August 3, 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 1182: Repeal mandatory expulsion of violent students
Introduced by Sen. Mike Kowall (R), to repeal the law that requires public schools to expel a student who makes a school bomb threat or commits a physical assault against a school employee or other student. The bill changes the law to say “may expel” instead of “shall expel.” Referred to committee, no further action at this time.

Senate Bill 1184: Give insurers access to state vaccination registry info
Introduced by Sen. Joe Hune (R), info to give insurance companies and HMOs access to information about individuals they cover which is contained in a state childhood immunization registry (which the bill would rename the “care improvement registry.”) Referred to committee, no further action at this time.

Senate Bill 1185: Restrict health care employee flu shot mandates
Introduced by Sen. Joe Hune (R), to prohibit health care facilities or agencies from mandating that an employee must get a vaccination as a condition of employment if the person states in writing that he or she conscientiously objects or has religious objections. This would not apply in the event of a World Health Organization “Phase 6 alert” (such as the flu alert declared in 2009). Referred to committee, no further action at this time.

Senate Bill 1189: Revise government pension board rules
Introduced by Sen. Mark Jansen (R), to prohibit a local government pension board that has both elected and appointed members from imposing requirements on the elected members that don’t apply to the appointed ones. Referred to committee, no further action at this time.

Senate Bill 1192: Ban passing within one mile of highway work zone
Introduced by Sen. John Gleason (D), to prohibit passing another vehicle within one mile of a highway work zone, and require signs indicating this. Referred to committee, no further action at this time.

Senate Bill 1197: Automatically register new drivers to vote
Introduced by Sen. Bert Johnson (D), to automatically register to vote a person getting a drivers license or state I.D. for the first time. Referred to committee, no further action at this time.

House Bill 5726: Authorize local “pension obligation bonds”
Introduced by Rep. Paul Opsommer (R), to allow local governments to borrow money to cover unfunded employee pension liabilities, if the local has closed its traditional “defined benefit” pension system to new employees. Unlike other local government borrowing (usually called “bonding” or “selling bonds”), no vote of the people would be required, unless lenders (bond buyers) are given a “full faith and credit” repayment promise. Referred to committee, no further action at this time.

House Bill 5727: Require local governments enter “energy performance contracts"
Introduced by Rep. Joseph Haveman (R), to effectively require local governments to enter “energy performance contracts" with private entities that make energy-saving improvements to public buildings and guarantee savings that exceed the cost of the contract.. Referred to committee, no further action at this time.

House Bill 5728: Require English grammar courses for teacher certification
Introduced by Rep. Robert Genetski (R), to require individuals seeking a state teacher certification to have successfully completed courses in English language grammar, punctuation, and usage. Referred to committee, no further action at this time.

House Bill 5730: Ease commercial trucker hour restrictions during construction season
Introduced by Rep. Joel Johnson (R), to revise a state law that imposes limits on the hours that commercial truck drivers can remain on the road, for drivers who are engaged in seasonal construction-related activities. Under current law a driver a can’t drive more than 80 hours in eight consecutive days, or more than 12 hours in any day. Referred to committee, no further action at this time.

House Bill 5731: Ban using abortion for gender selection
Introduced by Rep. Andrea LaFontaine (R), to prohibit a physician from intentionally performing an abortion if he or she knows that the woman is seeking the abortion because of the sex of the fetus, or that she is being coerced as defined by House Bill 5713. Referred to committee, no further action at this time.

House Bill 5733: Completely restore big utility monopolies
Introduced by Rep. Kenneth Horn (R), to eliminate the last remnants of a 2000 law that took away regional electric utility monopolies and authorized customer choice, a regime that was mostly eliminated by a 2008 law that essentially restored the monopolies by limiting customer choice to just 10 percent of the market. Existing customer contracts with competing electricity providers would be “grandfathered,” but no additional customers could get service from a competing provider. 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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