To approve an “initiated law” that would repeal one of the two Michigan statutes that authorize a governor to assume extraordinary powers during an emergency, including statewide “lockdowns” like those ordered under the 2020 coronavirus epidemic.
Enacted in 1945, this law places no limit on the duration of a declared emergency. The state’s other emergency powers law adopted in 1976 puts a 28 day deadline on a governor’s assumption of emergency powers, with legislative approval required for any extensions.
Approval by the governor is not required for an initiated law approved by both the House and Senate. The Senate approved the proposal a week earlier, which means with this vote the 1945 law is officially repealed.
To authorize voter initiatives to place term limits on elected officials of “general law” villages. A petition signed by 10% of registered voters would place a measure on the local ballot limiting future elected officials to four two-year terms or two four-year terms.
To approve an “initiated law” that would repeal one of the two state laws that authorize a governor to assume extraordinary powers during an emergency, including statewide “lockdowns” like those ordered under the 2020 coronavirus epidemic.
Enacted in 1945, this law places no limit on the duration of a declared emergency. The state’s other emergency powers law adopted in 1976 puts a 28 day deadline on a governor’s assumption of emergency powers, with legislative approval required for any extensions.
A state Supreme Court ruling in Oct. 2020 held that a law authorizing what amounts to unilateral governance for the duration of a governor’s term violates the constitution’s separation of powers provisions.
Approval by the governor is not required for an initiated law, which is placed before the legislature by petition. If the legislature does not approve the measure it is placed on the next general election ballot.
To make an exception to the state law banning drag racing for “an activity at Silver Lake State Park authorized by the Department of Natural Resources.” This would apply to a 450-acre section of sand dunes park managers have set aside as a "scramble area" for ORVs.
To appropriate $25 million for grants to certain rehab clinics said to be aggrieved by fee caps in the 2019 auto insurance reform law. This law eliminated a requirement for all policies to include unlimited lifetime medical and personal care benefits for crash victims, which was said to generate of fraud and abuse, and was cited as a major reason for the state's very high insurance costs.
To prohibit the Secretary of State from charging late fees on drivers license or licenses and document renewals until all its branch offices are open for walk-in service that allow same-day transactions to be completed without the requirement of an advance appointment.
To appropriate $1.25 million for county prosecutors to investigate "the long-term care and residential care facility policies implemented by the governor" in response to the coronavirus epidemic and "data on infection and transmission rates, tracking, tracing, and number of deaths associated with these facilities"
To end further state participation in the $300 weekly "supplemental" unemployment benefits authorized by a federal "stimulus" spending bill. News reports indicate 25 other states have refused the benefits due to concerns they incentivize people not to work while jobs are plentiful. The bill would also require the state unemployment agency to use clear and concise plain language in its communications and determinations.
To prohibit a governor from adding to the state’s long term debt by borrowing money for road repairs (“bonding”) without consent from two-thirds of the House and Senate. The bill comes after the legislature refused to enact a 45 cent per gallon gas tax proposed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who then authorized $800 million in new road debt in 2020, and eventually up to $3.5 billion. Money to service these debts comes out of future gas taxes and other transportation tax revenue.
To permit school districts to install cameras on school buses the purpose of prosecuting motorists who illegally pass a stopped school bus.
To permit members of the agricultural commodity marketing boards to meet electronically. The bill would permit this on a permanent basis, not just in epidemics. These entities allocate money collected through mandatory assessments levied on growers; examples include commissions for growers of apples, asparagus, potatoes, cherries, beans, beef and others.
To appropriate $16.742 billion for K-12 public schools in the 2021-22 fiscal year, of which $1.943 billion is federal money. The budget would raise the per-pupil state "foundation allowance" target to $8,700. This would be the first year since voters authorized this complex distribution formula in the 1994 Proposal A school funding initiative that its goal was reached of equalizing this amount between all of Michigan's 537 conventional public school districts.
To impose a binding arbitration mandate on local governments in union labor negotiations with corrections officers (jail guards). A similar mandate has long applied to local police agencies, and more recently fire departments, and reportedly increases costs and complicates contract negotiations.
To require a person to show an original or a copy of identification when requesting an absentee ballot in person or by mail, with those unable to do so getting a "provisional" ballot. Also passed were Senate Bills 303 and 304 to authorize the provisional ballots, which require a voter to show documents within six days that verify his or her identity and address for the vote to be counted.
To authorize a new form of property tax break for developers who refurbish or build rental housing and rent out at least 30% of the proposed units at below-market prices to households with incomes less than 120% of the median for their county (dubbed “attainable housing”). The bill would authorize a 50% property tax cut on the structures. Also passed was the related Senate Bill 360, to grant income tax breaks to these developers, which the Senate Fiscal Agency reports would bring "unknown and potentially significant" costs.
To create another type of selective property tax break that local elected officials can give to certain developers, this one granting a 50% cut for up to 12 years for residential developments.
To preempt local governments or authorities from enacting any ordinance, rule, or tax relating to the transportation, possession, carrying, sale, transfer, purchase, gift, devise, licensing, registration, or use of a knife or knife making components that is more restrictive than state law.
To make restaurants and other food service establishments and vendors afflicted by government epidemic lockdowns eligible for refunds on the fees they under various state license regimes. The House also passed related bills applying similar provisions to other occupational or business licensing regimes.
To end further state participation in the $300 per week "supplemental" federal unemployment benefits authorized by congress in epidemic "stimuulus" bills. News reports indicate 25 other states have refused the benefits as of the date of this vote, due to concerns they incentivize people not to work when jobs are plentiful. The bill would also require the state unemployment agency to use clear and concise plain language in communications to employers and benefit claimants, with vocabulary based on a fourth-grade reading level.
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.
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Contact my lawmakers
Rep. Sarah Anthony, D-Lansing, District 68. (517) 373-0826. sarahanthony@house.mi.gov
Sen. Curtis Hertel, Jr., D-East Lansing, District 23. 517-373-1734. senchertel@senate.michigan.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.
