July 13, 2012, MichiganVotes.org Weekly Roll Call

The House and Senate are in the midst of a summer break, so rather than votes, this report instead contains several newly introduced bills of interest.

Y = Yes, N = No, X = Not Voting

Senate Bill 1110 and House Bill 5579: Require gross negligence for suits against emergency room physicians
Introduced by Sen. Roger Kahn (R) and Rep. Kenneth Horn (R), respectively, to restrict medical malpractice lawsuits against emergency room physicians to cases of gross negligence. Referred to committee, no further action at this time.

Senate Bill 1111: Establish that emergency managers do not have eminent domain powers
Introduced by Sen. Coleman Young (D), to establish that emergency managers appointed by the state to manage fiscally failed cities and school districts do not have the power to condemn property and exercise the power eminent domain. Referred to committee, no further action at this time.

Senate Bill 1116: Raise medical malpractice burden of proof
Introduced by Sen. Arlan Meekhof (R), to establish “the exercise of medical judgment” as a valid defense in medical malpractice cases, defined as a “reasonable and good-faith belief that the person's conduct is both well founded in medicine and in the best interests of the patient.” This would be a “question of law” for the court to decide. Referred to committee, no further action at this time.

Senate Bill 1132: Allow one married person to adopt
Introduced by Sen. John Pappageorge (R), to allow a married person to adopt an adult as an individual rather than as a married couple, if all the parties agree. This might be done for purposes of inheritance. Referred to committee, no further action at this time.

Senate Bill 1138: Post medical provider complaint statistics online
Introduced by Sen. Hoon-Yung Hopgood (D), to require the Department of Community Health to post on the internet statistics of complaints and disciplinary actions regarding physicians and other health professionals, and require health care facilities to post similar statistical information about their own providers. However, the bill would not require names to be named. Referred to committee, no further action at this time.

Senate Bill 1139 and House Bill 5741: Ban doctors from banning patient posts of critical info
Introduced by Sen. Rebekah Warren (D) and Rep. John Olumba (D), respectively, to prohibit doctors and health care facilities from requiring patients to agree not to post a negative comment online as a condition of receiving medical services. Referred to committee, no further action at this time.

House Bill 5545: Revise overtime “comp time” restrictions
Introduced by Rep. Tom McMillin (R), to eliminate a provision that requires an employee and employer to have entered a previous written agreement (essentially a contract) in order for an employee to take time-and-a-half “comp time” instead of overtime pay. Instead, the parties could sign a written agreement whenever the employee wants to take comp time instead of extra pay. Referred to committee, no further action at this time.

House Bill 5558: Authorize DDA borrowing-and-spending for “transit-oriented facilities”
Introduced by Rep. Jim Townsend (D), to explicitly authorize Downtown Development Authorities to borrow and spend on projects benefiting, and subsidies to, developers of “transit-oriented facilities” and “transit-oriented development.” Money to repay DDA loans is “captured” from a portion of tax revenues that local governments levy to pay for their own operations and services. Referred to committee, no further action at this time.

House Bill 5565: Impose regulations on “fracking” chemicals
Introduced by Rep. Lisa Brown (D), to impose a comprehensive state regulatory regime on the chemicals used by natural gas well drillers in producing gas using “hydraulic fracturing” (or “fracking”). Referred to committee, no further action at this time.

House Bill 5576: Mandate city income tax withholding by firms outside the city
Introduced by Rep. Lisa L. Howze (D), to mandate that a business that is not located in a city that imposes an income tax, but has at least one employee who lives in such a city, must withhold city income taxes from that employee’s paycheck. Referred to committee, no further action at this time.

House Bill 5580: Authorize and regulate medical marijuana dispensaries
Introduced by Rep. Mike Callton (R), to authorize and establish a comprehensive regulatory regime for medical marijuana dispensaries, including licensure and municipal registration, with criminal penalties for violations. Referred to committee, no further action at this time.

House Bill 5591: Impose rental car tax
Introduced by Rep. Douglas Geiss (D), to impose a $1 per day tax on cars rented at airports. Money from the tax would be used for road projects near the airport (unless a simple majority of the legislature voted later to use the money for something else). Referred to committee, no further action at this time.

Interested in a cumulative list of all weekly Roll Call Report Votes for 2012?

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 https://www.michiganvotes.org.

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