Mixed bag this week but some good stuff on guns in schools and other public places.
Senate Bill 61: Convert Blue Cross to non-profit “regular” insurance company
Passed 92 to 18 in the House on February 28, 2013, to convert Blue Cross Blue Shield into a “mutual insurance company” and make it subject to the same regulations as regular health insurers. Although it would remain a non-profit, current restrictions on the entity’s ability to own for-profit subsidiaries would be reduced, and it would no longer be subject to close oversight by the state Attorney General. In return for being granted this conversion, BCBS would pay “up to” $1.56 billion over 18 years (meaning it could be less) into a fund that would supplement various health-related government programs, with specific spending items selected by a board of political appointees. The bill does not include abortion restrictions that caused Gov. Snyder to veto the same measure when passed late last year.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=648249
Senate Bill 162: Revise criminal plot prosecution venue detail
Passed 36 to 0 in the Senate on February 27, 2013, to authorize prosecuting felonies committed in another county if they are part of a plot to commit a crime in the prosecution venue.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=647852
House Bill 4111: Fund state role in federal “Obamacare partnership exchange”
Passed 78 to 31 in the House on February 28, 2013, to appropriate $30.5 million in federal grant money to set up a consumer assistance call center related to insurance subsidies provided by the federal health care law. The actual subsidy administration and eligibility determinations will be performed by a federal entity styled under the law as an “exchange” (in 2012 the legislature declined to create a state-run version of this entity). The money will also be used for state Medicaid system software upgrades required in part because of this law.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=648250
House Bill 4153: Revise diesel tax detail
Passed 36 to 0 in the Senate on February 27, 2013, to revise details of a 2012 law that extended a requirement for prepayment at the wholesale level of sales tax on gasoline so that this also applies to diesel fuel.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=647853