To authorize tax relief for a business that was forced to close for at least six weeks due to an executive or emergency order that cost the company 25% of its gross receipts for the year. The bill would authorize a business income tax credit equal to the firm’s property tax liability for the year. Businesses that rent would get a comparable credit based on lease costs. This applies to restaurants, taverns, hotels and motels, health clubs, entertainment facilities and other such “public facing” enterprises.
To prohibit the Secretary of State from charging drivers license renewal late fees until all its branch offices are open “on a consistent basis” for a minimum of 25 hours per week for in-person services with no appointment or preregistration requirement. Also, to require the department to submit to the legislature a detailed report on how it plans to get caught up on renewals delayed by branch office closures and open-hour limitations in response to the coronavirus epidemic.
To require that members of a state wolf management advisory council all be Upper Peninsula residents, unless and until winter tracking surveys and genetic testing show wolves are present in the Lower Peninsula, at which time a majority of the members of the council would have to be residents of the Lower Peninsula.
To impose a mandate on state legislators to file detailed annual personal financial disclosure reports, called "conflict of interest reports." The reports would go to a legislative ethics committees proposed by House Bill 4680, and would not be public records subject to disclosure under the state's Freedom of Information Act law.
To impose a personal financial disclosure mandate on state officers, defined as the governor and lieutenant governor, the Secretary of State, Attorney General, state treasurer, Superintendent of Public Instruction, members of the liquor control and civil service commissions, members of the State Board of Education and of state university governing boards.
To place before voters in the next general election a constitutional amendment that would to empower a two-thirds majority of the state House or Senate to suspend part or all of the salary and expense allowances of a member who acts unethically or is excessively absent from regular sessions. Also, to require record roll call votes on giving a new law "immediate effect" when it is passed. The state Constitution requires a two-thirds House and Senate majority vote for a new bill to go into effect immediately rather than after a specified period, and in the House this is usually done by "hammering through" the requirement using a voice vote only, not a record roll call vote.
To require that when leaving the state and on return, the governor must notify the lieutenant governor, and require this person to notify legislative leaders in writing within 12 hours.
To add an exception to SB 458, waiving the "governor has left the state" reporting requirement for a legislative leader believed to present "a security risk to this state because of his or her affiliations with a domestic terrorist organization." This was proposed by Sen. Jeff Irwin, D-Ann Arbor.
To impose a state permit mandate on "aggregates" mining (sand and gravel), which are needed for road repair and reconstruction projects. The bill would preempt locally imposed restrictions and permit requirements (with exceptions), and authorize a $5,000 permit application fee.
To create an exception to a 2019 law that prohibited government “civil asset forfeitures,” which are takings of property that may be associated with a suspected drug-related crime, unless the individual is actually convicted or accepts a plea bargain. That only applies to police seizures of property worth $50,000 or more, and the bill would lower this to $20,000 for property seized by public airport authority police.
To remove a cap on the amount of state online gambling tax revenue that can be given to the horse race industry and tracks. Fiscal agency analysts note this could cause a modest reduction in revenue for schools.
To prohibit the state or local governments from producing or issuing a COVID-19 vaccine passport, subject to a $1,000 penalty per violation. The bill would also ban governments from providing an incentive to a person to require or use a vaccination passport.
To establish that an executive order, proclamation, or directive issued under the law that authorizes the governor to declare an emergency may not lengthen the required government agency response times or otherwise limit the scope of a public body's duties to provide records requested under the state Freedom of Information Act. Such an order was imposed in April 2020 and rescinded that June.
To prohibit including a mandate in an epidemic-related state or local health department order that requires minors to get a coronavirus vaccination.
To revise a law that requires facilities open to the public (“public accommodations") to permit the use of a service animal by a person with a disability, so that it also requires them to allow trainers to use the facility to train or socialize a service animal.
To add the employment of an individual as a substitute teacher to the list of prohibited subjects of collective bargaining between school districts and teacher unions.
To allow a school district to hire a current employee as a substitute teacher even if the individual does not have a college degree or otherwise meet the legal requirements to be a substitute teacher. The person would get a raise if their current pay was less than a substitutes’ pay but would not get a cut if it was more. This would expire with the 2021-22 school year.
To require state regulators to refund civil penalties they imposed on employers for violating emergency orders issued under a 1945 emergency powers law that has been ruled unconstitutional because it let a governor declare a state of emergency with no time limit and use it to govern unilaterally.
To make it a felony to knowingly submit an absent voter ballot application containing false information or a forged signature, or fill out and submit an absent voter ballot application in another person’s name, or submit an absent voter ballot application with the intent to obtain multiple absent voter ballots.
To place before voters in the next general election a constitutional amendment establishing that a state department or agency may not take disciplinary action against an employee because the employee communicates with a member of the legislature or a member's staff. The proposal would also ban restricting a nonpartisan employee of the legislature from communicating with a lawmaker or their staff. This requires a two-thirds majority vote in both the House and Senate to go on the ballot.
To establish that deer feeding from backyard bird feeders does not constitute "deer baiting" or feeding, which are currently prohibited due to disease transmission concerns. The bill would explicitly permit placing up to two gallons of bird seed in a feeder within 300 feet of a residence.
To encourage public schools to offer a program of instruction on free enterprise and entrepreneurship for high school students.
