Senate Bill 350: Authorize, regulate electronic billboards
Introduced by Sen. Tom Casperson (R) on May 7, 2013, to amend the state billboard law to authorize regulation of digital signs, and revise a wide range of other details of this law.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=159140
Senate Bill 351: Clarify fertilizer use restrictions
Introduced by Sen. Arlan Meekhof (R) on May 7, 2013, to clarify that use of fertilizers and other soil conditioners which follows “generally accepted” agricultural and management practices at the time of use does not constitute a “release” of hazardous substances in violation of state regulations.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=159141
Senate Bill 352
Introduced by Sen. Dave Hildenbrand (R) on May 7, 2013, Exempt disabled veteran’s home from property tax to exempt the principal residence of a totally disabled veteran from property tax.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=159142
Senate Bill 353: Cut state airport parking tax
Introduced by Sen. Joe Hune (R) on May 7, 2013, to reduce a 27 percent state airport parking tax to 6 percent.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=159143
Senate Bill 354: Revise dog and cat euthanasia regulations
Introduced by Sen. Rick Jones (R) on May 8, 2013, to require an animal control or protection shelter to use only injections of a commercially prepared solution for euthanizing a dog or cat.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=159177
Senate Bill 355: Create annual “Korean American Day”
Introduced by Sen. Hoon-Yung Hopgood (D) on May 9, 2013, to enact a new law that would establish Jan. 13 of each year as “Korean American Day”.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=159292
Senate Bill 356: Establish annual state “Fred Korematsu Day”
Introduced by Sen. Hoon-Yung Hopgood (D) on May 9, 2013, to designate January 30 as “Fred Korematsu Day” in the state of Michigan. Korematsu was an American-born citizen of Japanese descent who resisted the internment of Japanese Americans in World War II.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=159293
Senate Bill 357: Revise corporation voting share detail
Introduced by Sen. John Pappageorge (R) on May 9, 2013, to revise details of when shares of a corporation are considered to be “beneficially owned” for purposes of exercising the voting rights associated with those shares. Specifically, the bill would establish that shares are not “beneficially owned” by a person unless the corporation’s board passes a resolution to that effect before the person acquires the share.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=159294
Senate Bill 358: Authorize certain manufacturing & mining electrician licensure exemptions
Introduced by Sen. Arlan Meekhof (R) on May 9, 2013, to exclude certain work in manufacturing and mining operations, or at an “independent power producer” facility, from a state licensure mandate that prohibits an individual from earning a living as an electrician without a state license (which among other things requires at least four years of apprenticeship in which 8,000 hours of experience must be accumulated).
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=159295
Senate Bill 359: Require license plates be made with digital printing
Introduced by Sen. Darwin Booher (R) on May 14, 2013, to require the Secretary of State to use a digital printing method to create all standard design license plates.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=159378
Senate Bill 360
Introduced by Sen. Goeff Hansen (R) on May 14, 2013, Revise business trailer registration tax detail to change the expiration date for the registration (license plate or tab) issued to a trailer or semitrailer owned by a business, to January 1 instead of the last day of February. The expiration date for a registration issued to other commercial vehicles would continue to be the last day of February. For pickup trucks or vans owned by individuals, registrations would still expire on the owners birthday.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=159379
House Bill 4635: Ban insurance ownership of body shop
Introduced by Rep. Greg MacMaster (R) on April 30, 2013, to prohibit auto insurance companies from owning auto repair shops. The bill also prohibits an auto insurance provider from requiring an insured customer to use a particular shop, or having a “preferred facility” list, or requiring repairs that use “non-original” parts, and more.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=158943
House Bill 4636: Clarify criminal restitution detail
Introduced by Rep. Tom Leonard (R) on April 30, 2013, to clarify wording in a law that requires convicted criminals to pay restitution to the victim, or if the victim dies, to his or her estate.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=158944
House Bill 4637: Allow communities to opt-out of regional transit authority (and tax)
Introduced by Rep. Kurt Heise (R) on April 30, 2013, to allow local communities and counties to withdraw from the Detroit area regional transportation authority created by a 2012 law, and presumably from the extra property and vehicle taxes this authority is authorized to impose. Withdrawal would require a two-thirds vote of the local governing body.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=158945
House Bill 4638: Revise deed recording detail
Introduced by Rep. Peter Pettalia (R) on April 30, 2013, to establish a legal presumption that a property conveyance (deed or easement) recorded with the county register of deeds is valid if the conveyance meets the statutory requirements proposed by House Bill 4640, and other legal requirements.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=158946
House Bill 4639: Revise deed recording detail
Introduced by Rep. Marilyn Lane (D) on April 30, 2013, to revise the law requiring registers of deeds to maintain an index of recorded deeds and related instruments, so that it conforms with the provisions proposed by House Bill 4640.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=158947
House Bill 4640: Revise deed recording detail
Introduced by Rep. Peter Pettalia (R) on April 30, 2013, to establish standards for the affidavit that is required when recording an unrecorded property conveyance (deed or easement) with the county register of deeds.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=158948
