Vote Explanations – Neil Friske Candidate for Representative

I Voted NO on HB 5500-5517 (Reps. Hood, Morese, Witwer, Snyder, Weiss, Steckloff, O’neil, Morgan, Brixie, Skaggs, Wilson, Barbec) Budgets.

EXPLANATION: These bills would allow for the continued misuse of spending taxpayer dollars. These budgets continue unchecked expansion of welfare and do not give hardworking taxpayers a return on their investments. Continued reckless spending goes against our responsibility as legislators.

Passed: 56-50 (5500, 5501, 5503, 5505, 5507, 5556)

56-47 (5504), 57-48 (5509) 56-49 (5502, 5506, 5508, 5511, 5517, 5499)

I Voted NO on HB 5417 (Rep. Rheingans) which would eliminate the sunset on the Higher Education Authorization and Distance Education Reciprocal Exchange Act, previously extended under HB 4982.

EXPLANATION: Keeping the sunset in place will provide an opportunity for legislators to review the efficiency of the program and make adjustments, or let it expire, if deemed necessary.

Passed: 80-27

I Voted NO on HB 5510 (Rep. Morgan) which would create a Climate Change Emergency Disaster Relief Fund

EXPLANATION: The Climate Change Disaster Relief Fund would expect local communities to try and prove a severe storm was caused by climate change, putting burdensome restrictions in the way of essential resources. I cannot support a budget that forces local municipalities to spend time proving why hail and wind damage happened when they should be securing resources and helping their communities. The MSP is also facing shortages statewide, yet this budget pulls $5 Million in funding for training and recruitment efforts.

I Voted NO on HB 5512. (Rep. Brixie), the Department of Natural Resources budget.

EXPLANATION: this budget makes government less transparent by removing reporting requirements, including metric reporting obligations and disclosure requirements for when high-ranking employees receive loaded severance packages. Michigan ranks near the bottom in government transparency. This budget makes things worse.

The budget also forces taxpayers to bankroll an unnecessary $4 million field trip program.

I Voted NO on HB 5096 (Rep. Grant) which gives the Michigan Strategic Fund Board the authority/flexibility to designate new renaissance zones and authorizes the MSF to extend the existing renaissance zones.

EXPLANATION: The MSF should not be given more power or taking up legislation that is going to benefit only a particular municipality and hospital system.

Passed: 69-38

I Voted NO on HB 4523 (Rep. Hope) which would allow violent offenders to participate in Mental Health and Drug Treatment Court programs.

EXPLANATION: The State does not need to be creating mass amounts of new “special” courts in order to support the “new thing” or pay for Lansing’s insignificant pet projects.

Passed: 96-11

I Voted NO on HB 5534 (Sen. Breen) which would create a new act titled as the “ Trial Court Funding Act of 2024”. The bill would grant new powers to the State Court Administrative Office to determine the amount of court costs that can be imposed on a criminal defendant at the time of sentencing.

EXPLANATION: Instead of a government solution to a government-made problem, the state should restore the court’s ability to arrest convicted criminals for nonpayment. Local control over the operations and funding of the trial courts should not be shifted from local elected officials to unelected Lansing bureaucrats.

Passed: 56-51

I voted NO on HB 5147 (Rep. Rheingans) which would eliminate the sunset on the Higher Education Authorization and Distance Education Reciprocal Exchange Act, which was previously extended under HB 4982.

EXPLANATION: Keeping the sunset in place would provide an opportunity for legislators to review the efficiency of the government run program and make adjustments, or let it expire, if deemed necessary.

Passed: 80-27

I voted NO on Senate Bills 415 & 416 (Sen. Klienfelt) which would allow a microbrewer & licensed by the Michigan Liquor Control Commission (MLCC) to obtain a purchaser’s MLCC license number as identifying information for the purpose of claiming sales and use tax exemptions.

EXPLANATION: Allowing a streamlined ability for only certain industries to avoid paying taxes is a form of picking winners and losers and fails to support Michigan’s small businesses equally.

Passed: 101-6, PASSED: 101-6

I voted YES on HB 5462 (Rep. Markkanen) which would designate a portion of Highway M-26 in Adams Township (Houghton County) as the “Wesley Vietti Karna Memorial Highway.”

EXPLANATION: This highway naming allows us to express gratitude and appreciation for Wesley Vietti Karna for his service to our nation and does not use taxpayer dollars to do so. After World War II, Karna received the purple heart for his service.

Passed: 107-0

I voted NO on Senate Bills 748, 751-753, and 756-769 (Sens. Camillieri, McCann, Cherry, Cavanagh, Santana, Anthony, Shink, Klinefelt, Hertel, Irwin, Bayer) Budget appropriations for; School Aid; Community Colleges; general government; Labor and Economic Opportunity; Health and Human Services; Lifelong Education, Advancement, and Potential, Higher Education; Corrections; Judiciary; Agriculture and Rural Development; Natural Resources; Transportation; Military and Veterans Affairs; State Police; Licensing and Regulatory Affairs; Insurance and Financial Services; Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy; Education.

EXPLANATION: As would be predicted, these Democrat spending bills are bloated, misguided, full of pork, and other misuse. These budgets continue unchecked expansion of welfare and do not give hardworking taxpayers a return on their investments. Continued reckless spending goes against our responsibility as legislators.

ALL Passed: 56-51

I voted NO on HB 5429 (Rep. Morse) which would create a new act to establish a Court-Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) program. This would be a program in which each court in the state may participate, on a voluntary basis. The court would appoint a CASA volunteer in child-protective proceedings, to advocate for the child’s best interests.

EXPLANATION The CASA program already exists in 30 Michigan counties, so this bill is not necessary. Furthermore, there is no funding mechanism established for this program.

Passed 97-10

I voted NO on HBs 4185 thru 4190 & SBs 225 & 226 (Chang, Geiss) (Aiyash, Mentzer, McKinney, Vanderwall) Asbestos Safety Package.

EXPLANATION: MIOSHA policy currently allows penalties to be reduced up to 95% when grace and common sense are employed to review various cases. The legislation extends Michigan’s look-back period from three to five years, so they can fine and harass more businesses. If a company has had 5 or more violation notices, related to environmental regulations in the past years, any local government authority, such as a land bank, contracting with asbestos abatement contractors can withhold payment until they receive written and photographic verification that violations were corrected. The State government has no business meddling to this degree in these business affairs. The bill institutes a $100 notification fee and $10 modification fee that would be charged to operators and property owners who submit an asbestos notification or for DEGLE to conduct an inspection of the property. The cost for the notification fee and any modification fee may be passed on to the contractor. There currently is no fee for the state program and yet this law requires the fee to be paid electronically. The bill would include investigations on a business owner, not just the business entity. This is just bad law.

I voted NO on HB 4675 H-1 (Grant) which amends the Land Bank Fast Track Act by exempting user fees from property held by land bank fast track authorities.

EXPLANATION: The law has been clear for nearly 20 years that taxes, special assessments and user fees do not apply to land held by land bank fast track authorities. This should only apply to land bank properties that are unoccupied. Furthermore, exempting these entities from special assessments and user fees but not exempting others, is fundamentally unfair because we are giving them special deals that others do not get.

Passed 110-58

I voted NO on HB 5127 (McFall) – Expands eligibility for disabled veteran license plates to include partially disabled veterans.

EXPLANATION: This simply provides one other license plate that disabled veterans can choose from without paying a service fee. This doesn’t provide any additional tax breaks on vehicle registrations for partially disabled veterans; it’s just an unconstitutional, feel-good piece of legislation.

I voted YES on HB 4131, HB 4213, HB 4579 & HB 4580 (Liberati, Morse, Price, Brabec) – Telemedicine usage

EXPLANATION: Telemedicine is helpful and time-efficient for many individuals and should be encouraged when possible to ensure quicker and easier access for patients.

I voted NO on HB 5223 H-1 (Rogers), 5224 (Schuette) – Vulnerable roadway user.

EXPLANATION: These are unnecessary additions to already existing laws like reckless driving, negligent homicide, or manslaughter, and the penalties are too severe. It shouldn’t be any more or less of a felony to kill a pedestrian or a motorist while reckless driving.

I voted NO on SB 744 (Sen. Rivet) which would modify the requirements for a teacher to complete a probationary period under the Teachers’ Tenure Act.

