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By Jack McHugh
House Bill 4282, Exempt small-project home repair contractors from licensure mandates: Passed 66 to 40 in the House
To exempt individuals who do residential repair and rehab jobs worth less than $4,000 from licensure mandates imposed on contractors.
Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No”
House Bill 5469, Extend open records law to legislature: Passed 100 to 6 in the House
To extend the Freedom of Information Act to legislators, whose offices are currently exempt, subject to a broad range of exceptions and exemptions. The House also passed House Bill 5477, which extends the disclosure requirements to certain kinds of documents held by the governor's office.
Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No”
House Bill 5475, Exceptions to applying open records law to legislature: Passed 100 to 6 in the House
To define the records that would be exempt from Freedom of Information Act requests to the state legislature under House Bill 5469. These include standard provisions on records dealing with security matters, active contract bidding, information of a personal nature or business proprietary records, records that violate attorney-client privilege or involve ongoing litigation, etc. The bill would also exempt records of exchanges between a lawmaker and a constituent. Notably, records held by the Republican and Democratic caucus staffs would also be exempt, including their communications and public relations operations.
Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No”
House Bill 4822, Ban social promotions for third graders who can’t read: Passed 60 to 47 in the House
To prohibit “social promotions” of third graders who have not reached minimum reading benchmarks starting in the 2019-2020 school year, subject to many conditions and exceptions, and with requirements that additional interventions and tutoring be tried before a student is actually held back. This final version of the bill allows a school district superintendent make an exception but not teachers or principals, and only if the student is proficient in other subjects.
Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No”
House Bill 5826, Ban government suing person who submits open records law request: Passed 102 to 5 in the House
To prohibit public bodies from suing a person or entity making document requests authorized by the state Freedom of Information Act.
Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No”
House Bill 5651, Let new port authorities give private company partnership status
To permit a government port authority to grant partnership status to a private business or developer, which would permit them to operate and collect revenue from the facility. New port authorities would not get half their expenses paid by the state like existing ones, but would be able to keep any annual profits rather than turning them over to the local and state government.
Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No”
House Bill 4580, Require "claw back" provisions in some selective tax break deals: Passed 35 to 0 in the Senate on September 21, 2016
To require that starting in 2017 local governments and a state "Next Michigan Development Corporation" must include "claw back" provisions in new tax break deals they selectively grant to particular corporations or developers, allowing foregone taxes to be demanded if the beneficiary does not abide by the terms of the tax break agreement. This applies to property taxes levied on business tools and equipment ("personal property tax").
Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No”
Senate Bill 570, Exempt certain sportsmen club property from property tax: Passed 24 to 10 in the Senate
To exempt property owned by sportsmen or gun clubs from property tax if they let governments use their facilities, provide gun safety classes to the public, and have other pro-social practices specified in the bill.
Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No”
Senate Bill 1022, Create process for disclosing police firing to other agencies: Passed 35 to 0 in the Senate
To establish a process and give a liability exemption that lets one police agency disclose information to another about a formerly-employed officer who may have been fired. A “separating” officer would be allowed to review the record and add a written explanation to it. Police job applicants would have to sign a waiver allowing these records to be shared with a prospective employer.
Who Voted “Yes” and Who Voted “No”
Senate Bill 1015, Impose licensure on applied behavioral analysis: Passed 34 to 1 in the Senate
To impose licensure on practitioners of “applied behavioral analysis," with $90 annual license fees and other fees, regulations, scope of practice restrictions, education and experience requirements, and more.
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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