Senate Joint Resolution A: Replace gas tax with higher sales tax
Failed 18 to 19 in the Senate on November 13, 2014, to place before voters in the next general election a Constitutional amendment to impose a 1 percent sales tax increase that would go to roads and replace the state motor fuel and diesel taxes. If the measure was approved then a large fuel tax increase proposed by House Bill 5477 would not go into effect. A two-thirds vote (26 votes) is required to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=697232
Senate Bill 220: Prefer county road commissions on state road projects
Passed 37 to 0 in the Senate on November 13, 2014, to require the state to give preference to and solicit bids from county road commissions for maintenance work on state trunk line highways.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=697237
Senate Bill 281: Establish state drawbridge operations fund
Passed 30 to 6 in the Senate on November 13, 2014, to create a state fund to subsidize the operational expenses of movable bridges (drawbridges, etc.), earmark certain road tax revenue to the fund, and give the Department of Transportation regulatory authority over local moveable bridges. This would have the effect of allocating the distribution of around $129 million of road tax money to local governments to legislative discretion rather than a statutory formula. The bill would also allow larger city bus systems to use some of this money for those systems rather than road and bridge projects.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=697236
Senate Bill 841: Increase penalties, authorize property forfeiture for food stamp fraud
Passed 26 to 10 in the Senate on November 13, 2014, to revise a law that bans having or using a false or doctored food stamp debit card (“bridge card”), reducing the threshold for criminal penalties from getting $250 worth of merchandise to $100, and increasing the penalty from 93 days in jail to one year, and potentially up to five years in prison, or 20 years if the value has exceeded $250,000. The bill also authorizes the seizure and forfeiture of the proceeds from this crime, and any property (including real estate) used to “facilitate” it.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=697259
Senate Bill 842: Increase food stamp fraud penalties
Passed 26 to 10 in the Senate on November 13, 2014, to establish sentencing guidelines for the increased food stamp fraud penalties proposed by Senate Bill 841.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=697255
Senate Bill 843: Authorize establishment of welfare agency police force
Passed 25 to 11 in the Senate on November 13, 2014, to give the Department of Human Services (the state welfare agency) the authority to appoint agents with the same powers as peace (police) officers and limited arrest powers.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=697256
Senate Bill 844: Authorize establishment of welfare agency police force
Passed 25 to 11 in the Senate on November 13, 2014, to exempt the state welfare agency police proposed by Senate Bill 843 from the “gun-free zone” restrictions in the state’s concealed pistol license law.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=697260
Senate Bill 866: Increase penalty for crimes if victim is older
Passed 36 to 0 in the Senate on November 13, 2014, to increase the penalties for various crimes against a person over 65 years of age, with steeper penalties in some cases if the victim is age 70 or older.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=697261
Senate Bill 867: Increase penalty for crimes if victim is older
Passed 36 to 0 in the Senate on November 13, 2014, to expand the law that requires a person arrested for drunk driving to take a chemical test so that it also applies to drug tests.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=697262
Senate Bill 941: Revise scrap tire regulatory regime details
Passed 36 to 0 in the Senate on November 13, 2014, to revise and update details of the extensive regulatory regime imposed on the storage, transportation and processing of scrap tires. The bill includes changes to bonding requirements and regulations on storage facilities and hauling companies, imposes new permit fees on the latter, adds exemptions for a “community cleanup site,” prohibits openly burning a scrap tire, and more.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=697267
Senate Bill 942: Revise scrap tire regulatory regime details
Passed 36 to 0 in the Senate on November 13, 2014, to establish sentencing guidelines for violations of the regulations on scrap tire storage, processing and transportation that Senate Bill 941 would modify.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=697268
Senate Bill 1038: Revise property tax appeal details
Passed 30 to 7 in the Senate on November 13, 2014, to revise details of the law authorizing various appeals of property tax classifications, valuations, and exemptions. Among other changes this would allow appeals for the current year’s taxes and the three preceding years. The bill would also prohibit an assessor from being a member of a local government’s property tax board of review; and expand allow local governments’ authority to appeal adverse tax rulings.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=697247
Senate Bill 1039: Revise state tax tribunal membership
Passed 31 to 5 in the Senate on November 13, 2014, to establish that members of the seven-member state “tax tribunal” that issues judgments on property tax appeals serve could be removed “for cause,” and after notice and hearing. Under current law members are appointed by the governor for four year terms, subject to the advice and consent of the Senate.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=697248
