In order to keep you and your neighbors better informed about the legislation we discuss, I am posting the agenda for any scheduled committee meetings at the beginning of the week and an update with any votes that were taken that week in committee or on the House floor. I hope you find this information helpful and please do not hesitate to contact me if I can be of further assistance.
Jan. 27-30, 2014: House Votes
For votes of the full legislature, I will include a summary of each bill with the sponsor, the vote totals and the next step in the legislative process for the bill. If you would like to read more information about a given bill you can head to www.legislature.mi.gov.
Prohibition of Felons from Possessing Ammunition
HB 4715 (Heise), Passed: 86-22
HB 4716 (Graves), Passed: 86-22
HB 4717 (Kesto), Passed: 101-7
Next: Sent to Senate for consideration
HB 4715 prohibits a felon from possessing, using, transporting, selling, carrying, shipping or distributing ammunition until three years have passed. HB 4717 allows an individual to apply to the concealed weapons licensing board in the county in which he or she resides for full restoration of his or her rights to possess ammunition once he or she is eligible. HB 4716 updates the sentencing guidelines description for the criminal offense “possession or sale of firearm by felon.”
Mandate that the Fireworks Safety Act Supersede the Single State Construction Code Act
SB 255 (Jones), Passed: 108-0
Next: Sent to governor for signature
SB 255 would mandate that the Fireworks Safety Act supersede the Single State Construction Code Act when the code is inconsistent with the Fireworks Safety Act.
Establishment of “Insurable Interest” with Trustees
SB 31 (Schuitmaker), Passed: 108-0
SB 32 (Schuitmaker), Passed: 108-0
Next: Sent to governor for signature
These bills establish that a trustee of a trust has an “insurable interest” in the life of an individual insured under a life insurance policy owned by the trustee acting in a fiduciary capacity for the trust, given certain conditions specified in the bill.
Amendment to the Highway Advertising Act
HB 4629 (Jacobsen), Passed: 104-6
Next: Sent to governor for signature
HB 4629 amends the Highway Advertising Act, including but not limited to: requiring a new permit process and other restrictions for digital billboards; addressing enforcement issues related to nonconforming billboards and other issues to ensure compliance with federal requirements; amending procedures and penalties related to vegetation management in the vicinity of billboards; and establishing a Michigan Billboard Advisory Council. *The Senate made an amendment that limited the number of nonstandard sign digital billboard conversions allowed must surrender permits for existing signs to eight from 50, limited the period when this may occur to six months, and limited the occurrence to only Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb Counties.
Allowing Public Officials to Serve on the Board of Directors for a Brownfield Redevelopment Authority
HB 5131 (SANTANA), Passed: 108-2
HB 5132 (SANTANA), Passed: 108-2
Next: Sent to Senate for consideration
HB 5131 & HB 5132 would allow public officials or their appointees to serve on the board of directors (BOD) for a Brownfield Redevelopment Authority or a municipality’s economic development corporation.
Week of Jan. 27, 2014: Committee Meetings
For each bill considered I will include the vote total or write “testimony only” if no vote was taken. Due to the complexity of certain issues, some bills receive multiple committee hearings before being put to a vote. If you would like to read further analysis of a bill you can access that at www.legislature.mi.gov.
If you would like to read the minutes from a particular hearing or testimony on a bill, you can access that by going to http://house.mi.gov/MHRPublic/committee.aspx and selecting the relevant committee from the dropdown menu.
Regulatory Reform
HB 4582 – (Foster) – Occupations; residential builders; prelicensure education requirements for residential builders and contractors; revise.
Reported from committee by a 12-0 vote
SB 641 – (Kowall) – Occupations; real estate; pre-licensure and continuing education for realtors; revise, and authorize re-licensure of certain former licensees.
Reported from committee by a 12-0 vote
SB 29 – (Bieda) – Trade; hazardous substances; addition of bittering agent to antifreeze; require.
Testimony Only
Energy and Technology
HB 4885 – (Nesbitt) – Taxation; severance; tax on production of oil and gas produced by enhanced recovery projects; reduce.
Testimony Only
HB 5254 – (Outman) – Natural resources; gas and oil; pipeline definition; expand to include pipelines carrying carbon dioxide gas for certain purposes.
Testimony Only
HB 5255 – (Stallworth) – Natural resources; gas and oil; condemnation authority for pipelines; expand to
Testimony Only
Transportation and Infrastructure
HB 5142 – (McCready) – Traffic control; other; fee for commercial look-up service; provide for additional fee for web portal development, and allow private entities to provide commercial look-up service.
Testimony Only
HB 4781 – (Jacobsen) – Traffic control; driver license; number of temporary instruction permits for motorcycle; limit, and expand conditions for operation by a permitted motorcycle operator.
Testimony Only
SB 463 – (Caswell) – Vehicles; registration plates; required attachment of registration plate to rear of vehicle; eliminate requirement for certain historic military vehicles.
Testimony Only
HB 4015 – (Heise) – Transportation; funds; funding to authority created under the municipal partnership act or the urban cooperation act of 1967; provide for.
