Senate Bill 690: Revise physical therapist scope-of-practice
Passed 38 to 0 in the Senate on May 20, 2014, to repeal a ban on licensed physical therapists providing therapy unless it has been prescribed by a physician, subject to certain limits specified in the bill.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=690713
Senate Bill 691: Revise physical therapist scope-of-practice
Passed 38 to 0 in the Senate on May 20, 2014, to allow Blue Cross Blue Shield to not reimburse services provided by a licensed physical therapist unless the service has been prescribed by a physician. Senate Bill 690 would repeal a prohibition on physical therapists providing service that has not been prescribed (subject to certain limits), while Senate Bills 691 through 694 would establish that insurers can still require prescriptions if they choose.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=690714
Senate Bill 693: Revise physical therapist scope-of-practice
Passed 38 to 0 in the Senate on May 20, 2014, to allow workers compensation insurance plans to not reimburse services provided by a licensed physical therapist unless the service has been prescribed by a physician. Senate Bill 690 would repeal a prohibition on physical therapists providing service that has not been prescribed (subject to certain limits), while Senate Bills 691 through 694 would establish that insurers can still require prescriptions if they choose.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=690716
Senate Bill 694: Revise physical therapist scope-of-practice
Passed 38 to 0 in the Senate on May 20, 2014, to allow health insurance companies to not reimburse services provided by a licensed physical therapist unless the service has been prescribed by a physician. Senate Bill 690 would repeal a prohibition on physical therapists providing service that has not been prescribed (subject to certain limits), while Senate Bills 691 through 694 would establish that insurers can still require prescriptions if they choose.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=690717
House Bill 5146: Revise life insurance regulation detail
Passed 38 to 0 in the Senate on May 20, 2014, to revise provisions of a law governing group life insurance policies provided by employers, so that it conforms with a national model. The bill would expand the definition of “employee” in this law to cover affiliated companies, and would allow a group life insurance policy to be issued to an association, among other changes.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=690707
House Bill 5147: Revise life insurance regulation detail
Passed 38 to 0 in the Senate on May 20, 2014, to establish that a variable life insurance or annuity product approved by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is by definition compliant with Michigan’s state law governing these products.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=690708
House Bill 5148: Allow insurance reserve Canadian stock and bond investments
Passed 38 to 0 in the Senate on May 20, 2014, to revise the law governing the amount and type of assets insurance companies are required to maintain as reserves against future claims, so as to explicitly allow preferred stock in Canadian companies.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=690709
House Bill 5149: Revise life insurance regulation detail
Passed 38 to 0 in the Senate on May 20, 2014, to clarify that long-term care insurance benefits are not subject to state regulations on “accelerated benefits,” which are benefits that may be provided under life insurance policies in anticipation of a beneficiary’s death from specified life-threatening conditions.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=690710
House Bill 5150: Revise life insurance regulation detail
Passed 38 to 0 in the Senate on May 20, 2014, to revise state life insurance regulations to permit electronic applications, and revise details of regulations on variable annuity contract refunds.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=690711
Senate Bill 211: Establish firefighters’ cancer presumption
Passed 32 to 6 in the Senate on May 21, 2014, to establish a presumption that certain types of cancer contracted by non-volunteer firefighters arose out of and in the course of employment for purposes of granting workers compensation benefits. The burden of proof would be on the employer to show the disease was due to the individual being a smoker, or to nonwork-related causation or specific incidents. This would all be contingent on the legislature appropriating money for the benefits.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=690800
Senate Bill 446: Revise hospital “swing bed” regulations
Passed 107 to 1 in the House on May 21, 2014, to revise details in a state “Certificate of Need” medical facility rationing scheme related to hospitals with “swing beds” in short-term nursing care programs (meaning beds that can be used for either acute care or skilled nursing care).