Senate Bill 1040: Revise property tax appeal details
Passed 30 to 7 in the Senate on November 13, 2014, to repeal a law making prepayment of a disputed property tax levy, plus penalties and interest, a condition for filing an appeal to the state court of claims of a state “tax tribunal” judgment on the validity of the levy.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=697249
Senate Bill 1043: Update land survey “corner” rules
Passed 36 to 0 in the Senate on November 13, 2014, to revise and update various definitions in the state law intended to protect and perpetuate public land survey “corners” and the monuments marking them, and revise certain procedures surveyors must use related to these corners.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=697269
Senate Bill 1056: Clarify ownership for some Calhoun County landholders
Passed 37 to 0 in the Senate on November 13, 2014, to require the state to take actions that remove questions about the title to land held “under color of title” by a number of citizens of Clarence Township in Calhoun County, and convey clean titles to these owners.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=697250
Senate Bill 1088: Allow community colleges to put money in municipal bonds
Passed 35 to 0 in the Senate on November 13, 2014, to allow community colleges to invest funds in Michigan municipal bonds rated as “investment grade” by at least one standard rating service.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=697253
Senate Bill 1100: Impose cash register fraud detector device mandate on merchants
Passed 31 to 5 in the Senate on November 13, 2014, to give the state Department of Treasury the authority to mandate that, for purposes of collecting sales tax, up to 1,000 merchants statewide must install software or detectors to expose the use an “automated sales suppression device” for falsifying the records of electronic cash registers (also called “zappers” or “phantom-ware”).
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=697265
House Bill 4157: Lend IT project money to local governments
Passed 90 to 17 in the House on November 13, 2014, to create a government “information, communication, and technology innovation revolving fund” to make loans to state agencies, local governments, colleges and universities, school districts, and nonprofits that provide public services, for projects that meet various criteria specified in the bill, and which would be selected by a board of state officials and political appointees.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=697334
House Bill 4401: Revise excavation and mining permit detail
Passed 68 to 39 in the House on November 13, 2014, to exempt from state dredging and related permit requirements excavation or mining activities associated with an active mining operation, unless they create an inland lake with a surface area of five acres or greater.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=697333
House Bill 4480: Require more detailed reports on corporate subsidy costs & outcomes
Passed 107 to 0 in the House on November 13, 2014, to require the Michigan Strategic Fund and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation to annually submit and post online more detailed reports on the costs and outcomes generated by their various “economic development” loan, tax break and subsidy programs targeted at specific corporations, developers or industries.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=697325
House Bill 4481: Convert 21st Century Jobs Fund from rule-based to discretionary subsidy program
Passed 106 to 1 in the House on November 13, 2014, to essentially eliminate various restrictions and requirements, including requirements for regular audits and reports, that apply to money spent by a “commercialization” component of the “21st Century Jobs Fund” business subsidy program. The bill would transfer authority over this spending from “independent experts” on a “commercialization board” to political appointees on the Michigan Strategic Fund board. This and related bills would generally convert this from appearing to be a “rule-based” subsidy program governed by statutory prescriptions and restrictions into one in which the political appointees on the Michigan Strategic Fund board have more discretion to give out the subsidies. See also 4482, which requires more disclosures on the cost and outcomes of these programs.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=697326
House Bill 4482: Convert 21st Century Jobs Fund from rule-based to discretionary corporate subsidies
Passed 77 to 30 in the House on November 13, 2014, to consolidate within the Michigan Strategic Fund agency the decision-making powers currently vested in various other government “economic development” and job training programs created over the years, including the “21st Century Jobs Fund.” In general the bill amends the law creating this agency to reflect proposals in Senate Bills 269 to 272, SB 278, House Bill 4481 and others that together convert state “economic development” activities from rule-based programs to ones in which subsidies, loans and tax breaks are granted at the discretion of political appointees on the Michigan Strategic Fund board. The bill also expand this agency’s authority over “brownfield” and “historic district” tax breaks and subsidies, and job training subsidies for particular firms..
