Senators Scott and Clark-Coleman, under their constitutional right of protest (Art. 4, Sec. 18), protested against the passage of House Bill Nos. 4517 and 4519.
Senator Scott's statement, in which Senator Clark-Coleman concurred, is as follows:
I shared with each of my colleagues today on the floor a letter from the Wayne County Register of Deeds that outlined pretty clearly how costly and time-consuming this legislation will be to the largest county in this state. With legislation such as this, size does matter. Wayne County can process thousands of documents a day compared to smaller counties that may have five or ten or maybe even 20 documents a day. What we're telling Wayne County and other counties across the state is you need to perform this function, but we aren't going to give you any money to do it. This is an unfunded mandate--a violation of Headlee.
I would also like to point out that according to the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office, there has never been a recorded or documented case of criminal activities dealing with identity theft from a land record or register of deed document. The Wayne County registrar, Mr. Bernard Youngblood, recently received a coveted Eagle Award from the International Association of Clerks, Records, Election Officials and Treasurers. He has been recognized nationally for his good work in Wayne County in fighting fraud and for his leadership in achieving significant efficiencies in Wayne County. This legislation will be devastating to his progress in Wayne County.