Testimony Only
Elections and Ethics
HB 4825 – (Kesto) – Elections; candidates; candidates to indicate certain felony convictions on the affidavit of identity; require. Reported from committee by a 9-0 vote
HB 5222 – (Forlini) – Campaign finance; statements and reports; period when disclosure is required for issue ads; change to 60 days before all elections.
Testimony Only
Tax Policy
SB 396 – (Casperson) – Property tax; assessments; retention of taxable value for property improvements required due to certain natural disaster losses; provide for.
Reported from committee by a 10-5 vote
SB 629 – (Jones) – State financing and management; bonds; refund of certain building authority bonds; extend sunset.
Testimony Only
SB 630 – (Jones) – Economic development; tax increment financing; refund of certain tax increment finance bonds; extend sunset.
Testimony Only
Military and Veterans Affairs
SB 428 – (Kahn) – Veterans; cemeteries; flags used to mark graves of veterans; require to be American made.
Reported from committee by a 13-0 vote
HB 5035 – (Goike) – Higher education; community colleges; questions to applicants concerning military experience of the applicant and the applicant’s parents or spouse; require
Testimony Only
Appropriations Subcommittee: Licensing and Regulatory Affairs
Administration and implementation of occupational licensing programs under the Corporations, Securities, and Commercial Licensing Bureau and the Bureau of Health Care Services within LARA
Education
HB 5223 – (Rep. O’Brien) – Education; teachers; performance evaluation requirements for teachers; revise.
Testimony Only
HB 5224 – (Rep. Zemke) – Education; employees; performance evaluation requirements for school administrators; revise.
Testimony Only
Commerce
SB 533 – (Sen. Kahn) – Economic development; renaissance zones; extension of certain existing renaissance zones; provide for.
Testimony Only
Criminal Justice
SB 409 – (Sen. Jones) – Crimes; other; unlawful imprisonment; include as predicate offense for first degree murder.
Reported from committee by a vote of 9-0
SB 581 – (Sen. Jones) – Criminal procedure; sentencing; verification of school enrollment or employment of individual released from jail to attend school or for employment purposes; amend day parole act to correct citation reference.
Reported from committee by a vote of 8-0
SB 285 – (Sen. Bieda) – Crimes; animals; penalties for crimes against animals; enhance, and make other revisions.
Reported from committee by a vote of 8-0
SB 286 – (Sen. Jones) – Criminal procedure; sentencing guidelines; sentencing guidelines for crimes of animal cruelty; enact and amend.
Reported from committee by a vote of 9-0
HB 5108 – (Rep. Kelly) – Crimes; other; resale of event tickets at higher or lower prices; allow.
Reported from committee by a vote of 8-0
Michigan Competitiveness
Michigan’s Food and Agriculture Industry: Focus on Aquaculture, Part of Reinventing Michigan
Derek Bajema, Mike DiBernardo and Scott Corrin from the MDARD Office of Ag Development
Families, Children and Seniors
HB 5198 – (Rep. McCready) – Labor; mediation; access to certain case files for use in human services employee disciplinary proceedings; allow without a court order.
Reported from committee by a vote of 9-0
HB 5038 – (Rep. Kurtz) – Children; services; child welfare caseloads; codify.
Testimony Only
Financial Services
HCR 19 – (Rep. Foster) – A concurrent resolution to urge the Congress of the United States to repeal section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
Reported favorably from committee by a 9-0-3 vote
Judiciary
HB 4486 – (Rep. Walsh) – Health; substance abuse treatment; involuntary substance abuse assessment, stabilization, and treatment for adults; allow.
Reported from committee by a 10-0-1 vote
SB 628 – (Sen. Schuitmaker) – Crime victims; statements; delivery of victim statement by parents of a minor; allow under certain circumstances.
Reported from committee by a 12-0 vote
HB 4534 – (Rep. Muxlow) – Animals; animal shelters; use of animal abuse registry by animal control shelters and animal protection shelters when allowing an animal adoption; require, and prohibit animal control shelters from allowing a person listed on animal abuse registry to adopt an animal.
Testimony Only
HB 4755 – (Rep. Santana) – Crimes; animals; ownership of animals by a person convicted by certain crimes against animals; require court to prohibit for a period of at least five years.
Testimony Only
HB 5061 – (Rep. Santana) – Animals; animal shelters; animal shelters to deny adoptions under certain circumstances; require, and allow animal shelters to consider prior criminal history before adoption.
Testimony Only
HB 5062 – (Rep. Santana) – Law enforcement; reports; access by animal shelter to certain criminal history record information through ICHAT; allow without a fee for purposes of animal adoption.
Testimony Only
Financial Liability Reform
HJR CC – (Rep. Franz) – Legislature; other; federal balanced budget amendment; petition congress.
Testimony Only
SJR V – (Sen. Green) – Legislature; other; federal balanced budget amendment; petition congress.
Testimony Only
Joint Appropriations Subcommittee: Higher Education
Agenda:
Presentation by the Michigan College Access Network