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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 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 4410, Consider student performances in teacher
tenure decisions, passed 21 to 14 in the Senate
To require schools to rate teachers as "effective" or
"ineffective," with at least 45 percent of the rating based on
student performance, and require these ratings be used for teacher tenure
decisions.
Who voted "Yes" and who voted "No"
House Bill 5241, Grant pension boost to 50 high level State
Police, passed 33 to 1 in the Senate
To boost the pension payout of approximately 50 retired State Police command
officers by counting "furloughs" and temporary layoffs in the basis
on which their payouts are calculated. This will cost taxpayers around $800,000
over the lives of these personnel.
Who voted "Yes" and who voted "No"
Senate Bill 1238, Authorize transit development debt and
spending, passed 69 to 31 in the House
To give local "tax increment financing authorities" the power to
borrow and spend on infrastructure projects and subsidies that promote the use
of mass transit and are within a half mile of a transit station. The debt is
paid by "capturing" a portion of increased property taxes that would
otherwise be available to local governments to pay for their own operations (or
for tax cuts).
Who voted "Yes" and who voted "No"
Senate Bill 1515, Increase hotel and motel tax, passed 70 to
32 in the House
To increase from 2 percent to 5 percent the amount of room tax that can be
imposed on hotels and motels by any local convention and tourism marketing
bureau.
Who voted "Yes" and who voted "No"
Senate Bill 1578, Authorize county arts taxes, passed 67 to
36 in the House
To allow counties to create an arts authority with the power to impose a
property tax of up to .2 mils for up to 20 years, with the money going to
subsidize art museums. A vote of the people would be required to impose the
tax. The bill opens the door to an Oakland, Macomb and Wayne County arts tax to
subsidize the Detroit Institute of Arts.
Who voted "Yes" and who voted "No"
Senate Bill 1579, Authorize county zoo tax hike, passed 71 to
31 in the House
To double from .1 mil to .2 mils the maximum property tax that a county zoo
authority is empowered to impose. A vote of the people would be required to
impose or increase the tax.
Who voted "Yes" and who voted "No"
Senate Bill 1267, Impose 7/8 cent gas tax extension and
"fund raid," passed 57 to 44 in the House
To continue to impose a 7/8 cent-per-gallon gasoline and refined petroleum
tax scheduled to expire on Dec. 31, 2010. The tax was originally imposed to
clean up leaking underground fuel tanks, but was diverted to other government
spending following a 2004 “fund raid” enacted to avoid state spending cuts and
reforms. The bill would extend the tax through 2012.
Who voted "Yes" and who voted "No"
Senate Bill 1456, Allow customer rate hikes to subsidize
special Hemlock Semi utility deal, passed 82 to 18 in the House
To allow an exception to an anti-"cross subsidization" law so as to
protect the special rates granted by Consumers Energy to Hemlock Semiconductor;
in effect it would cause residential and other business customers to subsidize
Hemlock's below-cost rates.
Who voted "Yes" and who voted "No"
SOURCE: MichiganVotes.org, a free, nonpartisan website created by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, providing concise, nonpartisan, plain-English descriptions of every bill and vote in the Michigan House and Senate. Please visit MichiganVotes.org.
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