EXPLANATION: Effective teachers have high expectations for their students, are good at building relationships, keep their classrooms well-organized, use a variety of instructional strategies, keep parents updated and are consistently present and punctual. With so many public schools becoming increasingly unruly and academically unimpressive, the last thing we need is for less effective teachers getting tenure. This bill weakens the teacher evaluation system. “Effective” ratings earned by a teacher would satisfy a probationary period before tenure, when “effective” was not the highest rating category and did not satisfy the requirement. Further, changing the requirement of consistent high ratings in three consecutive performance evaluations to just three total, will lead to less effective teachers receiving tenure. As an example, tenure could now be granted to a teacher who has been teaching for ten years but only received “effective” ratings in their first, fourth, and tenth year, earning tenure after just one “effective” rating in their past five evaluations. It is better for teachers to demonstrate consistently effective abilities to complete their probationary period. PASSED: 56-47

I voted YES on SB 691 (Sen. Singh) which would amend the Agricultural Commodities Marketing Act to replace the annual audit requirement with one during each referendum period for small grower check-off committees.

EXPLANATION: According to the Senate Fiscal Agency, the bill would have no fiscal impact on State or local government. Research is critical to growers; this bill maintains both existing transparency and adherence to generally accepted accounting standards. Furthermore, this is a step in the right direction. Reduced audit requirements should be extended to all commodity groups equally by expanding the threshold further. PASSED: 103-0

I voted NO on HB 5460 (Rep. Farhat) which would allow for increased flexibility in vehicle loan payment requirements.

EXPLANATION: People should only make purchases within their means. This practice could lead to more purchasers being “upside-down” by owing more than the vehicle is worth at a future time, such as a trade-in for a new vehicle. This would add further regulations to the industry even in cases where payments would be substantially similar throughout the loan repayment period. PASSED: 80-27

I voted NO on HB 5231-5234 & 5269 (Reps. Weiss, Young, Steckloff, Scott, Koleszar) which would require a public school academies, schools of excellence, strict disciplinary academies, and urban high school academies to post the name of its authorizing body and educational management organization, if it has one, on signage and promotional material. Further, it requires charter schools to post salary information on a publicly accessible website.

EXPLANATION: Requiring the display of a charter school’s authorizer and educational management organization serves very little purpose in the grand scheme of things. Charter schools are already required to provide the same transparency information on their website that all public schools must provide under the law. The whole thing seems to be politically motivated. Some of these lawmakers want to require Christian charter schools to post salary information, but they don’t want parents to be told that their child is being counseled to “change genders”. What a disgrace! ALL PASSED: 56-47

I voted NO on HBs 4186 & 4188 (Reps. McKinney, Aiyash) and SBs 225, 226 (Chang, Geiss) which would strengthen enforcement standards in response to an Auditor General audit of the Michigan Department of Environmental, Great Lakes & Energy Air Quality Division’s Asbestos Program that discovered weaknesses in the enforcement program of monitoring for safe asbestos abatement in demolition and renovation projects.

EXPLANATION: This package imposes burdensome and costly regulations on local governments and businesses alike, which are and will always be passed off as more costs imposed on the taxpayer. This package vastly expands the bureaucracy involved in the recently enacted Democrat environmental regulations. Government regulation costs at least $8,000 per household, and may reduce national output by as much as $1.1 trillion per year. Let’s stop pouring fuel onto the fire. Enough is enough! PASSED: (4186) 68-39 (4188) 56-51 (SB225) 78-29 (SB226) 68-39

I voted NO on SB 498 S-1 (Irwin) – which requires Tribal Governments be included in the decision-making process of Foster Care Review Boards (or other placing agencies) when the foster child is a Native American.

EXPLANATION: This is an unnecessary change that is already addressed in State Court Administrative policies. Children of all ethnicities require loving homes. If qualified, loving parents of a different ethnicity want to foster or adopt children, the government should play no role in hindering that process. Too often, the government exacerbates racism and discrimination with its feel-good policies. PASSED 90-19

I voted NO on SB 690 (Klinefelt) which revises the Michigan code of military justice to align it with Federal standards and make several additional changes.

EXPLANATION: Fines for contempt would be increased to $500 from $25 in a summary court-martial and to $2,500 from $100 for any other military court. Thos are 2000-2500% increases! The bill would require punishment as a court-martial directs for any individual subject to the code who: 1) is drunk and disorderly, 2) engages in extramarital conduct with another member subject to the code, 3) sells or furnishes alcohol to a minor, 4) is a military recruiter who engages in sexual activity with an applicant or with a junior member who is enlisted under a delayed entry program, and scores of other infractions. Rather than strengthen the military judicial system, these processes should be handled by civilian courts.

I voted NO on HB 5043 & HB 5044 (Rogers and Mueller) which alters the process for the certification of death records by physicians through the Electronic Death Registration System and clarifies when a county medical examiner certifies a death record.

EXPLANATION: This will add another requirement for record keeping on physicians leading to additional unpaid, government-mandated work. The bill requires physicians to get training and report death records and medical certifications through the “Electronic Death Registration System”. If a physician neglects or refuses to certify a “properly presented death record” the bill makes it a “licensing violation”. This is just more government over-reach.

I voted YES on HB 5737(H-2) (Aiyash) which broaden the scope of the Mentored Youth Hunting Program, making it inclusive of individuals with special needs.

EXPLANATION: The Mentored Youth Hunting Program enables hunters under 10 years old to participate under adult supervision. Under this program, mentored youths must be accompanied by an adult at least 21 years old, possessing hunting experience and a valid Michigan hunting license other than an apprentice license. Currently, apprentice hunters are limited to a two-year period on an apprentice license before being mandated to undertake hunter safety training, which includes a written test, to continue hunting independently. There has been a significant exodus of hunter safety instructors from the program statewide. Consequently, prospective students, especially in rural areas, face challenges in accessing suitable classes. This legislation allows individuals with special needs who possess the physical capability to engage in hunting activities with assistance but may struggle to pass the written portion of a hunter safety test. These individuals will consistently need support in the field. Currently, there’s no mechanism for them to continue hunting beyond the two-year period specified by an apprentice license. This legislation rectifies these challenges by enabling individuals with special needs to participate in hunting through the Mentored Youth Hunting Program. The Mentored Youth Hunt has been successful in opening the door for youths to explore outdoor recreation opportunities, leading to a lifetime pursuit. This program indirectly builds an appreciation and respect for guns and the 2nd amendment. It is important to open up opportunities for all those able.

I voted NO on HB 5393 (Rep. Hope) which would make a technical fix to a bill passed earlier this session, as part of the 20-bill Juvenile Justice Task Force package. HB 4628 (Brabec), HB 4633 (Breen), and SB 428 (Chang) all addressed the same topic – limiting the amount of time a juvenile offender’s case can remain on the consent calendar.

EXPLANATION: I did not agree with the changes made in the overall Juvenile Justice Task Force bill package, so I have no interest in helping the Democrats fix their own drafting error. The original bill package would not solve the current crisis of troubled youth. We need to work on strengthening families to ensure that they don’t get in front of a judge to begin with. This country cannot continue for long if we do not restore and strengthen families. Maybe that is why the socialist Left has been devaluing families and babies at break-neck speed. We have the greatest country in history, but we are at risk of throwing it all away if we do not get our priorities straight. I reject the far-Left’s one-size-fits-all big government approach to childcare, education, criminal justice, and welfare. America is only as strong as the families that make up this great nation. Why don’t we focus on that and not some “technical fix” to bunch of bad bills?

I voted NO on SB 682 S-3 (Damoose) which establishes an overall 15mph speed limit on Mackinac Island, with a maximum speed of 10mph within a business district.

EXPLANATION: Mackinac island has an excellent public safety record with few instances of fatalities or serious injuries and this would restrict the freedom of all riders on the island. This is an unnecessary law, as the Mackinac City Council and the Mackinac Island State Park Commission already regulate the operation of e-bikes on the island. Furthermore, these speed limits are too slow for the average speed of moderate to experienced cyclists. PASSED 65-44

I voted NO on SB 328 (S-2) (Hertel) which establishes a new state mandate to require that any smoke alarm device that is distributed, sold, offered for sale, or imported must be powered for at least 10 years by a nonremovable and nonreplaceable battery or another power source that utilizes new technology.

EXPLANATION: The proposed act would prohibit the distribution, sale, offer or import of smoke alarm devices that are not powered for at least 10 years by either a nonremovable and nonreplaceable battery, or another power source that utilizes new technology. The types of smoke detectors required under this legislation are significantly more expensive than the replaceable battery type, which may prove to be an obstacle for some people to purchase any smoke detector. Michigan residents should be allowed to choose whatever smoke alarm system that they want for their residence. If the national trend is for manufacturers to make this type of smoke alarm already, why does Michigan need a mandate? Won’t consumers already have these available? Should Carbon Monoxide detectors be included in this requirement? Violations would be punishable by a civil infraction and fine not to exceed $500! Can you imagine getting a $500 fine for selling the wrong smoke detector? I vote against these unnecessary, nonsensical bills that create regulatory burden on businesses and interrupt the free market.

