In order to help make our state government more transparent and accessible to my constituents, each week that there is session I am going to post to my website a synopsis of the work each House committee will do for the week. This will include the time and location for the meeting as well as any bills or presentations the committee will hear. Each agenda item will include the bill number, the sponsor, and a brief summary of the legislation. If you would like to read in greater detail about any of these bills, you can read them in their full-text at www.legislature.mi.gov.

Please also note that you and your neighbors are welcome to observe any committee meeting or legislative session. Most House committee meetings are in the House Office Building (124 N. Capitol Ave. in Lansing) but some convene in the Capitol across the street.

As your elected officials, it is our job to conduct legislative business with efficiency and transparency. I hope you find these posts helpful and please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any additional questions or concerns.

Week of Jan. 27, 2014: Committee Meetings

Regulatory Reform

Date: Tuesday, Jan. 28

Time: 9 a.m.

Location: Room 521, House Office Building

Agenda:

HB 4582 – (Rep. Foster) – Occupations; residential builders; prelicensure education requirements for residential builders and contractors; revise.

SB 641 – (Sen. Kowall) – Occupations; real estate; prelicensure and continuing education for realtors; revise, and authorize relicensure of certain former licensees.

SB 29 – (Sen. Bieda) – Trade; hazardous substances; addition of bittering agent to antifreeze; require.

Energy and Technology

Date: Tuesday, Jan. 28

Time: 9 a.m.

Location: Room 519, House Office Building

Agenda:

HB 4885 – (Rep. Nesbitt) – Taxation; severance; tax on production of oil and gas produced by enhanced recovery projects; reduce.

HB 5254 – (Rep. Outman) – Natural resources; gas and oil; pipeline definition; expand to include pipelines carrying carbon dioxide gas for certain purposes.

HB 5255 – (Rep. Stallworth) – Natural resources; gas and oil; condemnation authority for pipelines; expand to include pipelines carrying carbon dioxide for certain purposes

Health Policy

Date: Tuesday, Jan. 28

Time: 10:30 a.m.

Location: Room 519, House Office Building

Agenda:

HB 5136 – (Rep. Lori) – Mental health; other; uniform mental health release form; create.

Transportation and Infrastructure

Date: Tuesday, Jan. 28

Time: 10:30 a.m.

Location: Room 521, House Office Building

Agenda:

HB 4015 – (Rep. Heise) – Transportation; funds; funding to authority created under the municipal partnership act or the urban cooperation act of 1967; provide for. On the H-2 substitute

HB 4781 – (Rep. Jacobsen) – Traffic control; driver license; number of temporary instructor permits for motorcyclist; limit, and expand conditions for operation by a permitted motorcycle operator.

HB 5142 – (Rep. McCready) – Traffic control; other; fee for commercial look-up service; provide for additional fee for web portal development, and allow private entities to provide a commercial look-up service.

SB 463 – (Sen. Caswell) – Vehicles; registration plates; required attachment of registration plate to rear of vehicle; eliminate requirement for certain historic military vehicles..

Elections and Ethics

Date: Tuesday, Jan. 28

Time: Noon

Location: Room 307, House Office Building

Agenda:

HB 4825 – (Rep. Kesto) – Elections; candidates; candidates to indicate certain felony convictions on the affidavit of identity; require.

HB 5222 – (Rep. Forlini) – Campaign finance; statements and reports; period when disclosure is required for issue ads; change to 60 days before all elections.

Tax Policy

Date: Wednesday, Jan. 29

Time: 9 a.m.

Location: Room 519, House Office Building

Agenda:

SB 396 – (Sen. Casperson) – Property tax; assessments; retention of taxable value for property improvements required due to certain natural disaster losses; provide for.

SB 629 – (Sen. Jones) – State financing and management; bonds; refund of certain building authority bonds; extend sunset.

SB 630 – (Sen. Jones) – Economic development; tax increment financing; refund of certain tax increment finance bonds; extend sunset.

Military and Veterans Affairs

Date: Wednesday, Jan. 29

Time: 9 a.m.

