MichiganVotes.org April 30 Weekly Roll Call Report

Every week MichiganVotes.org sends a report to newspapers and TV stations showing how just the state legislators in each publication's service area voted on the most important and/or interesting bills and amendments of the past seven days. The version shown here instead contains a link to the complete roll call tally in either the House or Senate. To find out who your state Senator is and how to contact him or her go here; for state Representatives go here.

House Bill 5555, Grant more electric car, other renewables tax breaks, passed in the Senate (38 to 0)
To authorize "renaissance zone" tax breaks for some of the electric car battery and similar ventures that have been awarded large subsidies from the state. A plant in Holland planned by the Korean manufacturer LG Chem would get the proposed tax breaks, and also a biodiesel plant in Adrian.

Complete Roll Call Vote Tally

Senate Bill 1227, Concurrence on House version of school pension reform, defeated in the Senate (12 to 24)
To concur on the House-passed version of the school employee pension reform measure proposed by Gov. Granholm. This much-more generous to school employees version is described below. The Senate defeat sends the bill to a House-Senate conference committee to work out the differences.

Complete Roll Call Vote Tally

House Bill 5409, Supplemental Medicaid appropriation, passed in the House (87-19)
To appropriate $101.5 million to restore a 4 percent Medicaid reimbursement rate cut to hospitals and nursing homes. The money would come from additional revenue from a tax levied on nursing home and hospitals, which is used to get more federal Medicaid money. The bill also appropriates lesser amounts for election integrity measures, outsourcing former Detroit crime lab work, drug treatment courts, more business tax audits, and more. Finally, it would allow the Michigan Historical Museum to charge user fees.

Complete Roll Call Vote Tally

Senate Bill 1227, School employee pension reform package, passed in the House (59 to 45)
The House version of a school employee pension reform package proposed by Gov. Granholm. As in the Governor's and Senate-passed versions, this one would increase school employee contributions to their post-retirement benefits by 3 percent. However, it would use the money to pay for retiree health care benefits, rather than bolster the underfunded pension fund or reduce school district contributions. It would also increase by 13.3 percent the cash pension benefits of certain school employees who retire by July 1 (twice the amount the governor proposed); force all charter school employees into the conventional schools' traditional pension system; and allow some "retired" teachers to collect a pension while continuing to work. Finally, a slightly less generous system for new hires proposed by the Governor is not included in the House version.

Complete Roll Call Vote Tally

SOURCE: MichiganVotes.org, a free, non-partisan website created by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, providing concise, non-partisan, plain-English descriptions of every bill and vote in the Michigan House and Senate. Please visit MichiganVotes.org.

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