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=697327
House Bill 4572: Revise taxation of airplane fuel
Passed 32 to 4 in the Senate on November 13, 2014, to exempt the sale of aviation gasoline, aviation jet fuel, and other aviation fuel from sales tax. also House Bills 4571 and 4677, which raise the excise tax imposed on airplane fuel and revise the distribution of revenue between various state funds to minimize the impact of the tax changes. The bottom line would be higher taxes on airplane fuel and more revenue for state airport maintenance projects.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=697271
House Bill 4677: Earmark some sales tax on gasoline to public transportation subsidies
Passed 34 to 2 in the Senate on November 13, 2014, to earmark an additional sales tax revenue to school funding and revenue sharing. Along with House Bills 4571 and 4572, which raise the excise tax imposed on airplane fuel and revise the distribution of revenue between various state funds to minimize the impact of the tax changes. The bottom line would be higher taxes on airplane fuel and more revenue for state airport maintenance projects.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=697272
House Bill 5117: Eliminate sunset on road commission eliminations
Passed 99 to 8 in the House on November 13, 2014, to extend until 2018 a Jan. 1, 2015 sunset on a 2011 law that provides procedures for eliminating a county road commission and transferring its duties to the county board.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=697336
House Bill 5118: Eliminate sunset on road commission eliminations
Passed 99 to 8 in the House on November 13, 2014, to extend until 2018 a Jan. 1, 2015 sunset on a 2011 law that provides procedures for eliminating a county road commission and transferring its duties to the county board.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=697337
House Bill 5202: Revise installment tax payment detail
Passed 106 to 1 in the House on November 13, 2014, to establish that tax liens on township special assessment installment payments do not become effective (“attach”) until the payment is due.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=697338
House Bill 5453: Increase overweight truck fines
Passed 37 to 0 in the Senate on November 13, 2014, to increase the fines imposed on trucks whose weight exceeds state limits. This is part of a road funding increase package that includes a major fuel tax hike in House Bills 5477.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=697238
House Bill 5477: Replace per-gallon fuel tax with higher wholesale tax
Passed 23 to 14 in the Senate on November 13, 2014, to replace the current 19-cent per gallon gas tax and 15-cent diesel tax with a 9.5 percent wholesale fuel tax, gradually increasing to 15.5 percent in 2018. When fully phased-in this would represent a tax hike of around $1.0 billion at current wholesale fuel prices, or around 10 cents per gallon. When in place, the tax could only rise or fall by 5 percent per year even if wholesale prices rose or fell faster.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=697246
House Bill 5513: Expand mobile home court environmental regulation
Passed 106 to 0 in the House on November 13, 2014, to expand the jurisdiction of the Department of Environmental Quality over mobile home parks; impose new licensure conditions; require the state “Manufactured Housing Commission” to notify local governments of any complaints from residents; impose a performance bond mandate on mobile home park owners; impose an annual inspection mandate; authorize placing a park under court-ordered receivership if conditions threaten residents’ health and safety; and more.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=697348
House Bill 5617: Let library board members get pay and set pay
Passed 103 to 4 in the House on November 13, 2014, to allow members of the board of directors of a public libraries to be paid up to $30 per meeting, plus expenses. Library board members are political appointees who under current law do not receive pay.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=697340
House Bill 5806: Allow deeper debt for college conservation improvements
Passed 106 to 1 in the House on November 13, 2014, to revise a law that lets a community college borrow for a term of up 10 years to pay for an “energy conservation improvement,” instead letting them incur debt with a term of up to 25 years. The bill also eliminates a provision restricting this debt to improvements that would pay their cost in future savings.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=697335
Senate Bill 781: Appropriations: Supplemental budget
Passed 35 to 1 in the Senate on November 13, 2014, to make a number of adjustments to amounts already appropriated for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2014, to reflect, among other things, reduced welfare caseloads, and adjustments to previous cost projections. The bill contains some modest new spending authorizations but overall it reflects around $450 million in net reductions to previously authorized outlays, most of which is federal money.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=697252
Senate Bill 781: Appropriations: Supplemental budget
Passed 92 to 15 in the House on November 13, 2014, to make a number of adjustments to amounts already appropriated for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2014, to reflect, among other things, reduced welfare caseloads, and adjustments to previous cost projections. The bill contains some modest new spending authorizations but overall it reflects around $450 million in net reductions to previously authorized outlays, most of which is federal money.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=697332
Senate Bill 1097: Expand technology business subsidies