I voted YES on HB 5060 (O’Neal) which repeals the Michigan Economic and Social Opportunity (MESO) Act of 1981.

EXPLANATION: In 2003, Michigan Public Act 123 created the Commission on Community Action and Economic Opportunity, which is comprised of Gubernatorial appointees who oversee the State of Michigan’s anti-poverty efforts. Additionally, other changes were made to the rules and regulations which Community Action Agencies must follow. This in effect created two governing statutes which Community Action Agencies, and their oversight bodies, must follow. This bill consolidates these acts into one updated statute while bringing Michigan into better compliance with various Federal program language, including the Community Services Block Grant act. In 1981, Michigan Public Act 230 created the Bureau of Community Action and Economic Opportunity as the administrators of federal funds used by Community Action Agencies to “combat poverty”. The Bureau, which is part of the Department of Health and Human Services, distributes about $23 million to Community Action Agencies from the federal Community Services Block Grant, which helps leverage $438 million in funds from private and local government sources. Michigan Community Action (MCA) is the statewide association that supports the 27 local Community Action Agencies which cover all 83 counites in Michigan. MCA is leading the charge to modernize these enabling statutes to better align with the federal requirements. This legislation makes updates that are necessary to continue receiving federal dollars. PASSED 110-0

I voted NO on HBs 5191-5197 (B. Carter, B. Carter, Neeley, Harris, McFall, Aragona, Fitzgerald) which would amend multiple sections of the Insurance Code, penal code, and Health Care False Claims Act in order to strengthen anti-fraud insurance laws.

EXPLANATION: This legislation is a package of oppressive bills. They modify the Health Care False Claims Act to add insurers providing Personal Injury Protection (PIP) coverage to the defined list of “health care insurers” within the act. Insurers providing PIP would then be subject to anti-kickback provisions in the act. This is all just interference in the free market, and like gun control, it doesn’t stop criminals from committing fraud. Furthermore, consumers who submit false statements, facts, or lie by omission to a PIP insurer will be subject to penalties in the act. So, with that they are making criminals out of regular people who make mistakes on their insurance applications or claims. Under this legislation, someone found guilty of committing insurance fraud could also be guilty of “racketeering”, potentially punishable by: incarceration, fines, or forfeiture of assets. A person who commits the most severe fraud would be punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a fine up to $50,000. What a terrible slippery slope towards a tyrannical police state. Those found to have violated a portion of the Insurance Code that does not have an applicable penalty are entitled to a hearing with the director of the Department of Insurance & Financial Services (DIFS). The director is then empowered to summarize the findings, order a cease and desist, and determine fines! This bill clarifies if the director orders a fine related to an act or omission under the insurance fraud section, the fine may be ordered in addition to, not in lieu of, another penalty or restitution. What a farce! This unelected bureaucrat becomes judge, jury and executioner. The bill package requires an insurer who “believes or knows” that a fraudulent insurance act has occurred to file a report with the director of DIFS on a form created by the director along with additional information relevant to the fraud outlining the fraud. This is government-mandated busy work for the private sector. Lastly, sharing of information about fraud to another outside organization could potentially undermine privacy considerations. Including insurance fraud in the definition of racketeering to allow duplicative charging won’t help investigate or prevent insurance fraud. Existing civil and criminal insurance fraud offenses are sufficient. There will be a nigher number of prosecutions and convictions under this package, so court and jail or prison costs will increase.

I voted NO on HB 5523 (Glanville) which creates a new act that consolidates community action agency statutes and establishes the Bureau of Community Services and a Commission on Economic and Social Opportunity.

EXPLANATION: It is unnecessary to repeal the entire MESO Act of 1981 and replace with an entirely new act when we are making language updates that could be accomplished through amending the existing act.

I voted YES on SB 150 (Chang) which amends the Tax Tribunal Act by allowing for residential property and small claims division hearings with the Michigan Tax Tribunal to be conducted remotely.

EXPLANATION: Current law requires the residential and small claims division to meet in the county in which the property in question is located or in a contiguous county in which the property is located. A petitioner is not required to travel more than 100 miles from the property in question to the hearing site, except for a rehearing, that site is determined by the tribunal. A hearing may take place remotely if agreed upon by the petitioner and the tribunal. Allowing for remote Michigan Tax Tribunal hearings, without the need to get permission from the tribunal, will provide a cost savings to not only those petitioning the tribunal but the tribunal as well. It also benefits petitioners who have hearings scheduled during the day which may require them to take time off work to be physically present for the hearing. Allowing for hearings to be conducted over the phone or video conferencing will allow petitioners to be heard but without the burden of traveling or taking time off work or other commitments. PASSED: 104-6

I voted NO on HB 5817 & 5818 (Reps. Carter, Steckloff) which would exempt Museum Authorities from Brownfield Redevelopment Act taxation and Tax Increment Financing taxation.

EXPLANATION: Museums have the ability to support themselves through private donations, user fees, and other revenues. Taxpayers should not be on the hook to support museums that many residents will never use. Michiganders are already taxed too much on their property, we shouldn’t allow even more property taxes to be levied. PASSED: 56-54, PASSED: 56-54

I voted NO on HB 5507, the general omnibus spending bill containing appropriations for the upcoming fiscal year, FY 24-25.

EXPLANATION: Democrats are spending $82.5 billion in the next state budget without any real solutions to address Michigan’s most pressing challenges. This horrible budget funds far-left programs while ignoring the priorities of Michigan families“ This budget is a disaster. Democrats have raided our teachers’ retirement funds, neglected critical needs while funding their own pet projects, and made life harder for struggling Michigan families by locking in the income tax hike.

The budget increases funding for Whitmer’s Office of Global Michigan, which has set up a Newcomer Rental Subsidy program that offers rent assistance to illegal aliens. It also allocates $1 million to the Michigan Advocacy Program, an organization that funds the Michigan Immigration Rights Center, which facilitates legal services to illegal aliens.

House Republicans have repeatedly raised concerns about taking transparency and accountability measures out of the budget. We proposed amendments to restore deleted reporting requirements, add best practices and accountability measures for grants, and give the public the right to know about severance agreements. Democrats ignored our concerns and rejected every single amendment we offered to restore transparency.

The spending plan being pushed by House Democrats expands state government by creating more than 500 new bureaucratic positions that will be unsustainable in future years. For example, Democrats want to hire 32 bureaucrats to enforce their new clean energy mandates, another 10 new state employees to help push electric vehicles and decarbonize businesses, and 36 new employees for various positions at the Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy. This is an irresponsible spending plan that funds several unnecessary programs that will be unsustainable in future years. For example, Democrats spend $7.5 million on drones, put $3 million toward incentivizing people to purchase e-bikes, and spend $25 million on state-owned electric vehicle charging stations.

We should be reducing taxes, eliminating regulations, and increasing accountability. Instead, the Democrat budget pushes a liberal social agenda, ramps up unionization, solidifies tax hikes, dismantles transparency and funnels resources into special interests at the expense of the taxpayers. The people of Michigan expect their tax dollars to be spent fixing roads, protecting our natural resources, and boosting public safety—not funding political agendas. The Democrats’ budget fails to address the most pressing needs of Michigan communities but finds plenty of money to spend on political projects and far-left social programs that do not align with the needs of the people. PASSED: 56-54

I voted NO on SB 911 (Hertel) which lowers the statutorily required Michigan Public School Employees Retirement System (MPSERS) contribution for school districts by 7.06% and eliminates the 3% employee healthcare contribution.

EXPLANATION: This creates an unfunded liability and will lead to insolvency of the retirement benefits for public school teachers. This money should continue to go to MPSERS and be put toward paying down the pension system. If we pay that off before 2038, it would free up billions of dollars per year that could go back into the classroom. Reducing the liability for districts does not eliminate the liability; it only shifts it elsewhere. Lowering the cap of school contributions would cost the state approximately $700 million in Fiscal Year 24-25 alone. The law that implemented the 20.96% contribution cap did not provide for the pension and Other Post-employment Benefits system to be treated as separate liabilities, so treating them as two separate entities is irresponsible and against the intent of the MPSERS reforms made in the 2010s. PASSED: 56-54

I voted NO on HB 4485-4487 (Reps. Miller, Whitsett, and Scott) which would eliminate the period of limitations for criminal prosecutions for criminal sexual conduct, modify governmental immunity for civil tort actions, and provide an exception to notice requirements for actions filed against the state of Michigan in the Court of Claims.

