MichiganVotes Weekly Report: September 18, 2020

Senate Bill 757: Permit early counting of absentee ballots
Passed 34 to 2 in the Senate on September 15, 2020

To allow election clerks in larger communities (above 25,000) to begin opening and processing absentee ballots the day before an election under rules prescribed by the bill.

House Bill 5494: Require better state information technology contracting
Passed 37 to 0 in the Senate on September 16, 2020

To require the Michigan Department of Technology, Management, and Budget to develop processes and procedures for tracking state information technology vendor contracts that exceed $250,000. This includes identifying cost overruns and change orders, accounting for projects that exceed one fiscal year, communicating processes and defined roles to involved parties, tracking spending, keeping the legislature informed and more. There have a number of major state information technology contract debacles over the past 30 years. The Senate also passed House Bill 5495, to require the state auditor general to validate state departments' compliance in these matters.