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Senate Bill 217: Revise forest property tax break details
Passed 89 to 20 in the House on June 9, 2015, to clarify eligibility details related to changes made by a 2013 law in forest property tax breaks.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=714871

Senate Bill 305: Preempt local knife regulations
Passed 27 to 10 in the Senate on June 9, 2015, to preempt local governments from enacting or enforcing an ordinance or rule relating to the transportation, possession, carrying, sale, transfer, purchase, gift, devise, licensing, registration, or use of a knife or knife-making components.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=714819

Senate Bill 321: Revise Bay County judge details
Passed 38 to 0 in the Senate on June 10, 2015, to not reduce the number of judges in the 18th judicial circuit (Bay County) by one as prescribed by current law, and instead decrease by one the number of judges in the 74th district court, which also covers Bay County.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=714899

Senate Bill 336: Authorize “Amber Alert” type system for at-large cop killer
Passed 38 to 0 in the Senate on June 10, 2015, to establish procedures for rapidly disseminating useful information to radio and television stations when a person suspected of killing or seriously injuring a police officer is on the loose and dangerous. This would be called a “blue alert”.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=714900

Senate Bill 351: Ban divorce lawyer “ambulance chasing”
Passed 36 to 2 in the Senate on June 10, 2015, to prohibit a lawyer from soliciting business from a party to a divorce action within 21 days after proof of service in the action was filed with the court, punishable by fines of $1,000, and $5,000 for subsequent violations.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=714901

House Bill 4188: Let adoption agencies refuse adoptions that violate moral convictions
Passed 26 to 12 in the Senate on June 10, 2015, to specify in statute that a “child placing agency” (private adoption agency or foster care service) is not required to assist or participate in an adoption or placement that violates its written religious or moral convictions, including adoptions of a child by a homosexual. Also, to prohibit a state agency from discriminating or taking an “adverse action” against an adoption agency for this reason.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=714911

House Bill 4189: Let adoption agencies refuse adoptions that violate moral convictions
Passed 26 to 12 in the Senate on June 10, 2015, to specify in statute that a “child placing agency” (private adoption or foster care agency) is not required to assist or participate in an adoption or placement that violates its written religious or moral convictions, including adoptions of a child by a homosexual. Also, to prohibit a state agency from discriminating or taking an “adverse action” against an agency for this reason.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=714912

House Bill 4190: Let adoption agencies refuse adoptions that violate moral convictions
Passed 26 to 12 in the Senate on June 10, 2015, to prohibit a state agency from discriminating or taking an “adverse action” against an adoption agency that refuses to assist or participate in an adoption or placement that violates its written religious or moral convictions. Specifically, to establish that an adoption agency that adopts this written policy is still eligible for required state licenses.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=714913

House Bill 4245: Revise building code officials registration detail
Passed 38 to 0 in the Senate on June 10, 2015, to establish that employment by a government building code enforcing agency is not required for “registration” as a building official, plan reviewer, or inspector.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=714896

House Bill 4447: Increase and/or extend government license and permit fees
Passed 32 to 6 in the Senate on June 10, 2015, to increase the license fees for hospitals, clinics, nursing homes and other health care facilities. Also, to extend a “Michigan Medicaid Quality Assurance Assessment” (MMQAA) tax on nursing homes for another four years, which is a bed tax used to “game” the federal Medicaid matching funds formula to generate more federal money for Michigan’s medical welfare programs.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=714902

House Bill 4468: Authorize regional airport authorities
Passed 38 to 0 in the Senate on June 10, 2015, to authorize the establishment of regional airport authorities to manage the business operations of local airports. This is primarily directed at creating an authority for the Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Kent County, but it would apply statewide.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=714897

House Bill 4605: House GOP road funding package
Passed 62 to 47 in the House on June 10, 2015, to earmark a portion of state income tax revenue to road funding, starting with $192 million in 2016 and increasing to $717 million in 2019.
According to the House Fiscal Agency, this and other bills in the House package would generate an additional $1.163 billion in annual road repair funding by 2019 with just $119 million in tax increases. Given projected under the road funding package the amount of general fund dollars available for other (non-road) spending would increase by $355 million in 2019, versus an increase of $1.137 billion without the package. The road package includes House Bills 4605 to 4615.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=714964

House Bill 4606: House GOP road funding package
Passed 64 to 45 in the House on June 10, 2015, to earmark a portion of the annual state sales tax revenue that comes from fuel purchases (around $127 million in 2019) to road funding. See also House Bill 4605.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=714965

House Bill 4607: House GOP road funding package (corporate subsidies repeal)
Passed 60 to 49 in the House on June 10, 2015, to no longer spend $75 million annually on various direct and indirect subsidies granted to corporations and developers under the “21st Century Jobs Fund” rubric, and instead use this money on road repairs and improvements (but not on city bus subsidies and other transit spending).
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=714966

House Bill 4608: House GOP road funding package (corporate subsidies repeal)
Passed 59 to 50 in the House on June 10, 2015, to no longer channel $60 million in payments from Indian casinos to the “Michigan Strategic Fund,” which is the entity under which the state’s various corporate subsidy programs are organized, and instead use this money for road repairs and improvements (but not city bus subsidies and other transit spending). Also, to establish as the “intent of the legislature” that the MSF continue to spend at least $29 million annually from its other revenue sources on the “Pure Michigan” advertising campaign.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=714968

