for grocery stores in “underserved†communities.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=170828
House Bill 5181: Give airport police “peace officer†authority
Introduced by Rep. Kurt Heise (R) on December 17, 2015, to give full “peace officer†(police officer) arrest and other powers to airport authority police, including when they are not on airport property but are in “hot pursuit†of a suspect or are cooperating with regular police officers, subject to various restrictions.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=170829
House Bill 5182: Revise references to deaf people in state laws
Introduced by Rep. Martin Howrylak (R) on December 17, 2015, to eliminate the phrase “deaf and dumb†from a law that authorizes a state school for deaf people, and replace it with just “deafâ€.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=170830
House Bill 5183: Revise references to deaf people in state laws
Introduced by Rep. John Bizon (R) on December 17, 2015, to modernize terminology used to refer to people who are deaf or hard of hearing in a law that authorizes a state government bureau to “protect and assist†them.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=170831
House Bill 5184: Revise references to deaf people in state laws
Introduced by Rep. Jim Runestad (R) on December 17, 2015, to modernize terminology used to refer to people who are deaf or hard of hearing in a law that authorizes a state government bureau to “protect and assist†them.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=170832
House Bill 5185: Designate road after fallen police officer
Introduced by Rep. Amanda Price (R) on December 17, 2015, to designate a section of US 2 in Dickinson County as the “Officer Kenneth J. Moraska Memorial Highwayâ€.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=170833
Senate Bill 90: Create African-American Affairs Commission
Passed 34 to 2 in the Senate on January 14, 2016, to create an “Office of African-American Affairs” in the state Department of Civil Rights, and a government African-American Affairs Commission consisting of 15 political appointees who have “a particular interest or expertise in African-American concerns,” with the mission of developing “a unified policy and plan of action to serve the needs of African-Americans in this stateâ€.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=721126
House Bill 4459: Allow embedding emergency contact info in drivers license
Passed 37 to 0 in the Senate on January 14, 2016, to require the Secretary of State starting in 2017 to embed machine-readable emergency contact information in digitized drivers licenses if a person requests this. Access to the embedded information would be limited to law enforcement agencies.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=721127
House Bill 4460: Allow embedding emergency contact info in state ID
Passed 37 to 0 in the Senate on January 14, 2016, to require the Secretary of State starting in 2017 to embed machine-readable emergency contact information in digitized state identification cards, if a person requests this. Access to the embedded information would be limited to law enforcement agencies.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=721128