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=690903
Senate Bill 648: Authorize state grants to certain doctors
Passed 104 to 6 in the House on May 21, 2014, to expand a state scholarship that subsidizes the medical school loans for a student who agrees to provide specified primary care services in an area of the state deemed to have a shortage of such providers. The bill would expand the program to dentists and increase the maximum subsidy to $200,000. Different parts of these provisions are contained in a package comprised of this and Senate Bill 649.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=690847
Senate Bill 649: Authorize state grants to certain doctors
Passed 105 to 5 in the House on May 21, 2014, to expand a state scholarship that subsidizes the medical school loans for a student who agrees to provide specified primary care services in an area of the state deemed to have a shortage of such providers. The bill would expand the program to dentists and increase the maximum subsidy to $200,000. Different parts of these provisions are contained in a package comprised of this and Senate Bill 648.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=690902
Senate Bill 656: Require certain drug price limits in medical welfare programs
Passed 110 to 0 in the House on May 21, 2014, to revise the formula and procedures prescribed for a “maximum allowable cost” scheme used by the state’s medical welfare programs to determine how much they will reimburse pharmacies for prescription drugs dispensed to beneficiaries.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=690846
Senate Bill 741: Give temporary health care professional occupational license to military spouse
Passed 110 to 0 in the House on May 21, 2014, to grant a temporary Michigan health care specialty license to the spouse of a member of the military from another state if the person has an equivalent license from that state, if the person also submits fingerprints to meet a background check mandate. The license would be valid for a maximum of one year.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=690901
Senate Bill 742: Give temporary occupational license to military spouse
Passed 110 to 0 in the House on May 21, 2014, to grant a temporary occupational license mandated by Michigan law to earn a living in certain professions to the spouse of a member of the military from another state if the person has an equivalent license from that state, and if the person also submits fingerprints to meet a background check mandate. The license would be valid for a maximum of one year.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=690900
Senate Bill 788: Codify property owner trespasser liability waiver
Passed 36 to 0 in the Senate on May 21, 2014, to establish in statute (in addition to existing case law or common law) that a property owner, leaseholder, lien-holder or occupant is not liable for physical harm to a trespasser caused by the property owner or possessor’s failure to exercise reasonable care to make the property reasonably safe and not endanger the trespasser. The bill authorizes exceptions for willful and wanton misconduct by the property owner or possessor, or “active negligence,” or in the case of harm to a child, knowing that an “attractive nuisance” exists.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=690792
Senate Bill 791: Revise, make permanent non-transportation 7/8th cent gas tax
Passed 38 to 0 in the Senate on May 21, 2014, to eliminate the 2016 sunset on a 7/8ths cent-per-gallon gas tax that was originally supposed to expire in 1998 and be used to clean up leaking underground fuel tanks, but which has been extended several times and was diverted to other government spending by a 2004 “fund raid.” The 2004 “fund raid” was enacted to avoid state spending cuts and reforms in that year’s budget, and remains in effect.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=690799
Senate Bill 846: Revise “development district” liquor license law
Passed 38 to 0 in the Senate on May 21, 2014, to extend to villages and townships the 2005 law that authorizes the issuance of additional on-premises liquor licenses in excess of the number allowed under a state quota system, for businesses in “development” districts, “tax increment finance authority” districts, certain “corridor improvement” districts, “downtown development” districts and “principal shopping districts” (which all enable local governments to impose higher property taxes and/or grant various subsidies in those areas).
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=690798
Senate Bill 900: Revise workers comp insurance detail
Passed 38 to 0 in the Senate on May 21, 2014, to give the state agency that oversees the injured workers compensation insurance system discretion to permit reimbursement for certain claims made after statutory deadlines have passed.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=690797
House Bill 4656: Revise youth employment limits
Passed 38 to 0 in the Senate on May 21, 2014, to exempt minors age 16 and 17 who have received a GED high school equivalency certificate from a law that caps the number of hours a minor who is in school can work. Under current law the maximum is 24 hours in one week when school is in session, and not more than “an average of 8 hours per day in one week” during the summer.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=690796
House Bill 4985: Redesignate a road
Passed 107 to 0 in the House on May 21, 2014, to designate a portion of portion M-153 in Wayne County as the “Firefighter Brian Woehlke Memorial Highway”.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=690908
House Bill 5193: Restrict closed-door local government lawsuit meetings
Passed 96 to 12 in the House on May 21, 2014, to prohibit government legislative bodies from holding closed-door sessions to discuss trial or settlement strategies, unless the matter being discussed is already being litigated.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=690904
House Bill 5194: Increase Open Meeting Act rigor
Passed 90 to 17 in the House on May 21, 2014, to establish that if a public body takes an action while in violation of the state Open Meetings Act, and then later re-enacts the decision while in compliance with the OMA, this does not exempt public officials from the misdemeanor and civil fine penalties the OMA authorizes for knowingly holding a meeting that violates its public notice and open-door requirements.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=690907
House Bill 5414: Reduce, then end “driver responsibility fees”
Passed 108 to 0 in the House on May 21, 2014, to reduce the so-called “driver responsibility fees” (a.k.a. “bad driver tax”) imposed for certain traffic violations, which were originally adopted in 2003 to avoid spending cuts in that year’s and subsequent state budgets. The bill would cut these additional fees in half for offenses committed after Sept. 30, 2014, and abolish them as of Oct. 1, 2017. Reportedly, thousands of mostly low-income individuals have lost their licenses due to inability to pay these penalties.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=690910
House Bill 5501: Reduce, then end “driver responsibility fees”
Passed 108 to 0 in the House on May 21, 2014, to eliminate failure to pay the so-called “driver responsibility fees” imposed in 2003 as a revenue measure from a list of possible “licensing sanctions” in an unrelated drivers license statute. This is linked to House Bill 5414, with would gradually phase out these fees.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=690911