EXPLANATION: No change in law is necessary, statutes of limitation are important and should remain as is. These bills are just a financial handout to plaintiffs’ personal injury attorneys. PASSED: 57-53, 58-52, and 56-54, respectively.

I voted NO on HB 5736 (Rep. Mantzer) which would require an employer to display a poster at their place of business that lists available services to veterans.

EXPLANATION: The bill requires the Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity to work with the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs to create and make the posters that are 1) available to employers, 2) downloadable online, and 3) free if hard copies are requested. This is just another ridiculous regulation that forces employers to comply, even if they don’t have a veteran working for them. PASSED: 56-54

I voted NO on SB 366 (Sen. McCann) which increases the penalties for natural gas safety violations.

EXPLANATION: Currently, violators of the act or MPSC rules are subject to a fine of up to $10,000 for each day the violation persists for a maximum of $500,000. This bill increases the per-day penalty for violations from $10,000 to $200,000 and the maximum penalty from $500,000 to $2.5 million. Increasing the maximum penalty from $10,000 to $200,000 is an unreasonable and over-the-top twentyfold increase. This is just another disgusting fundraiser for the government, when we should be lowering taxing, eliminating regulations, removing illegal immigrants and fixing the roads. PASSED: 89-21

I voted NO on HB 5568 (Rep. Scott) which would create the Michigan High-Speed Internet Office within the Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity.

EXPLANATION: In 2021, Gov. Whitmer created the Michigan High Speed Internet Office (MIHI) via Executive Directive with the goal of creating a “more digitally equitable Michigan” and “bridging the digital divide”. This bill puts the office created undemocratically via Executive Order into statute. We should be repealing executive orders rather that codifying them. The bill expands the size and authority of the state government, exactly the opposite of what we should be doing. PASSED: 56-54

I voted NO on HB 4414 (Rep. Scott) which would require the Department of Technology, Management, and Budget (DTMB) to collaborate with the Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity (LEO) to create and collate digital literacy resources. LEO is then responsible for posting them on the department website.

EXPLANATION: This is something that can be done at any time, without a new law. It is an enormous waste of time to pursue a law directing a department to take these actions. I understand the inefficiency of government, but this is absurd. DTMB will have increased costs, as they will now be required to hire God knows how man staffers to create and post material on an ongoing basis. This is an unnecessary and enormous waste of time and resources. PASSED: 56-54

I voted NO on HB 5724 (Rep. Breen) which would adopt a new act called the “Judicial Protection Act”, designed to protect the personal information and physical safety for judges, their families and household members.

EXPLANATION: This bill picks winners and losers. If this is so important, then it should apply to every Michigan Citizen. We should not be giving Judges and their families special treatment, especially when it will be exceedingly difficult to put into practice on a small scale, given the details of how to redact judges’ information from various types of public records. PASSED: 81-27

I voted NO on HB 4718 (Rep. Pohutsky) which would prohibit as a defense to a crime the fact that the victim had a certain sexual orientation or gender identity. Extreme Leftists refer to this bill as the “LGBTQ+ panic defense ban.”

EXPLANATION: Existing criminal law principles are adequate. This is a bill that is a solution in search of a problem. This one class of victims should not be singled out for special treatment. Law should apply to all victims equally. Again, Democrats are picking winners and losers for political points. Absurd. PASSED: 56-54

I voted NO on HB 4331 & 4332 (Rep. Whitsett) which 1) whichincreases Michigan’s fire insurance escrow program by increasing the residential withholding amount to match the current cost of demolitions, allowing cities to use abandoned funds for repairs and 2) establishes penalties for failing to correct blight violations and amends how cities send notice to blight offenders.

EXPLANATION: The bill wouldn’t solve the underlying issues causing properties to be abandoned in the first place. This creates yet another revenue generator for cities that could be abused. Central planning bills like these ensure that Michigan will continue to make sure that people cannot afford a home. The penalties, of course, do NOT apply to a government-sponsored enterprise. PASSED: 96-14 and 69-41, respectively.

I voted YES on HB 5056 & 5058 (Reps. Miller and Bierlein) which would amend the Michigan Vehicle Code to require the Secretary of State (SOS) to create a Michigan 4-H fundraising plate and establish the Michigan 4-H Foundation Fund within the department of Treasury.

EXPLANATION: 4-H is America’s largest youth development organization encompassing a community of over 100 universities providing hands-on experiencing for kids of all backgrounds. At the state level, Michigan 4-H is run through the Michigan State University 4-H extension where programs are offered varying from animal science, music, environmental education, and more. This program is currently funded through private donations, state grants/appropriations, and county mileages. Currently, Michigan has 16 different fundraising plates available for special causes including, but not limited to, the Breast Cancer Awareness, Donate Life, Wildlife Habitat and Detroit Pistons. The SOS also offers fundraising plates for 15 universities across the state. In Michigan, fundraising license plates can only be used for cars, vans, pickup trucks, and motor homes. In 2014, Public Act (PA) 327 was enacted that limited the number of fundraising plates the SOS can offer to 20 at any given time. In order for a fundraising license plate to continue to be offered the license plate must meet certain sales goals. As outlined in PA 327, the fundraising plate must sell 2,000 license plates in the first year, 500 in each subsequent year until the 5th year, and after the 5th year 500 plates must be sold every two years. The organization, rather than the department, is responsible for the start-up cost of the license plate. PA 327 stated that the start-up cost should be an amount equal to the three-year average of the cost to SOS for the start-up of the fundraising plate. The most recent estimate for this is $90,000. As the 4-H program provides opportunities for so many young people around the country, the fundraising plate provides increased revenue for increased services and programs.

The bill will provide the Department of State (DOS) with an increase in funding to the Transportation Administration Collection Fund (TACF). Section 811e of the Michigan Vehicle Code requires the payment of a start-up fee, typically paid by the receiving organization, to the secretary of state to cover the costs of developing and producing a new fund-raising plate and directs the fee revenue to be deposited into the TACF. The start-up fee amount for each year is required to be calculated every January by taking the three-year average cost to DOS of developing a new fund-raising plate, for 2023 that fee is $90,000. Any fee revenue deposited into the TACF more than the cost of development would remain in the TACF, which supports the department’s vehicle registration and licensing operations.

I voted NO on HB 5379 & 5747 (Rep. Hill) would expand the distance from 30 to 50 air miles for what would be allowed under a fuel tax reciprocity agreement. It also corrects the kilogram weight references for qualified motor carriers and clarifies the definition of a “motor carrier.”

EXPLANATION: Continuing to expand the distances for reciprocity agreements could lead to us forgoing the International Fuel Tax Agreement requirements altogether. These bills are government solutions to government-made problems. This anti-free market “solution” will only encourage the Democrats to further hike overall gas taxes and encourage more anti-competitive behavior with bordering states. PASSED: 100-9, PASSED: 99-10

I voted NO on HB 5030-5032, (Rep. Coffia, Puri, Snyder) which would collectively amend the State Housing Development Authority Act by modifying provisions relating to the cancellation of bonds, the participation of the resident member of MSHDA, and the sales price limit for certain housing loans.

EXPLANATION: This package is just another central planning boondoggle replete with the usual Democrat market manipulation. Currently, the MSHDA Board “resident member” (someone assisted by a federal housing program) can only vote on matters that exclusively relate to federal housing programs or section 8. HB 5031 allows the resident member to vote on issues outside of federal housing and section 8 housing programs. That’s a disaster waiting to happen.

HB 5032 allows MSHDA to increase the purchase price limit by an amount that will cover unexpected cost increases during construction or improvements needed for disabled individuals. That limit is currently set at $3,500 and this bill increases it to $10,000. So, this would increase MSHDA’s revenues. Finagling government growth and revenues is the opposite of what we should be doing. What we should do is reduce taxes and fees on Michiganders and the regulatory burden on Michigan businesses. The free market would be able to solve the associated problems. PASSED: 59-49, PASSED: 56-53, PASSED: 60-48

I voted NO on SB 702 (Sen. Singh) which would increase the minimum number of training hours required for cosmetology instructor, manicurist, and esthetician licenses to meet federal financial aid requirements.