House Bill 4609: House GOP road funding package (EITC repeal)
Passed 57 to 52 in the House on June 10, 2015, to eliminate the state earned income tax credit, which grants recipients an amount equal to 6 percent of the federal EITC. The EITC is a refundable tax credit (or “reverse income tax”) that sends checks to low income workers, totaling around $115 million annually. This is part of a House package that generates $1.163 billion more for annual road repairs by 2019, mostly by reprioritizing current state spending.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=714969

House Bill 4610: House GOP road funding package
Passed 63 to 46 in the House on June 10, 2015, to establish that if a township contributes 50 percent or more to the cost of a road project, it can require the county road commission to contract for the work through competitive bidding.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=714970

House Bill 4611: House GOP road funding package
Passed 65 to 44 in the House on June 10, 2015, to clarify and revise details of ambiguous sections of a law that appears to require road agencies to seek competitive bids for projects greater than $100,000.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=714971

House Bill 4612: House GOP road package - hybrid and electric car surcharge
Passed 59 to 50 in the House on June 10, 2015, to impose an annual vehicle registration surtax of $30 on gas-electric hybrid-drive cars, and $100 on pure electric (battery) cars.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=714972

House Bill 4613: House GOP road funding package
Passed 100 to 9 in the House on June 10, 2015, to require local road agencies to get a contractor’s warranty on all road projects that cost more than $2 million “where possible.” The bill would also earmark some annual revenue for grade crossing surface work, and revise details of how money from various road funding sources can be used.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=714974

House Bill 4614: House GOP road funding package
Passed 59 to 50 in the House on June 10, 2015, to revise details of the Michigan version of the “Streamlined Sales Tax” project being pursued this and most states with the goal of taxing out-of-state purchase, so that it conforms with the proposal in House Bill 4615 to extend motor fuel taxes to natural gas burned in Michigan by trucks that was purchased in other states, and to extend the sales tax credit interstate truckers are allowed on fuel purchased in this state.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=714975

House Bill 4615: House GOP road package - diesel fuel tax increase
Passed 58 to 51 in the House on June 10, 2015, to increase the current 15 cents per gallon diesel fuel tax to 19 cents per gallon, and index future diesel and gasoline tax rates to inflation. Also, to tax natural gas and other “alternative fuels” burned by vehicles at an equivalent rate. This is part of a House package that by 2019 generates $1.163 billion more for road repairs by reprioritizing current spending, except for this bill’s $78 million tax increase.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=714976

House Bill 4616: House GOP road funding package
Passed 58 to 51 in the House on June 10, 2015, to increase the current 15 cent per gallon motor carrier fuel tax imposed on interstate truckers to 19 cents per gallon, and revise it to conform with the extension of this tax to natural gas and other “alternative fuels” burned by interstate trucks, both of which mirror the proposals in House Bill 4615 to raise and extend the tax on regular in-state diesel purchases.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=714977

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Senate Bill 209: Encourage teaching America’s founding documents
The amendment failed 18 to 20 in the Senate on June 11, 2015, to strike out language specifying the core principles enshrined in the nation’s founding documents.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=715069

Senate Bill 209: Encourage teaching America’s founding documents
Passed 27 to 11 in the Senate on June 11, 2015, to add language to the state school code stating that public school boards are “encouraged” to provide instruction on the “core principles” of America’s foundational documents and governmental system.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=715070

Senate Bill 211: Authorize uncensored public school American heritage instruction
Passed 30 to 8 in the Senate on June 11, 2015, to require public school boards to “permit” instruction and reading of “America’s founding documents” including those related to the country’s “representative form of limited government, the Bill of Rights, our free-market economic system, and patriotism.” School districts would be prohibited from censoring or restraining reading that includes “religious references in original source documents, writings, speeches, proclamations, or records”.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=715071

House Bill 4052: Preempt local employer wage, benefit or labor law mandates
Passed 22 to 16 in the Senate on June 11, 2015, to preempt local governments, public schools, state colleges and universities, and other governmental authorities from imposing mandatory wage, benefit, leave time, apprenticeship and other requirements on employers which exceed those required by state or federal law.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=715080

House Bill 4101: Try to “buy-back” state venture capital investment guarantees
Passed 38 to 0 in the Senate on June 11, 2015, to appropriate $45 million for an effort to buy-back at a discount some $50 million worth of investor return guarantees the state gave out under an “early stage venture capital investment” scheme authorized by a 2003 law.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=715072

House Bill 4495: Revise delinquent municipal borrower’s repayment procedure
Passed 108 to 1 in the House on June 11, 2015, to establish that lenders who loan money to a local government, with the loan secured by the borrower’s “unlimited tax pledge,” have a “statutory first lien” (legal claim) on “all taxes subject to the (municipality’s) unlimited tax pledge.” Under the bill, such lenders be less likely to have to go to court to enforce their claim.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=715108