Legislation in February
McBroom’s bills and resolutions-
(resolutions are non-binding)
Sandhill cranes grazing in a field. Photo courtesy of Mark Moschell/Creative Commons.
This week, Sen. Ed McBroom(R) introduced Senate Resolution 20, to encourage the Natural Resources Commission to add Eastern sandhill cranes to the game species list. The resolution has been referred to the Senate Natural Resources Committee, which McBroom chairs.
McBroom’s co-resolution with Sen. Jon Bumstead(R), Senate Resolution 15 urging the NRC to authorize--and the Department of Natural Resources to organize--wolf hunts, was returned from the Natural Resources committee favorably, and without amendment. On the Natural Resources Committee with McBroom are Senators Bumstead, Rick Outman(R), Wayne Schmidt(R) and Sean McCann(D).
Also referred to the Natural Resources committee is McBroom’s Senate Bill 178, which would allow for reimbursement from the Department of Treasury if drink distributors have redeemed more 10 cent bottle deposits than they charged. This is a bill reintroduced from an earlier legislative session.
He also reintroduced a bill from before, now Senate Bill 177, that would allow for the expungement of the first offense for operating while intoxicated, under certain conditions. It has been referred to the Senate Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety.
Senate Bill 160, embedded below, would require that DNR officers would need a warrant in most cases to search or enter private property. McBroom introduced it this week and it has been referred to the Senate Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety.
On Feb. 18, McBroom introduced Senate Resolution 16, which is in support of the mining industry. It’s been referred to the Senate Committee for Economic and Small Business Development.
A recent success for McBroom came in the unanimous passage of Senate Bill 119, which he introduced early in February. This week it passed the Senate and has now been sent to the House Committee on Natural Resources and Outdoor Recreation. The bill, embedded below, would change the details of mine-inspector requirements, notably requiring one in any county with an abandoned mine.
McBroom has introduced several other bills this year, but none of them has received a vote yet.
Markkanen’s bills and resolutions
House Rep. Greg Markkanen this week introduced House Bill 4329 (included below), which would apply the same standards of legislative approval applied to the emergency health and safety orders in House Bill 4330 to the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The two bill are tie barred together, and neither has received a vote.
A bill Markkanen proposed, with support from other Republicans and three Democrats, would remove the caps on distributed generation of renewable energy in the state. House Bill 4236 hasn’t left the House Energy Committee, chaired by Rep. Joe Bellino.
Significant Votes
The House of Representatives voted on House Joint Resolution A, which passed with a comfortable margin, 102-7. The bill decides whether a two-thirds majority should be required to pass lame duck legislation. Upper Peninsula Reps. Sara Cambensy and Greg Markkanen supported the bill, and Rep. Beau LaFave voted against it.
The bill is now in the Senate Committee on Government Operations.
Sen. McBroom alone opposed Senate Bill 0049, which modifies the details for brewery tasting rooms. There was no protest logged in the day’s Senate Journal to explain his vote. The bill received otherwise unanimous support and now moves on to the House.
Senate Bills 29 and 114 are the controversial appropriations bills. They each eventually passed the Senate, 20-15, strictly along party lines, but not before at least ten amendments were proposed and voted against on Senate Bill 114.
Democratic senators widely condemned the dispensing of only a portion of federal relief funds as a political move made to hurt Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration, but at the expense of the Michigan public, in the Senate Journal (below).
The bill now moves to the House.
Republican Senators also passed Senate Bill 46 without support from any Democrats. This bill exempts some broadband equipment from property tax.
The House Fiscal Agency concluded, in their analysis of SB 46, that
“As written, the bills would reduce state and local tax revenue by an unknown amount. Because it is not possible to know how much equipment would be classified as exempt under the bills, what the taxable values would be, and the appropriate local millage rates, the loss of property tax revenue to local units of government, the School Aid Fund via the state education tax, and the general fund cannot be estimated.”
Senator Ed McBroom
P.O. Box 30036
Lansing, MI 48909-7536
By Phone: (517) 373-7840
By Fax: (517) 373-3932
Representative Greg Markkanen
S-1489 House Office Building
P.O. Box 30014
Lansing, MI 48909
Phone: (517) 373-0850
Email: GregMarkkanen@house.mi.gov
Representative Joe Bellino Jr
N-696 House Office Building
P.O. Box 30014
Lansing, MI 48909
Phone: (517) 373-1530
Email: JosephBellino@house.mi.gov