EXPLANATION: The state’s standards were established at least 25 years ago, and in some cases, over 50 years ago. You would think that with information being available at warp speed compared to when these standards were instituted, schools would not need MORE hours to teach new techniques and technologies that did not exist when the standards were created. This bill increases certain training hours from 400 to 600 hours. How about we let the students work a job for those 200 hours and pay for their own schooling rather than rely of federal student aid? These regulations are anti-free market barriers of entry to business. Increasing the number of training hours just makes it that much harder for talented people to get started out on the free market. PASSED: 93-16

I voted NO on SB 465 (Sen. Singh) which would amend the Michigan vehicle code to prohibit a vehicle from following a snowplow more closely than 200 feet.

EXPLANATION: A 200 foot distance is difficult to visualize, and for some people, it is just not possible. Licensed drivers in Michigan already have training on traveling in hazardous conditions and the importance of keeping a safe distance between vehicles of all kinds, not just snow plows. Creating more regulations does not solve the problem; it reduces driver confidence and creates more confusion on the road, ultimately making the road more hazardous. This legislation will result in unintended violations of the law. It’s just as unnecessary as the 6-foot distancing rule during COVID and will be just another fundraiser for the government. PASSED: 80-29

I voted YES on SB 251 (Sen. Geiss) which would eliminate the State requirement for a bus to display the primary telephone number on both sides of the bus.

EXPLANATION: This bill replaces a ridiculous law that should have never been passed in the first place. There have been prank calls to motor carriers given the prominent display of the phone number. This bill would help motor carriers receive a higher number of legitimate calls. Furthermore, I voted YES in order to reduce the regulatory and financial burden caused by the old law! PASSED: 110-0

I voted NO on SB 417 (Sen. Singh) which would amend the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA) Act to make changes to what types of projects MSHDA can finance with certain bonds, and also clarifies certain conditions of this type of financing.

EXPLANATION: This bill dramatically increases the cap on outstanding loan commitments for a loan borrower from $25 million to $100 million? Any increase should be done in an incremental, responsible timeline, if at all… The bill would also add the following to eligible projects for pass through financing programs: independent living, congregate care, assisted living units for individuals 55 years of age or older. Why are we only expanding this to include senior housing developments? This seems oddly narrow and tailored to a specific group of developers, once again, picking winners and losers. PASSED: 58-51

I voted NO on HB 5569, 5570, (Rep. Tsernoglou. Bierlein) which would impose civil liability and criminal penalties for the non-consensual creation and dissemination of deep fake sexual images.

EXPLANATION: Advances in technology have made it more possible to produce photos and videos that seem to depict a particular individual, even though the images are altered or faked, thus, the term, “deep fake”. “Deep fake” means a video recording, motion-picture film, sound recording, electronic image, or photograph, or a technological representation of speech or conduct substantially derivative of such a recording, film, image, or photograph that is so realistic that a reasonable person would believe it depicts speech or conduct of a depicted individual, and the production of it was substantially dependent on technical means, rather than the ability of another individual to physically or verbally impersonate the depicted individual. Individuals can suffer great harm to their reputations if such images are circulated widely on social media. This is particularly true if the images involve sexual activity or an individual’s intimate parts. I am absolutely in support of the concept of instituting protections against the dissemination of non-consensual deep fakes. AI should not be used to create and share sexually explicit material without consent.

Unfortunately, despite my attempts to amend the bill, it prevents someone accused from being able to properly defend himself from a wrongful accusation. The bill says that it is NOT a defense to a prosecution that the depicted individual CONSENTED to the creation or possession of the deep fake, or the private transmission of the deep fake unless the consent is contained IN A WRITTEN SIGNED AGREEMENT. This bill would give an accuser up to $100,000 reward for erroneously bringing a claim, yet the defendant can’t properly defend himself. I agree with the thousand dollar per day additional fine for every day that the deep fake is kept up after a court enters a temporary restraining order or a permanent injunction. Removing a person’s ability to defend himself from criminal allegations by invalidating verbal agreements is entirely improper and destroys legitimate defense precedent. Further, the additional $100,000 award, in excess of other damages through civil action, creates a situation ripe for abuse. Too often, legislators are afraid to vote for or against something based on the optics that are created. This bill is a perfect example of if you dig into it and read the details, you’ll find that “the devil is in the details”. PASSED: 108-2, PASSED: 108-2

I voted NO on HB 4427 (Rep. Young) which would make incarcerated persons eligible to file FOIA requests.

EXPLANATION: The bill would significantly increase the requirements placed on public bodies. Incarcerated persons have a great deal of time to write and send public records requests, and many requests allowed by this bill will be dilatory, harassing and delay in the completion of reasonable requests. This bill places an undue burden on public bodies. Inmates can already have their attorneys and/or family submit FOIA requests when appropriate. PASSED: 56-53

I voted NO on HB 5546 (Rep. Snyder) which would provide Michigan beer and soft drink distributors a tax credit equal to ½ cent per returnable container sold.

EXPLANATION: The Bottle Deposit Law is antiquated, hurts Michigan recycling efforts, has become convoluted with a myriad of regulatory requirements, and needs to be repealed. Forty states do not have a bottle deposit law and have recycling rates better than Michigan. PASSED: 103-7

I voted NO on HB 4360 (Rep. Brabec) which would amend the Emergency Services to Municipalities Act to allow municipalities to create an authority for emergency services within, but not the entire, territory of the municipalities.

EXPLANATION: This bill would potentially cut off residents from services if they fall outside of the defined area. This could lead to taxing the whole municipality to pay for its obligation to the authority. PASSED: 79-31

I voted YES on HB 5110 (Rep. Wozniak) which would create the “Unitrust Act” – a new act establishing procedures relating to the administration of unitrusts and income trusts.

EXPLANATION: Michigan offers a variety of trusts to suit different needs and objectives, including, but not limited to: revocable living trusts, irrevocable trusts, IRA trusts, charitable trusts, and special needs trusts. Each type of trust has unique benefits and purposes, providing flexibility for individuals seeking the best trust structure for their specific circumstances. A “unitrust” is a trust under which periodic payouts to current beneficiaries are determined as a set percentage of the net value of the trust assets, determined from time to time, regardless of how much income is produced by the trust’s investments. Such a trust creates a unity of economic interest where there can otherwise be sharp divergence in the interests of current “income” beneficiaries and successor beneficiaries. Therefore, this type of trust tool reduces the likelihood of dissension among the trust’s current and future beneficiaries over investment policy. A unitrust allows both current and future beneficiaries of the trust to benefit from investment of the trust’s assets for maximum total return. Unitrusts in Michigan law will provide trustees with additional options to serve and protect the best interests of all beneficiaries. PASSED: 109-0

I voted YES on SB 235 (Sen. Outman) which would create a new act to designate February 1st of each year as “Blue Star Mothers Day” in Michigan.

EXPLANATION: Blue Star Mothers of America, Inc. is a group of mothers, stepmothers, grandmothers, etc. who have children serving in the military. “Blue Star Mothers Day” would recognize Blue Star Mothers of America, Inc and the contribution the organization has made to support its members. It would make the population in Michigan more aware of the sacrifices made by those who have a son or daughter actively serving in the military. Blue Star Mothers pack and ship thousands of care packages every year to service members deployed overseas. They also volunteer to help homeless veterans, provide support for Wounded Warriors, visit hospitalized veterans, honor fallen heroes during funeral services, and offer a compassionate community for the loved ones of those serving in harm’s way. They deserve this recognition. Recognizing the struggle of the mothers who go through the process of sending their sons and daughters off to the military is important, and this day would recognize that sacrifice. This is especially appropriate, as the federal government has not had the decency to properly declare war before sending their sons aughterrs into harm’s way since WW2. PASSED: 109-0

I voted NO on SB 603, 604 (Sen. Chang, Moss) which would amend Michigan Election Law to make several changes to the current recount process in Michigan. This bill would also make technical sentencing updates related to the updated criminal penalties included in SB 603.

EXPLANATION: This bill would allow a candidate for office, a ballot question committee, or an elector concerned with a ballot question in an election for which no ballot question committee was present, to request a recount ONLY on account of an error in the canvass or return of votes. It applies a felony charge for any officer, assistant, clerk, or employee engaged in the conduct of a recount who INTERFERES with a “fair and impartial” recount of the votes. These bills would strip away any current, time-honored law that gives the bipartisan county boards of canvassers in our state the authority to investigate fraud, wrongdoing, or a violation of the law in our elections. In ten different places, Senate Bill No. 603 deletes the words “fraud or mistake” and replaces them with the word “error.” In other places in the bill, it deletes even more language about “fraudulent” or “illegal” activity, and even about “ballot tampering.” These bills would essentially say we can’t even look at potential fraud or illegal activity during a recount, which is an absolute outrage, especially when Michigan has 104 percent of the voting-age population of our state registered to vote—104%! You don’t have to be a mathematician to know this is alarming. We also have no system to tell if someone votes in multiple states. The current Secretary of State failed to remove 170,000 names from the voting rolls of people who no longer lived in the state until after she was sued.

