December 6, 2013, MichiganVotes Weekly Vote Report

Senate Bill 636, Facilitate "land line" phone service transition to cell phones

To streamline regulations on "landline" telephone service providers to facilitate transitioning customers to a wireless (cell phone or VOIP) system, and allow phone companies to discontinue landline service after 2016. The bill authorizes appeal procedures for individual customers for whom the replacement service does not work well.

Passed 31 to 4 in the Senate. See who voted "yes" and who voted "no."

Senate Bill 509, Authorize new state Senate office building

To authorize the sale of the Farnum Senate office building in Lansing and construction of a new building for Senators’ offices.

Passed 22 to 14 in the Senate. See who voted "yes" and who voted "no."

Senate Bill 679, Establish scrap metal theft legal presumption

To establish a "rebuttable presumption" that a person caught stripping more than $100 or 100 pounds of metal from a building or structure does not have the permission of the owner, and so is committing larceny as defined in a 2008 scrap metal theft law.

Passed 36 to 1 in the Senate. See who voted "yes" and who voted "no."

House Bill 4242, Raise burden of proof to justify new government regulations

To require government agencies to demonstrate that a rule they want to impose is "necessary and suitable to achieve its purpose in proportion to the burdens it places on individuals."

Passed 26 to 11 in the House. See who voted "yes" and who voted "no."

House Bill 5156, Court of claims change "cleanup" bill

To establish that nothing in a new law changing the state’s "court of claims" from the Ingham County circuit court to the state Court of Appeals eliminates a current right to a jury trial for a person filing certain types of claim against the state, or to filing these claims in a person's local circuit, district or probate court.

Passed 110 to 0 in the House. See 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.

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