Location: Room 308, House Office Building

Agenda:

SB 428 – (Sen. Kahn) – Veterans; cemeteries; flags used to mark graves of veterans; require to be American made.

HB 5035 – (Rep. Goike) – Higher education; community colleges; questions to applicants concerning military experience of the applicant and the applicant’s parents or spouse; require.

Appropriations Subcommittee: Licensing and Regulatory Affairs

Date: Wednesday, Jan. 29

Time: 10:30 a.m.

Location: Room 424, State Capitol

Agenda:

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

Date: Wednesday, Jan. 29

Time: 10:30 a.m.

Location: Room 307, House Office Building

Agenda:

HB 5223 – (Rep. O’Brien) – Education; teachers; performance evaluation requirements for teachers; revise.

HB 5224 – (Rep. Zemke) – Education; employees; performance evaluation requirements for school administrators; revise.

Commerce

Date: Wednesday, Jan. 29

Time: 10:30 a.m.

Location: Room 519, House Office Building

Agenda:

HB 5216 – (Rep. Kesto) – Corrections; parole; issuance by department of corrections of certificate of employability to certain prisoners; allow.

HB 5217 – (Rep. Walsh) – Labor; other; limited liability for employers that employ individuals issued a certificate of employability; provide for.

HB 5218 – (Rep. Santana) – Occupations; individual licensing and regulation; prerequisite of “good moral character”; eliminate for occupational licensing purposes.

Criminal Justice

Date: Wednesday, Jan. 29

Time: 10:30 a.m.

Location: Room 327, House Office Building

Agenda:

HB 5110 – (Rep. Heise) – Law enforcement; investigations; disclosure of call location information by wireless providers to requesting law enforcement agency; require.

SB 409 – (Sen. Jones) – Crimes; other; unlawful imprisonment; include as predicate offense for first degree murder.

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.

SB 285 – (Sen. Bieda) – Crimes; animals; penalties for crimes against animals; enhance, and make other revisions.

SB 286 – (Sen. Jones) – Criminal procedure; sentencing guidelines; sentencing guidelines for crimes of animal cruelty; enact and amend.

HB 5108 – (Rep. Kelly) – Crimes; other; resale of event tickets at higher or lower prices; allow.

Michigan Competitiveness

Date: Wednesday, Jan. 29

Time: Noon

Location: Room 521, House Office Building

Agenda:

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

Date: Wednesday, Jan. 29

Time: Noon

Location: Room 519, House Office Building

Agenda:

HB 5198 – (Rep. McCready) – Labor; mediation; access to certain case files for use in human services employee disciplinary proceedings; allow without a court order.

Testimony Only: HB 5038 – (Rep. Kurtz) – Children; services; child welfare caseloads; codify.

Financial Services

Date: Wednesday, Jan. 29

Time: Noon

Location: Room 326, House Office Building

Agenda:

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.

Judiciary

Date: Thursday, Jan. 30

Time: 9:00 a.m.

Location: Room 521, House Office Building

Agenda:

HB 4486 – (Rep. Walsh) – Health; substance abuse treatment; involuntary substance abuse assessment, stabilization, and treatment for adults; allow.

SB 628 – (Sen. Schuitmaker) – Crime victims; statements; delivery of victim statement by parents of a minor; allow under certain circumstances.

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.

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.

HB 5063 – (Rep. Santana) – Criminal procedure; prosecuting attorneys; prosecuting attorneys to report charges of animal abuse to department of state police; require for purposes of animal adoption.

Financial Liability Reform

Date: Thursday, Jan. 30

Time: 9:00 a.m.

Location: Room 519, House Office Building

Agenda:

HJR CC – (Rep. Franz) – Legislature; other; federal balanced budget amendment; petition congress.

SJR V – (Sen. Green) – Legislature; other; federal balanced budget amendment; petition congress.

Joint Appropriations Subcommittee: Higher Education

Date: Thursday, Jan. 30

Time: 9:00 a.m.

Location: Senate Appropriations, State Capitol

Agenda:

Presentation by the Michigan College Access Network