House Bill 4641: Prohibit occupational licensure exceeding public health and safety interest
Introduced by Rep. Tom McMillin (R) on April 30, 2013, to prohibit the state or local governments from imposing a form of occupational licensure, registration, certification, bond-posting, inspection mandate or other restriction on an individual seeking to perform a lawful occupation, if it is more restrictive than required for public health and safety. Instead, governments would be allowed only to impose the “least restrictive” burden required for public health and safety. Individuals would have a right to sue if an occupational regulation excessively burdens their right to earn a living in a lawful occupation.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=158949
House Bill 4642: Repeal striking workers replacement ad disclosure mandate
Introduced by Rep. Amanda Price (R) on April 30, 2013, to repeal a law that prohibits an employer from soliciting or advertising for replacements for striking workers unless the solicitation discloses that there is a strike.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=158950
House Bill 4643: Establish legal recourse for target of illegal union picket
Introduced by Rep. Tom McMillin (R) on April 30, 2013, to revise a law that makes it illegal to picket a business for purposes of blocking access to individuals doing or seeking work there. The bill would allow an employer to ask for a court injunction to stop the picketing, and a union that disobeyed the injunction could be fined $10,000 per day, and $1,000 for individuals.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=158951
House Bill 4644: End state subsidies to film producers
Introduced by Rep. Joel Johnson (R) on April 30, 2013, to sunset the 2008 law authorizing state subsidies for film producers and facilities, as of Oct. 1, 2013.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=158952
House Bill 4645: Require headlights on all the time in rain
Introduced by Rep. George T. Darany (D) on April 30, 2013, to require the use of headlights while driving whenever it is raining or snowing enough to require the use of windshield wipers.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=158953
House Bill 4646: Revise child adoption/placement details
Introduced by Rep. Mike Shirkey (R) on April 30, 2013, to authorize and specify procedures under which a parent could execute an out-of-court consent to an adoption after the child’s birth.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=158954
House Bill 4647: Revise child adoption/placement details
Introduced by Rep. Margaret O’Brien (R) on April 30, 2013, to establish that three months after formal an adoption placement of adoptee who is less than one year old, a court could enter an order of adoption, unless it determined that circumstances had arisen that make adoption undesirable.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=158955
House Bill 4648: Revise child adoption/placement details
Introduced by Rep. Kenneth Kurtz (R) on April 30, 2013, to revise details of a law that describes when parental rights can be terminated and when they cannot, so as to establish procedures for when the parental rights of a mother have not been officially terminated, and the court finds that the best interest of the child would be served by granting custody to the putative father.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=158956
House Bill 4649: Create foster care parents “bill of rights”
Introduced by Rep. Kevin Cotter (R) on April 30, 2013, to create a foster care parents “bill of rights” that among other things would require state authorities to provide “timely financial reimbursement for foster children in the foster parent’s care,” a “fair, timely, and impartial investigation of complaints concerning the foster parent’s licensure,” due process during any investigation, and more.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=158957
House Bill 4650: Create foster care parents “bill of rights”
Introduced by Rep. Ben Glardon (R) on April 30, 2013, to give the state “children’s ombudsman” the duty of investigating matters related to the proposal in House Bill 4649 to create a foster care parents “bill of rights”.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=158958
House Bill 4651: Further restrict commercial smoking ban exemptions
Introduced by Rep. Sam Singh (D) on April 30, 2013, to revise the exemption of“cigar bars” and tobacco specialty retail stores from the 2009 law that prohibits a business owner from choosing whether to allow smoking in his or her establishment. Under the bill, these exemptions could not be transferred from an existing cigar bar or specialty store to any other. Also, if one of these establishments moved, it would lose the exemption unless the governing body of the new location approves it.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=158959
House Bill 4705: Require tax “refund” from school district that collected tax for retired debt
Introduced by Rep. Edward McBroom (R) on May 7, 2013, to require a school district that collected a property tax millage for bonds that were already paid off (retired) to transfer excess revenue collected to the state, and to credit the overcharged revenue against the state school property tax liability of property owners in the district.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=159162
House Bill 4714: Accept federal health care law Medicaid expansion, with conditions
Introduced by Rep. Matt Lori (R) on May 9, 2013, to expand Medicaid eligibility to families and childless adults up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, but make this contingent on the federal government allowing the state to implement specified Medicaid reforms. Under the federal health care law (aka “Obamacare”), expansion was originally mandatory for states, but the Supreme Court ruled it can only be optional for states. Under current provisions, the feds are supposed to pay 100 percent of the expansion’s cost during the first three years (not counting administration costs), with the state responsible for not more than 10 percent of the costs starting in 2020.
