House Bill 5785, Expand permissible criminal court cost levies: Passed 37 to 0 in the Senate

To expand the costs that can be imposed on an individual convicted in a criminal case. The bill would authorize imposing assessments covering a share of court employee salaries and benefits, of “goods and services” used in operating the court, and of court building “operation and maintenance" costs. In addition, it would establish that a court has no duty to provide a “calculation of the costs involved in a particular case.” The bill reverses a state Supreme Court case that limited charges to those specifically allowed in a particular statute; its provisions would expire in 36 months, presumably to allow the legislature to rationalize these impositions for all courts across the state.

Who Voted "Yes" and Who Voted "No"

Senate Bill 1074, Eliminate debt cap on business job training subsidy program: Passed 37 to 1 in the Senate

To eliminate the $50 million debt cap in a 2008 law that authorized state job training subsidies for particular employers, provided through community colleges. The bill would also eliminate a 2018 sunset on these subsidies, which according to the Senate Fiscal Agency have added up to $10.7 million since the law was passed.

Who Voted "Yes" and Who Voted "No"

House Bill 5097, Exempt public safety employees from ban on certain automatic pay hikes: Passed 25 to 12 in the Senate

To exempt law enforcement and fire department employees from a 2011 law that banned automatic seniority-based pay hikes for individual government employees (“step increases”) when a union contract has expired and no new one signed.

Who Voted "Yes" and Who Voted "No"

House Bill 4624, Allow multi-department firefighter employment: Passed 21 to 17 in the Senate

To prohibit a fire department from prohibiting its firefighters from also working as a volunteer, part-time or paid on-call firefighter with another department, if this does not conflict with the original employment. Also, to make this issue a prohibited subject of collective bargaining between a fire department and a government employee union.

Who Voted "Yes" and Who Voted "No"

House Bill 5385, Expand drunk driving provisions to include illegal drugs: Passed 35 to 0 in the Senate

To expand the law that requires a person stopped for drunk driving to take a breathalyzer or field sobriety test so that it instead refers to "a preliminary roadside analysis," expanding this law to suspected driving while drugged cases. The bill would not explicitly authorize the use of a roadside saliva test for marijuana, which has been challenged as inaccurate. This is part of a package extending the same or similar procedures to both drunk and drugged driving cases.

Who Voted "Yes" and Who Voted "No"

House Bill 5606, Expand "protectionist" auto dealer provision: Passed 38 to 0 in the Senate

To prohibit vehicle makers from preventing a dealer from tacking on extra fees that are permitted by a law that empowers the state to enforce exclusive new car dealer “territories” and regulate the terms of commercial relationships between dealers and manufacturers.

Who Voted "Yes" and Who Voted "No"

Senate Bill 991, Let terminal patients try non-FDA approved treatments: Passed 109 to 0 in the House

To establish that a person diagnosed with a terminal illness has a “right to try” experimental drugs or therapies not approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration, subject to various conditions specified in the bill. The bill would prohibit state officials from interfering, and ban licensing boards from sanctioning health care providers who participate, subject to specified conditions. Drug makers who comply with the specified conditions would be immune from liability if the patient is harmed. The bill responds to criticism that FDA “safe and effective” standards are not appropriate in these cases.

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.