Passed 36 to 0 in the Senate on November 13, 2014, to increase from three to nine the number of areas in which “certified technology parks” (previously dubbed “smart zones”) are permitted to “capture” school taxes, in addition to capturing other property millages collected by local governments. These emntities use “tax increment financing” to provide infrastructure or other subsidies to technology-based businesses. Like the better-known Downtown Development Authorities, they collect the extra local property tax revenue that (hopefully) results from property value increases generated by their selective subsidies and projects.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=697263
Senate Bill 1105: Add Romulus deep injection well restrictions
Passed 36 to 0 in the Senate on November 13, 2014, to prohibit the Detroit pension system from putting any more pension fund money into a hazardous waste deep disposal well it owns in Romulus, and impose conditions that probably would require divestment of its ownership interest. The bill would permit more pension fund dollars to be “invested” for purposes of preparing the facility for sale to an owner who plans to use the property for a different purpose.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=697264
Senate Bill 1125: Authorize transferring municipal cemetery duties to nonprofit
Passed 36 to 0 in the Senate on November 13, 2014, to permit certain municipalities that own a cemetery to transfer its “perpetual care and maintenance” duties to a separate nonprofit “community foundation” as defined by the bill.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=697270
Senate Bill 1131: Increase penalties for illegal hydrocodone drugs
Passed 35 to 0 in the Senate on November 13, 2014, to extend the more stringent penalties for “Schedule 2” illegal drugs to certain hydrocodone combination products.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=697266
House Bill 5678: Expand breast feeding nudity exemption to milk pump
Passed 106 to 0 in the House on November 13, 2014, to revise the breastfeeding exemption in a law that defines and bans “public nudity,” so that the exemption also includes a woman exposing her breast for purposes of “expressing” breast milk, meaning taking milk from the breast with a pump or by hand for later use.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=697341
House Bill 5679: Expand breast feeding nudity exemption to milk pump
Passed 106 to 0 in the House on November 13, 2014, to revise the breastfeeding exemption in a law that defines and bans “public nudity,” so that the exemption also includes a woman exposing her breast for purposes of “expressing” breast milk, meaning taking milk from the breast with a pump or by hand for later use.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=697342
House Bill 5680: Expand breast feeding nudity exemption to milk pump use
Passed 106 to 0 in the House on November 13, 2014, to revise the breastfeeding exemption in a law that defines and bans “public nudity,” so that the exemption also includes a woman exposing her breast for purposes of “expressing” breast milk, meaning taking milk from the breast with a pump or by hand for later use.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=697343
House Bill 5681: Expand breast feeding nudity exemption to milk pump use
Passed 106 to 0 in the House on November 13, 2014, to revise the breastfeeding exemption in a law that defines and bans “public nudity,” so that the exemption also includes a woman exposing her breast for purposes of “expressing” breast milk, meaning taking milk from the breast with a pump or by hand for later use. This is part of a package consisting of House Bills 5678 to 5681 that amend different statutes that apply to different kinds of local governments.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=697344
House Bill 5684: Expand drain commission powers
Passed 103 to 3 in the House on November 13, 2014, to allow government drainage districts to “acquire interests in real or personal property by gift, purchase, or any other method, including condemnation” (through eminent domain). Current law lets drain districts “hold, manage, and dispose of real and personal property,” but not to acquire it. Drainage districts create and maintain the “drains” (usually networks of ditches) that remove surplus water from land, allowing it to be farmed or developed.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=697345
House Bill 5685: Authorize local government drain petitions
Passed 106 to 0 in the House on November 13, 2014, to permit a local government to petition a drain commission for a drain (usually a network of ditches) to remove excess water from lands that traverses more than one county, if it deems this necessary for “public health.” Taxpayers in the petitioning city, village or township would then be liable “at large” for a portion of the costs.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=697346
House Bill 5686: Revise drain code provisions for multi-county drains
Passed 104 to 2 in the House on November 13, 2014, to revise the law that authorizes local road commissions or the state Department of Transportation to petition a drain commission for a drain to remove surplus water from land adjacent to a road, so as to extend this authority to requesting a drain that traverses more than one county.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=697347
House Bill 5715: Redesignate a bridge
Passed 107 to 0 in the House on November 13, 2014, to redesignate the M-64 bridge over the Ontonagon river in Ontonagon as the “Ontonagon County Veterans Memorial Bridge”..
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=697328
House Bill 5825: Revise private adoption detail
Passed 107 to 0 in the House on November 13, 2014, to revise details of the consent process for the adoption of child born out of wedlock in which the identity is disclosed of a natural father from whom a release cannot be obtained.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=697339