To authorize a $500 non-refundable state income tax credit for each dependent age 18 and below in 2022 through 2025.
To prohibit the state health and welfare department from spending any money to develop, implement, or enforce any proposal or process to impose vaccine "passport" requirements. This was an amendment to a budget bill, along with a ban on imposing facemask mandates on anyone under age 18.
To prohibit the state or a local health department from imposing a face mask mandate on children younger than age 5.
To restrict a state “administrative board” increasing or decreasing an item of appropriation without permission from legislative appropriation committees if the amount is more than 3% or $125,000 and won’t change the appropriation by more than $200,000. The bill comes after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer used this device to repurpose some $600 million appropriated in the 2019-2020 fiscal year budget.
To create a transportation bond repayment sinking fund, to hold money to be used only to repay road debt incurred by the Whitmer, Granholm and Engler administrations. No new road debt could be incurred without depositing an equal amount in the sinking fund up to $234 million annually, over several years if necessary. The House Fiscal Agency reports the state currently owes $1.159 billion to bond holders, which currently uses $143 million of road tax revenue. A House-passed supplemental spending bill (House Bill 4420) would appropriate $626 million for the sinking fund.
To impose a new mandate on both new and used auto dealers that they must be open for 30 hours per week during at least 48 weeks a year. This would likely have no effect on new car dealers, whose generally larger operations and costs make them likely to keep long hours already, but the additional burden could force some used car dealers to go out of business.
To establish that emergency “lockdown” orders issued by the state health department do not prohibit or otherwise limit holding a high school graduation commencement ceremony held during the 2020-2021 school year at a public or nonpublic school to honor the graduating class of 2020 or 2021.
To revise a state licensure mandate imposed on barbers that requires 1,800 hours of instruction at a “licensed barber college” before an individual can earn a living at this trade. The bill would allow an individual to substitute “apprenticeship” hours for the barber college mandate, if this met a lengthy list of requirements specified in the bill.
To prohibit the state from entering “severance pay,” “nondisclosure” or “confidentiality” agreements with current or prospective government officials and appointees, subject a fine of up to $2,500. Specifically, such agreements would be unlawful if the payment exceeded 12 weeks of the individual's regular pay, or prohibited him or her from revealing factual information about an alleged violation of law. This would not apply to unionized state employees whose terms of employment are already specified by a union contract. The bill comes after it was revealed the former head of the state health department who resigned during the coronavirus epidemic was the beneficiary of such a deal.
To eliminate the statewide May and August election dates. Partisan primary votes that are currently held in August would instead take place in June. School elections that are currently held on the discontinued May date would mostly happen in June instead.
To establish that an executive order, proclamation, or directive issued under the law that authorizes the governor to declare an emergency may not lengthen the required government agency response times or otherwise limit the scope of a public body's duties under the state Freedom of Information Act.
To establish that if the governor signs a memorandum of understanding with another party, defined as an informal agreement that does not impose contractual duties or obligations on this state, after that governor leaves its terms only apply until it is rejected by a subsequent governor. Also, to require that these agreements be signed by the governor and filed in the state office of the great seal, similar to the practice for new laws.
To prohibit the sale of smoke alarms powered by a replaceable and removable battery starting on April 1, 2022, and instead mandate that all smoke alarms must be powered by a nonremovable and nonreplaceable battery that lasts at least 10 years, or by another power source utilizing new technology. This would not apply to alarms powered by a building electrical system and some other exceptions.
To waive liquor license renewal fees for the 2021 renewal period, and extend a temporary increase in the usual 17% discount from the "uniform prices" on the hard liquors purchased from the state by liquor stores, bars and restaurants. Under Michigan's "Liquor Control" law, the state is the sole "wholesaler" of hard liquor, which it manages through three entities contracted to do the work (until the 1990s the state actually operated liquor warehouses). An earlier epidemic response law set the discount at 23% through July 1, 2021, which the bill would extend to December 31, 2023. Opponents mainly expressed concerns about the extended state license fee revenue loss.
To give a $5,000 state income tax exemption to an individual, and $10,000 on joint returns, if an individual or couple deposits those amounts in a specialty savings account the bill would authorize for individuals who have not bought or owned a Michigan home in the past three years (dubbed by the bill a "first time home buyer"). Up to $50,000 in such deposits could be exempted from state income tax over time. A version of this proposal was vetoed by Gov. Rick Snyder in 2018.
A House version of the Senate-passed tax break bill described above.
To mandate that by January 1, 2028, at least 90% of single-family dwellings in municipalities with more than 5,000 residents have access to curbside recycling that meets detailed criteria specified in the bill. The bill also rewrites many definitions and requirements related to landfills, solid waste and recycling mandates. It is part of a legislative package comprised of House Bills 4453 to 4461 that would expand regulation, fees and fines in the areas of solid waste and recycling.
To establish that portable fuel containers that are completely made in Michigan and sold here only are not subject to federal regulations, notwithstanding the U.S. constitution’s interstate commerce clause.
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Contact my lawmakers
Sen. Curtis Hertel, Jr., D-East Lansing, District 23. 517-373-1734. senchertel@senate.michigan.gov
Rep. Sarah Anthony, D-Lansing, District 68. (517) 373-0826. sarahanthony@house.mi.gov
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 www.MichiganVotes.org.
Permission to reprint this legislative summary in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided that www.MichiganVotes.org is properly cited.
