April 12, 2013, MichiganVotes.org Weekly Roll Call

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

Senate Bill 257, Expand “Business Improvement Zone” tax-and-spend entities: Passed 35 to 2 in the Senate
To expand the items that a “Business Improvement Zone” can spend money on, reduce the number of property owners in the district able to impose a zone's tax and spending powers and increase the number needed to dissolve them, increase the duration of the zones' powers to 10 years, reduce certain notification requirements required to establish one of these zones, allow the entity to sell services to particular property owners in the district, increase penalties for not paying the "special assessments" it imposes, and make other changes. These zones may be created by owners of a majority of the property in a certain area (not the same as the majority of owners), and have the power to impose property taxes (special assessments) to pay the debt the zone incurs to pay for projects that are supposed to benefit property owners in the zone.

Who Voted "Yes" and Who Voted "No" 

Senate Bill 165, Require disclosure of medical futility policies: Passed 36 to 0 in the Senate
To require a hospital, health facility or agency that maintains a written policy that encourages or allows a health care professional to withhold or discontinue treatment on the grounds of "medical futility" to provide a copy of the policy to a patient or resident upon request.

Who Voted "Yes" and Who Voted "No"  

Senate Bill 92, Impose licensure on pharmacy assistants: Passed 35 to 1 in the Senate
To impose licensure and regulation on "pharmacy technicians" (assistants), with license fees, continuing education requirements, test-taking mandates and more.

 Who Voted "Yes" and Who Voted "No" 

House Bill 4139, Eliminate “peace bonds”: Passed 88 to 22 in the House
To repeal a section of criminal law that authorizes a judge to order a “peace bond” from an individual who has threatened to commit an offense against the person or property of another. This is not the same as the much more common "personal protection orders" used in domestic violence, stalking and similar cases, and there are concerns that peace bonds have been used to abridge individuals' free speech rights.

Who Voted "Yes" and Who Voted "No"  

House Bill 4262, Revise ban on carrying dangerous weapons details: Passed 107 to 2 in the House
To revise details of the law prohibiting carrying concealed edged weapons “with unlawful intent.” The new language would replace references to specific types of blades with language that prohibits carrying an “object designed, manufactured, or intended to be used to cause death or injury.” The bill also clarifies that the prohibition does not apply to weapons being transported to the field if they are securely encased and not readily accessible for immediate use.

Who Voted "Yes" and Who Voted "No"  

Senate Bill 123, Expand local convention facility authorities: Passed 100 to 10 in the House
To allow the Grand Rapids and Kent County convention facility authorities to borrow and spend more to build or buy a second facility, including a "market" or a sports facility (which could include an arena or stadium). The bill would also eliminate the 12 year term limits on members of these entities' boards.

 Who Voted "Yes" and Who Voted "No" 

House Bill 4026, Require review and posting of inter-government agreements: Passed 109 to 0 in the House
To require that before a state agency or a local government enters a cross-border memorandum of understanding, agreement, compact, or similar binding agreement with the federal government or another state, it must do a review to determine it does not exceed its authority or violate the state constitution. Information on each agreement would also be forwarded to the Attorney General (who would not be required to do anything with it) and posted on a state web site. Existing agreements that are legally binding would also have to be posted on this state website. In 2012, Gov. Rick Snyder vetoed a nearly identical bill that passed the legislature with no votes in opposition.

Who Voted "Yes" and Who Voted "No"

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.

Permission to reprint this blog post in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided that the author (or authors) and the Mackinac Center for Public Policy are properly cited.