Michigan Legislative update

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April 26, 2018

LANSING — Here's a brief look at what state legislators have been up to:

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Senate Bill 601, Authorize school safety spending: Passed 35 to 0 in the Senate

To appropriate $18.6 million for various purposes related to school and student safety. This includes $15 million in school safety grants, $3 million for a school "panic button app" emergency notification system, and $650,000 for a student safety hotline. 

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House Bill 5531, Expel students who commit sex crimes: Passed 35 to 0 in the Senate

To expand the law requiring the mandatory suspension or expulsion of pupils for certain violence or weapons offenses, so it also requires schools to expel a student guilty of committing criminal sexual conduct against another student

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House Bill 5234, Authorize probation for medically frail prisoners: Passed 25 to 10 in the Senate

To let county sheriffs request and a court grant probation for a prisoner who is physically or mentally incapacitated due to a medical condition that renders the prisoner unable to perform activities of basic daily living, and/or the prisoner requires 24-hour care. Also, to let county sheriffs ask and a court grant a compassionate release if a physician determines the prisoner is not expected to live more than six months.

 

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House Bill 5726, Refine ban on pyramid schemes: Passed 88 to 19 in the House

To amend the state law banning "pyramid promotional schemes," with a new definition of schemes that require an individual to pay for the opportunity to receive compensation derived primarily from bringing other people into the scheme, rather than from selling products and services. Among other methods, the bill distinguishes such schemes from allowable multi-level marketing programs (like Amway or Mary Kay cosmetics) by specifying that participants obtain unreasonable amounts of inventory.

 

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House Bill 5579, House version of next year's education budget: Passed 71 to 36 in the House

The House version of the K-12 school aid, community college and university budgets for the fiscal year that begins Oct 1, 2018. This would appropriate a total of $16.881 billion, of which $1.844 billion is federal money. Of this total, $14.823 billion would go to K-12 public education, compared to $14.580 billion approved last year. Another $1.650 billion is for state universities, compared to $1.629 billion the prior year. Community colleges would get $408 million, up from $399 million last year.

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House Bill 5578, House version of next year's state budget: Passed 66 to 41 in the House

The House version of an “omnibus” non-education state government budget for the fiscal year that begins on Oct. 1, 2018. This would appropriate $39.792 billion, compared to $38.786 billion authorized the year before. Of this amount, $19.629 billion is federal money, and $20.163 billion comes from state taxpayers. The House education budget is described above. Between both bills the House proposes spending $56.673 billion next year, vs. $53.667 billion originally approved for the current year. This is one step in a budget process likely to be completed in June.

 

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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.