In its current form, the reforms required by the bill appear to be “poison pill” ones the Obama administration would not approve. They include: A four year cap on Medicaid benefits for non-disabled adults; a requirement that non-disabled adult beneficiaries must contribute “up to” 5 percent of their income as deductibles, copays, etc.; allow Health Savings Accounts for non-disabled adult beneficiaries; allow non-disabled adults to choose a “contracted health plan” through the agency styled as the “exchange” (most Michigan Medicaid recipients are already enrolled in contracted managed-care plans, so without the other reforms this would not appear to represent a significant change in the status quo); allow the state to impose “healthy behavior incentives” on non-disabled adults; require the federal government to permanently assume 100 percent of the state’s expansion-related costs (the language is unclear as to whether this applies to administrative or benefit costs, and sponsors say their intent is the latter).
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=159308
Senate Bill 16: Authorize wildlife violation compact enforcement
Passed 107 to 0 in the House on May 14, 2013, to require and establish procedures for the Department of Natural Resources to enforce the terms of a multi-state Wildlife Violator Compact, including suspending the hunting and fishing privileges of a Michigan resident who was suspended by another member state for violations there; and also authorize the department to either withdraw from the compact or adopt amendments under the compact’s provisions for doing so. Among other things, the compact requires participating states to treat residents and nonresidents alike in issuing citations for wildlife law violations.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=663923
Senate Bill 284: Revise home heating welfare program
Passed 35 to 3 in the Senate on May 14, 2013, to create a state fund to receive and redistribute up to $60 million annually from customer surcharges on electricity bills to low income households as home heating subsidies.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=663889
House Bill 4069: Expand forest property tax breaks
Passed 38 to 0 in the Senate on May 14, 2013, to not impose a property tax “recapture” charge assessed when property is withdrawn from a program granting tax exemptions to owners of large tracts of forest generally grown for “industrial” uses (like paper mills), if the property is entered into a similar “qualified forest” tax break program for private owners of smaller parcels. The program for the larger “industrial” forests requires owners to grant public recreational access, while the small-owner one does not. See also House Bill 4320.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=663886
House Bill 4242: Raise burden of proof to justify new government regulations
Passed 108 to 0 in the House on May 14, 2013, to require government agencies to demonstrate that a rule they want to impose is “necessary and suitable to achieve its purpose in proportion to the burdens it places on individuals”.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=663925
House Bill 4243: Revise forest property tax breaks
Passed 38 to 0 in the Senate on May 14, 2013, to revise the formula used to calculate the property tax “recapture rate” assessed when productive forestland is withdrawn from a program granting property tax exemptions to owners of smaller “non-industrial” sized parcels of forestland, with the rate depending on whether timber has been harvested on the property. See also House Bills 4069 and 4320.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=663887
House Bill 4244: Revise forest property tax breaks
Passed 38 to 0 in the Senate on May 14, 2013, to revise details of the procedures and fees used by forest property owners to get certain forest property tax breaks, so that these conform to the changes and expansion of the program proposed by House Bill 4243.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=663888
House Bill 4471: Exempt some schools from minimum instruction days mandate
Passed 34 to 1 in the Senate on May 9, 2013, to revise the law that requires public schools to provide a minimum of 1,098 hours and 170 days of instruction per year, by exempting schools that closures in the 2012-2013 school year for various reasons specified in the bill.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=663619
House Bill 4574: Require funeral home buyers honor prepaid funeral contracts
The amendment passed by voice vote in the House on May 9, 2013, to establish that if passed the bill will go into effect 90 days after it is enacted.
http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislation.aspx?ID=158665
House Bill 4574: Require funeral home buyers honor prepaid funeral contracts
Passed 108 to 0 in the House on May 14, 2013, to require the buyer of a licensed funeral establishment to assume the previous owner’s commitments under existing prepaid funeral contracts.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=663926
House Bill 4586: Revise business tax detail
Passed 108 to 0 in the House on May 14, 2013, to revise a business tax law “look-back period” detail related to the state tax filing responsibilities of business entities that previously were not required to file a tax return but then are required due to changes in state rules. See this House Fiscal Agency summary for details.
See Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No” at http://www.michiganvotes.org/RollCall.aspx?ID=663924