MichiganVotes.org April 23 Weekly Roll Call Report

Every week MichiganVotes.org sends a report to newspapers and TV stations showing how just the state legislators in each publication's service area voted on the most important and/or interesting bills and amendments of the past seven days. The version shown here instead contains a link to the complete roll call tally in either the House or Senate. To find out who your state Senator is and how to contact him or her go here; for state Representatives go here.

Senate Bill 647, Establish new regulations on embryonic stem cell use, passed in the Senate (25 to 12)
To impose new regulations, restrictions and reporting requirements on human embryo stem cell research done in this state. The bill authorizes criminal penalties of up to one year in jail and a $5,000 fine for violations. Senate Bill 649 passed with the same vote breakdown and imposes new disclosure and reporting mandates on in vitro fertilization clinics.

Complete Roll Call Vote Tally

Senate Bill 751, Require school elections be in even-year August or November, passed in the Senate (32 to 6)
To require school district elections to take place on the even year August primary or November general election dates, with some exceptions allowing odd-year votes.

Complete Roll Call Vote Tally

House Bill 5663, Authorize new local government debt for energy loans, passed House (65-42)
To allow local governments to borrow (sell bonds) and use the proceeds for low-interest loans to private property owners for energy efficiency improvements or a “renewable energy system.”

Complete Roll Call Vote Tally

Rewrite corporate takeover rules for particular company, passed in the House (83 to 24)
To rewrite the rules for corporate acquisitions so as to raise obstacles to the acquisition of a controlling interest in the Fremont Insurance Company (which is located in the district of the bill sponsor) by an Indiana company.

Complete Roll Call Vote Tally

House Bill 6012, Suspend legislators’ employer “401k” contributions, passed in the House (99 to 9)
To suspend the state matching contribution for legislator contributions to their defined contribution retirement plan during the next fiscal year. House Bill 6011 suspended this for legislative employees.

Complete Roll Call Vote Tally

House Bill 4394, Ban texting while driving, passed in the House (74 to 33)
To concur with the Senate-passed version of an explicit "texting while driving" traffic violation, which changes the previous House-passed "secondary offense" only version to one making this a primary offence, meaning that a driver can get stopped just for this.

Complete Roll Call Vote Tally

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 MichiganVotes.org.

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