Senate Bill 92: Impose licensure on pharmacy assistants
Passed 35 to 1 in the Senate on April 9, 2013, to impose licensure and regulation on “pharmacy technicians” (assistants), with license fees, continuing education requirements, test-taking mandates and more.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=657894
Senate Bill 165: Require disclosure of medical futility policies
Passed 36 to 0 in the Senate on April 9, 2013, to require a hospital, health facility or agency that maintains a written policy that encourages or allows a health care professional to withhold or discontinue treatment on the grounds of “medical futility” to provide a copy of the policy to the patient or resident upon request.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=657893
House Bill 4026: Require review and posting of inter-government agreements
Passed 109 to 0 in the House on April 10, 2013, to require that before a state agency or a local government enters a cross-border memorandum of understanding, agreement, compact, or similar binding agreement with the federal government or another state, it must do a review to determine it does not exceed its authority or violate the state constitution. Information on each agreement would also be forwarded to the Attorney General (who would not be required to do anything with it) and posted on a state web site. Existing agreements that are legally binding would also have to be posted on this state website. In 2012, Gov. Rick Snyder vetoed a nearly identical bill that passed the legislature with no votes in opposition.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=658431
House Bill 4045: Revise electricians license law detail
Passed 36 to 0 in the Senate on April 9, 2013, to revise details of the law that imposes licensure mandates on electricians and fire alarm specialty technicians and authorizes apprenticeship programs to qualify people for these licenses. Among other things the bill would repeal a requirement that apprenticeship programs must have requirements equivalent to certain federal ones.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=657895
House Bill 4081: Authorize Alzheimer’s Association tax checkoff
Passed 108 to 1 in the House on April 10, 2013, to allow an individual to choose to automatically contribute $5 or more from his or her state income tax refund to provide grants to the Michigan Alzheimer’s Association. The checkoff would have the effect of reducing the amount of a person’s tax refund. A person not receiving a refund could use his or her tax return to contribute to the program.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=658370
House Bill 4082: Authorize Alzheimer’s association tax checkoff
Passed 108 to 1 in the House on April 10, 2013, to allow an individual to choose to automatically contribute $5 or more from his or her state income tax refund to provide grants to the Michigan Alzheimer’s Association. The checkoff would have the effect of reducing the amount of a person’s tax refund. A person not receiving a refund could use his or her tax return to contribute to the program.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=658371
House Bill 4084: Authorize Lou Gehrig’s disease income tax checkoff
Passed 108 to 1 in the House on April 10, 2013, to allow an individual to choose to automatically contribute $5 or more from his or her state income tax refund to provide government subsidies to research or clinics treating persons with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or “Lou Gehrig’s disease”). The checkoff would have the effect of reducing the amount of a person’s tax refund. A person not receiving a refund could use his or her tax return to contribute to the program.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=658372
House Bill 4085: Authorize Lou Gehrig’s disease income tax checkoff
Passed 108 to 1 in the House on April 10, 2013, to allow an individual to choose to automatically contribute $5 or more from his or her state income tax refund to provide government subsidies to research or clinics treating persons with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or “Lou Gehrig’s disease”). The checkoff would have the effect of reducing the amount of a person’s tax refund. A person not receiving a refund could use his or her tax return to contribute to the program.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=658373
House Bill 4166: Impose regulations on amateur mixed martial competitions
Passed 106 to 3 in the House on April 10, 2013, to establish sentencing guidelines for violations the Michigan amateur mixed martial arts regulatory act proposed by House Bill 4167.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=658369
House Bill 4167: Impose regulations on amateur mixed martial competitions
Passed 106 to 3 in the House on April 10, 2013, to impose impose regulations, licensure mandates and fees on amateur mixed martial arts competitions. The bill establishes a new comprehensive regulatory regime. Among other things, it would prohibit pros from participating in an amateur event, mandate licensing and fees for promoters, authorize criminal penalties for violations, mandate insuruance coverage levels, and more.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=658368
House Bill 4262: Revise ban on carrying dangerous weapons
Passed 107 to 2 in the House on April 9, 2013, to revise details of the law prohibiting carrying concealed weapons “with unlawful intent.” The new language would replace references to specific types of blades with language prohibit carrying an “object designed, manufactured, or intended to be used to cause death or injury.” The bill also clarifies that the prohibition does not apply to weapons being transported to the field if they are securely encased and not readily accessible for immediate use.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=658082
Senate Bill 123: Expand local convention facility authorities
Passed 100 to 10 in the House on April 11, 2013, to allow the Grand Rapids and Kent County convention facility authorities to borrow and spend more to build or buy a second facility, including a “market” or a sports facility (which could mean an arena or stadium). The bill would also eliminate the 12 year term limits on members of these entities’ boards.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=658660
Senate Bill 257: Expand “Business Improvement Zone” tax-and-spend entities
Passed 35 to 2 in the Senate on April 11, 2013, to expand the items that a “Business Improvement Zone” can spend money on, reduce the number of property owners in the district able to impose a zone’s tax and spending powers, increase the number needed to dissolve them, increase the duration of the zones, reduce certain notification requirements required to establish one of these zones, allow the “zone” to sell services to particular property owners in the district, increase penalties for not paying the “special assessments” it imposes, and make other changes. These zones may be created by owners of a majority of the property in a certain area (not the same as the majority of owners), and have the power to impose property taxes (special assessments) to pay for the debt the zone incurs to pay for projects that are supposed to benefit the property owners.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=658628
House Bill 4052: Revise travel trailer financing regulation
Passed 37 to 0 in the Senate on April 11, 2013, to extend the laws and regulations that apply to motor vehicle loans and financing to include non-motorized recreational travel trailers, and no longer regulate these sales under the law that governs financing of non-vehicle product purchases.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=658629
House Bill 4053: Revise travel trailer financing regulation
Passed 37 to 0 in the Senate on April 11, 2013, to extend the laws and regulations that apply to motor vehicle loans and financing to include non-motorized recreational travel trailers, and no longer regulate these sales under the law that governs financing of non-vehicle product purchases.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=658630
House Bill 4139: Eliminate “peace bonds”
Passed 88 to 22 in the House on April 11, 2013, to repeal a section of criminal law that authorizes a judge to order a “peace bond” from an individual who has threatened to commit an offense against the person or property of another. This is not the same as the much more common “personal protection orders” used in domestic violence, stalking and similar cases, and there are concerns that peace bonds have been used to abridge individuals’ free speech rights.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=658659