With fewer than 10 scheduled session days between now and the end of the term, legislative committees in the House and the Senate are ramping up this week in a mad dash to move bills before they run out of time.
It remains to be seen if the House Democrats, who have been plagued by attendance issues, will be able to get 56 members on the floor at any point this week.
Rep. Reggie Miller (D-Van Buren Township) is still recovering from surgery, which took place before the Legislature went on break after the election.
“We accommodate for health issues for Republican and Democratic members. We are accommodating for her,” Jess Travers, press secretary for the House Democratic caucus said on Monday. “We hear that she is on the mend, and we hope that she will be back soon.”
The agenda for Tuesday’s House session, released Monday afternoon, was tellingly light with six items for passage, including several Republican-sponsored bills.
Although the House session agenda may be light, the committee schedule, in both chambers, is not. There are currently 24 scheduled committees for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday with 135 bills on their agendas.
Tuesday’s tentative Senate floor agenda is more robust, though still relatively restrained, with concurrence votes planned on a tax exemption for data centers (SB 237 , HB 4906 ). A wide-ranging package of maternal and child health legislation is also up for passage (SB 818 , SB 819 , SB 820 , SB 821 , SB 822 , SB 823 , SB 825 and HB 5826 ).
Here are some of the significant pieces of legislation being taken up this week.
The House Education Committee will take up legislation from the school safety package, which is the work that resulted from a bipartisan committee created last term. HB 4095 , HB 4096 , HB 5549 , HB 5659 and HB 5660 are all on the agenda. The committee will also vote on HB 5735 , which modifies Michigan’s merit curriculum requirement.
The House Criminal Justice Committee is taking up a bill package that would repeal Michigan’s sodomy laws between consenting adults. Sodomy is currently not a crime due to the U.S. Supreme Court Ruling in Lawrence vs. Texas, but if that ruling were to be overturned by a conservative U.S. Supreme Court, Michigan’s law, which is still on the books, would be in effect. The package includes HB 4431 , HB 4432 and HB 4433 .
The House Elections Committee is taking up a Senate elections package. The package – which includes SB 401 , SB 402 , SB 403 and SB 404 – would create a state voting rights act, a voting and elections database and institute act, language assistance for elections and voter access and assistance provisions.
Also on Tuesday, the House Military, Veterans and Homeland Security Committee is taking up legislation that would require firearms to be removed from an individual subject to a domestic relations PPO. The package, which includes HB 6134 and HB 6135 , would also enact procedures for surrender or seizure of firearms for people convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence. The committee is also taking up legislation that would prohibit the sale of weapons seized by law enforcement and would require them to be destroyed. That bill package includes HB 6144 , HB 6145 and HB 6146 .
The House Regulatory Reform Committee was originally scheduled to take up legislation on minimum wage and paid sick time, HB 6056 and HB 6057 , but not everyone was prepared to testify on Tuesday, so committee chair Rep. Tyrone Carter (D-Detroit) said he took it off the agenda because he wanted to give everyone the opportunity to be heard on what is a hot button issue.
Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee plans to take up several bills, among them is HB 5741 , which would modify the recommended curriculum content standards for health education.
The Senate Regulatory Affairs Committee is taking up Sen. Sam Singh’s (D-East Lansing) tobacco package on Tuesday, which would require businesses to have a license to sell tobacco products. The bills included are SB 651 , SB 652 , SB 653 and SB 654 . The final bill in the package, SB 654 , would sunset criminal penalties and civil sanctions for minors that purchase, possess, or use tobacco products.
The Senate Housing and Human Services Committee is taking up Sen. Mallory McMorrow’s (D-Royal Oak) bill to create a reproductive health privacy act. SB 1082 would prevent reproductive health care data from being sold or allow people to be targeted though their data.
The Senate Civil Rights, Judiciary and Public Safety Committee is taking up a bill package on prisoner productivity credits. The legislation – SB 861 , SB 862 , SB 863 and SB 864 – would create a productivity time credit system that could be used toward prisoners’ sentences. Another bill package before the committee – SB 1083 , SB 1084 and SB 1085 – would repeal Michigan’s adultery law.
The Senate Natural Resources and Agriculture Committee is scheduled to take up bills that would create septic system regulations. Those include SB 299 and SB 300 .
On Wednesday, the Senate Health Policy Committee is taking up SB 973 and SB 974 , which would require coverage for contraception and emergency contraception.
– By Elena Durnbaugh
