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
Senate Bill 35: Authorize criminal penalties for nonpayment of “administrative hearing bureau” fines
Passed 35 to 1 in the Senate on April 18, 2013, to authorize additional penalties for failing to pay fines imposed by “administrative hearing bureaus” that most cities are allowed to create for enforcing “blight violations” under a 2003 law. Under that law, cities already have the power to place a lien against the property. The bill would authorize additional fines of $500, 93 days in jail for a second offense, and up to a year for a third offense.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=659555
Senate Bill 36: Authorize penalties for nonpayment of “administrative hearing bureau” fines
Passed 35 to 1 in the Senate on April 18, 2013, to allow a local government to ban giving an approval required under a local zoning ordinance to a property owner who has failed to pay fines imposed by “administrative hearing bureaus” that most cities are allowed to create for enforcing “blight violations” under a 2003 law. Under that law, cities already have the power to place a lien against the property. Senate Bill 35 would also authorize jail time for second offenses.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=659556
Senate Bill 37: Authorize penalties for nonpayment of “administrative hearing bureau” fines
Passed 35 to 1 in the Senate on April 18, 2013, to allow a local government to ban giving an approval required under a building code ordinance to a property owner who has failed to pay fines imposed by “administrative hearing bureaus” that most cities are allowed to create for enforcing “blight violations” under a 2003 law. Under that law, cities already have the power to place a lien against the property.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=659557
Senate Bill 38: Authorize wage garnishment for nonpayment of “administrative hearing bureau” fines
Passed 35 to 1 in the Senate on April 18, 2013, to allow a local government to garnish the wages of a property owner who has failed to pay fines imposed by “administrative hearing bureaus” that most cities are allowed to create for enforcing “blight violations” under a 2003 law. Under that law, cities already have the power to place a lien against the property.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=659558
Senate Bill 39: Authorize foreclosure for nonpayment of “administrative hearing bureau” fines
Passed 35 to 1 in the Senate on April 18, 2013, to allow a local government to foreclose on property owned by a person who has failed to pay fines imposed by “administrative hearing bureaus” that most cities are allowed to create for enforcing “blight violations” under a 2003 law. Under that law, cities already have the power to place a lien against the property. Senate Bill 35 would also authorize jail time for second offenses.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=659559
Senate Bill 108: Authorize a memorial highway designation
Passed 109 to 0 in the House on April 18, 2013, to designate a portion of I-94 in Kalamazoo county as the “Officer Eric Zapata Memorial Highway”.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=659733
Senate Bill 218: Expand borrow-and-spend “water resource improvement authorities”
Passed 92 to 16 in the House on April 18, 2013, to eliminate the sunset on local governments creating new “water resource improvement authorities”which use extra property tax levies and “tax increment financing” schemes to divert other taxing units’ property tax revenue to cover debt service payments on debt they incur for various recreation and development projects. The bill would also expand the scope of activities and geographic limits of these entities, letting them borrow and spend for dredging among other things.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=659732
Senate Bill 243: Use constitutional “waterway fund” money for dredging
Passed 27 to 7 in the Senate on April 17, 2013, to require that, for the next three years only, at least half the money spent by a state “waterways account” (to which the state constitution earmarks certain fuel tax and water-recreation related fee revenue) for boat harbor dredging and breakwalls.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=659404
House Bill 4002: Increase interest to taxpayers owed refunds
Passed 107 to 0 in the House on April 18, 2013, to require the state to pay 3 percent in interest (annual rate) to a taxpayer who is due a tax refund because of an overpayment (including excessive “withholding”), starting 60 days after the claim is filed.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=659725
House Bill 4126: Revise horseback riding liability waiver
Passed 59 to 48 in the House on April 18, 2013, to revise a law limiting the liability of stables and equine event organizers for injury, death or property damage resulting from an inherent risk of an equine activity, by changing an exception allowing suits for “negligence” so that it instead only allows suits for “willful and wanton disregard” for participants’ safety.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=659727
House Bill 4138: Prohibit Michigan National Guard executing federal “indefinite detention”
Passed 109 to 0 in the House on April 18, 2013, to prohibit members of the Michigan National Guard or other state and local government employees from participating in the investigation, prosecution, or detention of any person under a recent federal law giving the current or a future President the power to order the indefinite detention of persons arrested on U.S. soil, without charge or trial (“section 1021 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Year 2012”).
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=659734
House Bill 4147: Revise basis of public-safety “special assessment” levies
Passed 57 to 50 in the House on April 18, 2013, to allow local “special assessment” property taxes that are imposed on top of regular property taxes and earmarked for police and fire services to be levied on a flat-rate per parcel basis, rather than the assessed value of each parcel (which is called “ad valorem” in the tax laws). Special assessments were originally intended to only fund improvements that especially benefit properties within a certain “district,” but today are often imposed for core government services like public safety, and differ little from regular property taxes, except they are not subject to a vote of the people and other constitutional restrictions.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=659726
House Bill 4303: Authorize other-state funeral director license reciprocity
Passed 108 to 0 in the House on April 18, 2013, to recognize as valid in Michigan a license in the field of “mortuary science” or funeral directing issued by Indiana, Ohio, or Wisconsin that has substantially the same standards. This would apply for up to two years, when presumably the person would get a Michigan license.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=659731
House Bill 4329: Authorize other-state funeral director license reciprocity
Passed 108 to 0 in the House on April 18, 2013, to authorize fees for the “limited” funeral director license proposed by House Bill 4303.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=659729
House Bill 4330: Authorize other-state funeral director license reciprocity
Passed 107 to 0 in the House on April 18, 2013, to recognize as valid in Michigan a license in the field of “mortuary science” or funeral directing issued by Indiana, Ohio, or Wisconsin that has substantially the same standards. This would apply for up to two years, when presumably the person would get a Michigan license. House Bill 4303 contains the main part of this proposal.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=659728
House Bill 4382: Allow guardians to execute do-not-resuscitate orders
Passed 107 to 0 in the House on April 18, 2013, to revise various court procedures and definitions to reflect the guardian-signed do-not-resuscitate orders proposed by House Bill 4384.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=659730
House Bill 4383: Allow guardians to execute do-not-resuscitate orders
Passed 108 to 1 in the House on April 18, 2013, to revise statutory references to reflect the guardian-signed do-not-resuscitate orders proposed by House Bill 4384.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=659735
House Bill 4384: Allow guardians to execute do-not-resuscitate orders
Passed 108 to 1 in the House on April 18, 2013, to essentially grant the court-appointed guardian of an incapacitated person the authority to sign a do-not-resuscitate order, subject to various restrictions and procedures, including expanded provisions allowing any interested person who objects to petition for a court review. When appointing a guardian for a individual who does not have a lawyer he or she has selected, a court-appointed “guardian ad litem” would have to inform the individual that the actual guardian would have this power.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=659736