MichiganVotes Weekly Report: April 9, 2021

The Legislature is on spring break until April 13. Rather than votes, this Roll Call Report describes some newly introduced bills of interest.

Senate Bill 150: Restrict governor’s commitment of National GuardIntroduced by Sen. Tom Barrett (R), to prohibit a governor from ordering a member of the Michigan National Guard to active state service for longer than 28 days, unless a request by the governor for a specific number of days is approved by a resolution passed by the state House and Senate. Referred to committee, no further action at this time.

Senate Bill 159: Repeal “one man grand jury” lawIntroduced by Sen. Michael MacDonald (R), to repeal provisions in the state code of criminal conduct authorizing a judge to act as a “one man grand jury” to inquire whether a crime has been committed. Referred to committee, no further action at this time.

Senate Bill 167: Expand "bottle bill"Introduced by Sen. Sean McCann (D), to expand the state “bottle bill” deposit requirement to include water and all nonalcoholic carbonated or uncarbonated drinks sold in an airtight metal, glass, or plastic container that holds one gallon or less, except for cow’s milk and plant-based milk, plus some other minor exceptions. Since 2003 at least 27 versions of this bill have been introduced. Referred to committee, no further action at this time.

Senate Bill 201: Suspend annual teacher effectiveness ratingsIntroduced by Sen. Curtis Hertel, Jr. (D), to suspend in 2021 a requirement for annual public school teacher assessments that assign each teacher a rating of either highly effective, effective, minimally effective or ineffective based in part on actual student outcomes. Referred to committee, no further action at this time.

Senate Bill 218: Restrict gender assertions in school sports team participationIntroduced by Sen. Lana Theis (R), to place in the state school code a requirement that only biological males may compete for a position on and compete on a boys' high school team in an interscholastic activity and only biological females may compete for a position on and compete on a girls' high school team in an interscholastic activity. Referred to committee, no further action at this time.

House Bill 4208: Expand Medicaid alcoholism coverageIntroduced by Rep. Abdullah Hammoud (D), to require Michigan’s Medicaid benefits program to cover fee-based medical services related to a primary diagnosis of alcohol use disorder, including but not limited to, evaluation, management services and consultation services. Referred to committee, no further action at this time.

House Bill 4246: Require state tax rate sticker on all gas pumpsIntroduced by Rep. Beau LaFave (R), to require the Department of Transportation to produce and require gas stations to apply a sticker to every pump disclosing the current state and federal tax rate per gallon of gas or diesel. Referred to committee, no further action at this time.

House Bill 4258: “Urge” public colleges and universities become coronavirus wards if neededIntroduced by Rep. Brenda Carter (D), to “urge” community colleges and state universities to make their dormitories, arenas, parking lots, and other facilities available for use as coronavirus epidemic medical “surge” facilities. The bill appears to do nothing to actually cause any institution change its practices. Referred to committee, no further action at this time.

House Bill 4291: Allow more police-related open records law disclosuresIntroduced by Rep. Tyrone Carter (D), to establish in the state Freedom of Information Act that the release of law enforcement disciplinary records “is not an unwarranted invasion of an individual's privacy,” which means details of this information as specified in the bill are not exempt from disclosure. Referred to committee, no further action at this time.

House Bill 4318: Prescribe coronavirus risk level metrics in statuteIntroduced by Rep. Bronna Kahle (R), to require the Department of Health and Human Services to establish specified coronavirus risk levels for counties and regions based on the number of positive test results, and put this on a website that assigns levels of “low” or “A, B, C, D, or E” in each county and region. The bill would order the same methods in a nursing home study the department is supposed to undertake. Referred to committee, no further action at this time.