Fair and free elections are a hallmark of the American democratic system. The American people’s confidence in the value of their vote is principally reliant on the security and resilience of the infrastructure that makes the nation’s elections possible. Accordingly, an electoral process that is both secure and resilient is a vital national interest and one of its highest priorities. These bills undermines the integrity of our elections and criminalizes the whistleblowers who would dare interfere with stopping the steals… PASSED: 56-53, PASSED: 56-53

I voted YES on HB 5598, 5599 (Rep. Liberati) which would reform the state penalties for deed fraud and update the code of criminal procedure to reflect the new ten-year felony created in HB 5598.

EXPLANATION: This bill clarifies that those with intent to deceive and record a document with any untruthful information regarding conveyances are guilty of deed fraud, rather than only “falsely recording” who the grantor or owner is. Additionally, allowing Registers of Deeds to provide evidence to County Prosecutors of suspected skulduggery will help root out deed fraud. PASSED: 109-0, PASSED: 109-0

I voted YES on SB 841-843 (Sen. Klinefelt) which would create a new crime for the act of having sexual contact or sexual penetration with a dead human body, amend the criminal sentencing guidelines to incorporate the new criminal penalties created in SB 841, and would amend the Sex Offenders Registration Act to add the new offenses created in SB 841 to the list of crimes for which a convicted person must register as a sex offender.

EXPLANATION: Michigan does already have on the books a variety of criminal laws regarding improper treatment of a dead human body: Believe it or not, photographing a dead human body is a 2-year felony; concealing the death of an individual is a 5-year felony; disinterring or mutilating a dead human body is a 10-year felony; improper disposal of a dead human body after more than 180 days is a 10-year felony. Obviously, Michigan law should contain a penalty for necrophilia and someone who commits that crime should be required to register as a sex offender. PASSED: 109-0, PASSED: 109-0, PASSED: 109-0

I voted NO on HB 5649 (H-1) (Glanville) which amends the Revised School Code to add Sec. 1166c. The new section requires public high schools to offer at least one computer science course beginning with the 2027-28 school year.

EXPLANATION: There is currently a teacher and staff shortage, and requiring schools to implement a new course offering could exacerbate the problem. If there is a demand for a certain course, the high school is already allowed to create a course offering. This requirement may end up in courses being offered with very few students taking advantage of them. Considering the prevalence of computers and smartphones in society and the extreme familiarity young people seem to have with them, this is just another unnecessary law. Schools are in much greater need of abstinence training, recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance, or study of our nation’s founding documents. PASSED 87-22

I voted NO on HB 5803 (Koleszar) which lowers the statutorily required MPSERS contribution for school districts by 7.06% and eliminates the employee healthcare contribution.

EXPLANATION: The Michigan Public School Employees Retirement System (MPSERS) has two major components of retirement benefits: pensions and other post-employment benefits (OPEB), which is usually healthcare. The pension portion maintains an outstanding liability of over $34 billion dollars with an expected payoff date of 2038. Lowering the cap of school contributions to 13.9% would cost the state approximately $700 million in Fiscal Year 24-25 alone. The law that implemented the 20.96% contribution cap did not provide for the pension and OPEB system to be treated as separate liabilities, so treating them as two separate entities is irresponsible and against the intent of the responsible MPSERS reforms made in the 2010s. The bill also eliminates the required member healthcare contribution of 3%. This money should continue to go to MPSERS and be put toward paying down the pension system. If we pay that off before 2038, it would free up billions of dollars per year that could go back into the classroom. Reducing the liability for districts does not eliminate the liability; it only shifts it elsewhere. PASSED 56-52

I voted YES on SB 482 H-1 (McDonald-Rivet) which allows a Sharps container to be stored in the location for longer than 90 days if the container is not more than 3/4 full.

EXPLANATION: Sharps containers are often found in low waste spaces such as public bathrooms for diabetics and others who need to use a syringe. Used syringes are a form of medical waste. Current law prohibits the storage of medical waste on site where the waste was generated for more than 90 days. This has led to increased costs as some low traffic places have to change mostly empty Sharps containers. Additionally, federal guidance from the FDA and CDC both indicate that Sharps containers should be emptied when they are filled above the fill line OR at 3/4 full and do not specify a day limitation. This bill would attempt to alleviate the issue of early disposal for low volume areas by allowing for longer storage under certain conditions by removing the day requirement and instead using the 3/4 full standard. This will help alleviate the need of frequent disposal of mostly empty Sharps containers and reduce medical waste. By allowing longer storage, particularly in low volume usage areas, this lessens the disposal costs on smaller and more rural operations, like much of my district. PASSED 110-0

I voted NO on SB 449 H-1 and SB 450 H-1 (Daley and Irwin) which would require the Department of Health and Human Services to develop policies and rules focused on the nature and need for Complex Rehabilitative Technology (CRT) services necessary for individuals within the Medicaid program.

EXPLANATION: This bill does nothing to ensure that individuals with severe health conditions get the necessary equipment the need for their recovery. Medical providers are already qualified to recognize the need to prescribe this type of equipment. This will lead to higher costs within the Medicaid program overall as all regulations inevitably do. PASSED 104-6

I voted YES on HB 5060 (O’Neal) which repeals the Michigan Economic and Social Opportunity (MESO) Act of 1981.

I voted NO on HB 5827 (Whitsett) which would increase the maximum number of weeks that an individual may receive unemployment compensation from 20 to 26 weeks beginning on January 1, 2025.

EXPLANATION: This will lead to increased costs for employers, as they will now have people drawing off their unemployment accounts for longer periods of time. The current 20-week limitation was implemented due to the problems the Unemployment system was facing at the time which included both debt and high costs. This returns us to that failed model which will be a disgusting misuse of taxpayer dollars. The state unemployment rate is currently 3.9%, which is lower than the national average of 4%. There is no need to increase the amount of weeks that can be collected for unemployment. This is just creating a larger class of people dependent upon the state and turning short term unemployment into an entitlement. PASSED 56-54

I voted NO on HB 5694 (Rep. Carter) which would amend the Insurance Code by allowing insurers to offer or provide value-added products or services which are not specified in the policy coverage, if certain criteria are met.

EXPLANATION: Under the bill, the director of the Department of Insurance and Financial Services (DIFS) would be permitted to adopt rules to implement the bill consistent with law regarding consumer protection. That could mean rules regarding consumer data protection, privacy and consumer disclosure, and “unfair discrimination”. This bill allows an unelected bureaucrat from DIFS to go rogue and declare rules regarding consumer data protection, privacy and consumer disclosure. PASSED: 104-6

I voted NO SB 571 H-1 (Cherry) which would create a new state project registration and certified payroll database as well as add the prevailing wage requirements for both public and private solar and wind generation to the prevailing wage law.

EXPLANATION: In 1965, Michigan adopted prevailing wage requirements for state-funded construction projects for new construction, alterations, or repair of public buildings, schools, bridges, highways, and roads. This practice requires that workers on these projects be paid a wage that reflects the wages and benefits in the locality for similar work. These changes would extend prevailing wage requirements to the private sector for the first time and sets a dangerous precedent for the future. Making contractors and subcontractors submit their payroll records within 10 days to the state is burdensome and adds another layer of bureaucracy that employers will have to deal with. Creating a database within the Department of Labor & Economic Opportunity will assuredly be used by the department to go after contractors or subcontractors. Prevailing wage on renewable energy projects will only help ensure even higher energy rates. The Senate Fiscal Agency indicates that this will increase state costs for LEO to administer and run a registration and payroll record system. This would require additional staff and IT costs. PASSED 56-54

I voted NO on HB 4409 (Steckloff) which creates the Drug Manufacturers Data Reporting Act establishing transparency reporting requirements for drug manufacturers.

