MichiganVotes.org May 13 Weekly Roll Call Report

Every week, MichiganVotes.org sends a report on interesting votes and bills in the Michigan Legislature, and includes how each legislator voted. To find out who your state senator is and how to contact him or her go here; for state representatives go here.

House Bill 4361, Gov. Snyder's business and personal income tax overhaul, passed 19 to 19 in the Senate (Lt. Gov. Calley broke tie)
To replace the Michigan Business Tax with a 6 percent corporate income tax; eliminate several corporate tax breaks and subsidies; repeal a gradual cut in the personal income rate from 4.25 percent to 3.95 percent; scale-back the current income tax exemption for pension income; reduce the Earned Income Tax credit for low income workers by 70 percent; eliminate or reduce other income tax deductions and credits including the homestead property tax credit, personal exemption and dependent child credit; and make many other tax code revisions. The Senate version preserves some corporate tax breaks and subsidies.

Who Voted "Yes" and Who Voted "No"

House Bill 4325, Advance school and other budgets, passed 23 to 14 in the Senate
To advance budgets to conference committee. Both the House and Senate voted this week on budgets already passed by the other body, essentially replacing all of each other's appropriations with $100 "placeholders" as a means to advance the process into House-Senate conference committees to negotiate compromise spending plans. The measures passed on mostly party-line votes, with some Senate Republicans joining Democrats in voting "no," generally as a statement against the cuts already approved by both bodies. This roll call vote is from the K-12, university and community colleges budget, which has generated the most controversy.

Who Voted "Yes" and Who Voted "No"

Senate Bill 333, Require pseudoephed purchase “instant background check," passed 38 to 0 in the Senate
To require retailers selling pseudoephedrine cold medications to perform an “instant background check” on each customer using the “National Precursor Log Exchange” (Nplex) administered by the National Association of Drug Diversion Investigators (NADDI), to confirm if the buyer is exceeding daily purchase limits. Pseudoephed can be used to make methamphetamine.

Who Voted "Yes" and Who Voted "No"

Senate Bill 28, Allow state tax payment with credit card, passed 38 to 0 in the Senate
To allow state income and business taxes to be paid by credit card. Under current law, these must be paid by bank draft, check, cashier's check, certified check, money order, cash, or electronic funds transfer.

Who Voted "Yes" and Who Voted "No"

House Bill 4409, Close welfare time limit loopholes, passed 72 to 39 in the House
To eliminate some of the loopholes from a supposed 48 month lifetime cap on the length of time a person can collect cash welfare benefits. Among other things, the bill would increase sanctions for violating certain work or study requirements, no longer define 19 year old high school students as welfare-eligible “children,” require that legal resident status be checked using the federal “e-verify” system, and more. According to the House Fiscal Agency, this and House Bill 4410 would save the state $60 million annually.

Who Voted "Yes" and Who Voted "No"

House Bill 4361, Concur with Senate version of Gov. Snyder's tax overhaul, passed 57 to 51 in the House
To concur with the Senate version of Gov. Snyder's tax system overhaul. The Senate voted to preserve some corporate tax breaks and subsidies, to and cut the Earned Income Tax Credit for low income workers by 70 percent rather than eliminate it.

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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