EXPLANATION: This bill creates the Drug Manufacturers Data Reporting Act requiring drug manufacturers to submit ton of information to the Department of Insurance and Financial Services (DIFS) when they increase the wholesale acquisition cost (WAC) of certain prescription drugs by more than 15 percent in a given year or 40 percent over a 3-year period. Additionally, HB 4409 defines a qualified prescription drug as a prescription drug with a WAC of $500 or more for a 30-day supply. The bill also requires DIFS to compile and submit an annual report to the Legislature detailing the information received from manufacturers regarding the cost of drugs. If drug manufacturers fail to comply with the requirements, they may be ordered to pay a fine up to $100,000 PER MONTH for each month that a report is not filed by the drug manufacturer. These drug transparency laws are inconsistent throughout the nation, so Michigan is just perpetuating the inconsistency problems that exist today. These reporting requirements are burdensome and will increase costs to consumers as the manufacturers may find ways to pass the cost on through their drug prices. The bill will expand DIFS’ responsibilities with respect to reviewing drug manufacturer filings and require DIFS to prepare an annual report based on information received under the bill. Additional resources will be necessary to support these activities within DIFS, so the bill will add significant State costs. PASSED 90-20

I voted NO on SB 293 (McDonald Rivet) which would expand eligibility for MSHDA’s Michigan Housing and Community Development Fund to middle-income households (up to 120% Area Median Income) and provide state/regional housing authorities greater flexibility to address “missing middle” housing needs.

EXPLANATION: If we reduce the overall “pot of money” that is available for housing assistance by allowing more people to qualify, then low-income housing will see a reduction in money available. By expanding housing assistance to middle-income households as well, we are continuing to fuel inflation and driving up the costs of homes, which has caused the “missing middle” crisis in the first place. This is an anti-free market solution to a government-exacerbated problem. PASSED 54-53

I voted NO on HB 5166 – HB 5173, HB 4728 and HB 5027 (Pohutsky et. all) which amends several acts to create a perinatal quality collaborative, provide perinatal facility level designations, and require health insurance to cover prenatal and postpartum services.

EXPLANATION: Buried in this package is a requirement for DHHS to “advance equity”. That’s Democrat code for “promote racism”. Without regard to patients’ ability or interest in using one, the package requires insurers to pay for the cost of a blood pressure monitor for a pregnant or postpartum insured individual. It REQUIRES insurers to provide coverage for mental health screenings during the postpartum period after giving birth. It REQUIRES a hospital to provide a parent or guardian of a child born at their facility information on the insurance enrollment process because Liberals don’t believe people can think and figure things out for themselves. The package REQUIRES the department shall establish and implement a program to register perinatal facilities by a level system for maternal care facilities, creating another huge bureaucracy; there would be four levels under the system with level one systems providing basic care and level four facilities treating the most complex maternal conditions. More about the crazy new convoluted bureaucracy: “Each facility seeking registration may attest to the designation in a form and manner prescribed by the department and the department shall publish a list of the registered facilities and update it annually. In developing the criteria for the program, the department shall consult with the Michigan Perinatal Quality Collaborative, MHHA, the Michigan Council for Maternal Child and Health, the American College for Obstetricians and Gynecologist, and the American College of Nurse Midwives. The department must also enter into a partnership with the maternal levels of care verification process established by the Joint Commission and obstetric care consensus established by the American College of Obstetricians.” These changes will increase costs in both the state Medicaid program and for private insurers. This will create yet another layer of state government and bureaucracy when we should be reducing the size and scope of government.

I voted NO on SB 398 (H-1) (McCann) which would give the Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (DEGLE) the authority to issue written emergency orders when inland lakes and streams are threatened with harm to “public health, safety, welfare, property, or the natural resources or the public trust in those natural resources.

EXPLANATION: This bill allows another unelected bureaucrat, the DEGLE director, to issue a written emergency order to any person the department determines is in violation of the Dam Safety Act, requiring them to take emergency action necessary to prevent what DEGLE DEEMS TO BE significant harm to public health, safety, welfare, property, or the natural resources or the public trust in those natural resources. The emergency order may include immediate repair or removal of the structure. The bill REQUIRES a person allegedly in violation to repair or remove the structure or take ANY OTHER action DEGLE determines necessary, if the structure. Of course it allows the department to recover costs incurred from the property owner if they do not comply with an order. The Morrow Dam sediment disaster was the impetus of this legislation, but according to DEGLE, the Morrow Dam issue has been mitigated. Furthermore, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission regulated dams are the purview of the federal government. DEGLE currently has the proper authority to enforce activities. This is unnecessary, politics-driven legislation. PASSED 56-54

I voted YES on HB 5699 (Tsernoglou), HB 5700 (Paiz), HB 5701 (Koleszar), and HB 5702 (MacDonell) which, collectively, would modify the term of office for township, village, and city officials to ensure that elected officials are sworn into office no sooner than Noon on December 1st.

EXPLANATION: Currently, statute prescribes that township officers are sworn in on November 20th following the election, and many local charters establish a date for swearing in local city and village officials even earlier. In fact, a number of cities and villages swear in their local elected officials the Monday following the election. With the passage of Prop 22-2, military and overseas voters have an additional 6 days beyond election day for their ballots to be received by the clerk and tabulated. In most elections, this means that the canvassing of the results doesn’t start until all military and overseas ballots are received or once the mandatory 6 days has passed. Regardless, the average canvass won’t start for several days after the election and without this change, there is the potential for candidates to take office prior to the official canvass and certification of those results. These bills are necessary to ensure that the appropriate board of county canvassers has the time necessary to properly certify the results of local races. We shouldn’t rush to swear in any elected official until all due diligence has been done. These bills create more time so that work isn’t rushed. ALL BILLS PASSED UNANIMOUSLY WITH 109 VOTES

I voted NO on SBs 544 & 545 (Klinefelt) which would provide a license process for operation of a refrigeration facility and transportation removal service for deceased bodies.

EXPLANATION: The bill requires the operator of a refrigeration facility or removal service to get a license which is to be valid for ONLY two years. To become licensed, an applicant must submit an application, disclose criminal history, be of good moral character, and the facility or vehicle must pass an inspection conducted by The Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA). Employers must generate employee IDs. Licensees must designate a mortuary science licensee as a manager of a refrigeration facility who lives within 100 miles of the facility, manages ONLY 1 facility, and who DOES NOT otherwise engage in the practice of mortuary science while acting as manager. Ridiculous. A refrigeration facility must comply with all kinds of public health and safety laws. A removal service vehicle used for removal must feature a costly decal that indicates it is an authorized vehicle.

The bills implement a host of licensing, registration and inspection fees. These regulations will inevitably include funeral homes, who may not have sufficient capacity readily comply. This will increase funeral costs making it more difficult and less affordable. The bills will cost LARA a minimum of $250,000 for hiring a regulation agent to conduct inspections and hiring a departmental analyst to process applications and manage documents. This figure does not include any potential information technology costs that may arise… This is just another fundraiser for the government that stifles business and contributes to unaffordable services for grieving families. SB544 PASSED 76-33 and SB545 PASSED 73-36.

I voted NO on SB 602 (S-1) (Hertel) which would provide “consumer protections” for a residential real estate owner who enters into a right-to-list home sale agreement with a real estate broker.

EXPLANATION: Right-to-list involves a real estate firm paying a one-time payment, equal to some percentage of a home’s value, to a homeowner in exchange for the right to list their home should they ever choose to sell. The real estate firm places a lien on the property they have secured the right to list should the homeowner not uphold the contract. The bill provides that a right-to-list home sale is VOID if it 1) is not in writing, 2) is not signed by all persons that have an ownership interest in the residential real estate considered in the agreement, 3) is for a period of more than 2 years, and most egregiously 4) does not have both an option for the owner to terminate the agreement before its expiration date for an amount of consideration not more than the broker paid to the owner with 6% interest and a period of time the agreement is effective with an explanation of the early termination option on the first page of the agreement. The bill allows for new penalties for real estate brokers who enters into a VOID and unenforceable right-to-list home sale agreement including license SUSPENSION or REVOCATION, denial of license renewal, censure, probation, administrative fines up to $10,000, or restitution. Can’t we trust adults to look out for their own best interests? Does the government have to always be BIG BROTHER? This will undoubtedly increase the enforcement workload of the Department of Licensing & Regulatory Affairs. The government should not insert itself into private business agreements. This insults free-market business and creates unnecessary risks for real estate firms! PASSED 103-7

I voted NO on HB 5571-5576 (Reps. Tsernoglu, McKinney, Morgan, Andrews, Martus, Churches) which would change the formatting requirements of petitions, changes the requirements for individuals circulating petitions, petitions proposing a constitutional amendment, 100-word summaries for ballot proposals, changes to the Board of State Canvassers (BSC) determination process, changes to city and county clerk requirements, changes to how the board of state canvassers deals with the canvassing of petitions after the clerks send them to the Secretary of State, changes to the requirements for the state board of canvassers regarding petitions, change the deadline by which the SOS must certify a proposed constitutional amendment or other special question for the ballot and modify the procedure by which local clerks are provided with the required related materials, changes the petition process for a candidate from a new political party.

EXPLANATION: Petition signatures are invalid under the Michigan Election Law if 1) a circulator uses a false address or provides any false information on the certificate of a circulator, 2) a petition is not in the proper form, or 3) a signature was not signed in the circulator’s presence. This package would allow the BSC to approve and use a statistical random sampling methodology to determine whether a petition for a ballot proposal complies with these requirements. It further provides that the BSC would also not be required to check the signatures against the Qualified Voter File (QVF) before disqualifying them. The new system will be wrought with uncertainty, causing a myriad of legal challenges in court. ALL PASSED: 56-54

I voted YES on HB 5683 (Liberati) which would expand the scope of practice for estheticians in our state. These bills seek to empower estheticians by allowing them to practice all the skills they have learned and trained for during the pursuit of their professional license.

EXPLANATION: In May 2023, the Board of Cosmetology within Michigan’s Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA) proposed silly rules that would prohibit certain esthetics services, thereby limiting the scope of practice for licensed estheticians, students, and apprentices. Those proposed rules would exclude high-end services that could negatively affect their income and bottom line. Michigan’s proposed rules would prohibit performing microdermabrasion, dermaplaning, hydrodermabrasion, and Botox injections. Estheticians play a crucial role in the beauty and skincare industry by providing a wide range of services to enhance the well-being and self-confidence of their clients. However, the current regulatory framework restricts estheticians from utilizing certain skills and procedures, limiting their ability to meet the evolving needs of their clients and hindering professional growth. By expanding the scope of practice for estheticians, their full potential can be realized and provide them with the opportunity to offer a broader range of services. This will not only benefit estheticians but also contribute to the overall growth and competitiveness of our local beauty and wellness industry. Under these bills, Estheticians will be authorized to perform a wider range of procedures, including but not limited to microdermabrasion, chemical peels, microneedling, and dermaplaning. This expansion will align our state with the evolving industry standards and provide estheticians with the tools they need to deliver comprehensive skin care services. PASSED 107-3

I voted NO on HB 5684 (H-1) (Liberati) which would amend the Occupational Code by creating a new section describing services an estheticians and cosmetologists may perform.

EXPLANATION: Michigan should not be limiting the services and ability to do business in an area for which a business has been trained and trusted by its customers. PASSED 106-4

I voted NO on SB 175 H-1 (Santana) which amends the General Property Tax Act by increasing fines for those who fail to file a transfer of ownership on property with the local assessor.

EXPLANATION: The bill also increases the maximum penalty of $200 to $4,000. This is a fee increase is onerous, and there is no need for it. The penalties are too harsh, especially for instances of an individual forgetting to report the required information to the assessor. PASSED 56-54

I voted NO on HB 5661 & 5662 (Reps. McFall & Filler) which would prohibit the use of an automated software program known as a “bot” from purchasing an excess amount of concert tickets and empowers the Attorney General to pursue legal action against individuals or groups found guilty of circumventing online ticket purchasing limits through the use of automated bots.

EXPLANATION: The legislation includes extortionate and preposterous fines of up to $5,000 per ticket “fraudulently” obtained via what is quite frankly, a genius business plan. Government interference into free-market innovation is wrong and indicative of the incrementalist steps towards a socialist oblivion. PASSED: 106-4 and PASSED: 98-12, respectively.

I voted NO on SB 393 (Bayer) which would repeal Part 26 (Environmental Science Advisory Board) of the NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION ACT (NREPA), which established the Environmental Science Advisory Board to advise the Governor and any State office, agency, or department on issues affecting the protection of the environment or management of natural resources in the State, upon request of the Governor.

EXPLANATION: Stakeholder groups worked for several years to develop a long-term solution to frustrations with the Department of Environment, Great Lakes & Energy rule-making process, and these laws proved that inserting the regulated community into the discussion early, the resulting rules would be much improved for all concerned. The current process creates transparency in the rules process and encourages consensus building for effective rule-making. We need more transparency, not less! POSTPONED 45-54

I voted NO on SB 662 (S-2) (Hertel) which would amend the definition of a normal inland lake level and amend the process for financing a “normal level project” by special assessment.

EXPLANATION: This bill seeks to address the statutory definition of a normal lake level, remove the requirement of an election to approve financing costs under a certain amount, and expand interim borrowing options for municipalities. The bill delineates which costs can be covered by borrowed money, such as easement and land acquisition costs, engineering fees, impact studies, and more. Special assessment districts shall pay for obligations under the borrowing scenario just mentioned using funds from any of its available sources. The bill is strangely retroactive with respect to the definition of normal lake levels. We don’t even know if local municipalities have even asked for these changes. The government should not be encouraging borrowing at a time when debt is an ever-present menace at every level of government. PASSED 68-42

I voted NO on HB 5733 (T. Carter) which authorizes the secretary of state to enter into agreements with bridge and tunnel toll facilities that implement automated tolling. Under the agreements, the Secretary of State (SOS) must assist in the collection of tolls by rejecting vehicle registration renewal after an excessive number of unpaid tolls.

EXPLANATION: There will be a substantial cost to the state to implement this program. The bill ultimately requires information technology costs for hardware and software to enable the SOS to exchange data on vehicle and drivers. The average cost of a state information technology project is approximately $300,000. Ongoing costs would be related to providing a due process system to arbitrate disputes of toll operators’ claims and would presumably be covered by department service fees charged to toll operators. Implementation and annual costs for a new program is the opposite of what Michigan needs. The Secretary of State should not refuse to renew vehicle registrations if an individual has unpaid tolls. Neither vehicle registration fees nor tolls should even exist in Michigan! The Secretary of State shouldn’t be helping toll operators collect revenue. PASSED 70-40.

I voted NO on HBs 4062-4063 (Reps. Conlin & Morgan) and SBs 205-207 (Sens. Cavanagh, Bayer, Irwin) which all have to do with source of income based discrimination for housing applicants.

EXPLANATION: Many are aware that it is already a violation of current anti-discrimination laws to deny housing to someone based on their sex, race, disability, or religion. However, current law does not currently grant the same protections to discrimination based on source of income. Up to now, it was unthinkable to even suggest such a “protection”, but no amount of Central Planning and utopian nonsense is too much for Lansing. This bills make it so that no one — including those who receive sporadic child support from unreliable dead beats can be rejected by landlords. Michigan Department of Civil Rights will have the power to take complaints and conduct investigations into alleged violations of the new law. In addition, it means that tenants or prospective tenants can bring civil lawsuits against landlords who allegedly violate the new law, and their attorneys can collect plaintiffs’ attorney fees if they prevail in the lawsuit. An increase in civil case filings would result in additional filing fee revenue. Filing civil cases in court requires payment of a variety of fees which depend on the value of the case. A portion of filing fee revenue is transmitted to the state and deposited into the Civil Filing Fee Fund. Revenue from the Civil Filing Fee Fund is distributed to a variety of state programs and fund sources on a percentage basis according to statute. This nothing more than a recipe for disaster for landlords and a fundraiser for the government. Department of Civil Rights will incur significant costs. The cost increase would be related to additional staffing to support an anticipated increase in civil rights complaint cases on the basis of source of income, which would be a new protected group category under Article 5 of the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act. The annual salary costs for an additional complaint investigation investigator are approximately $160,000. This is an outrageous attack on the freedom of property owners. PASSED: 56-54, PASSED: 56-54, PASSED: 56-54, PASSED: 56-54, PASSED: 56-54

EXPLANATION: There is no funding mechanism established for this program, yet because of the cost of establishing and maintaining a CASA program within a county’s court, it would increase expenditures for local units of government that choose to establish a CASA program. Kent county program for example costs 2.5 million dollars each year. There are numerous examples of Family Court and CPS targeting conservatives. The CASA program already exists in 30 Michigan counties, so this bill is not even necessary.

PASSED: 99-11

I voted NO on HB 4921 & 5726 (Reps. Fitzgerald, McFall) which would authorize automated speed enforcement devices to be placed in school zones and ensure fine revenues received are allocated to the county treasurer.

EXPLANATION: The House recently passed legislation authorizing camera enforcement in work zones. We should wait and see the success of that policy once signed into law before expanding to other zones. Implementing this technology will create a burden on law enforcement, as personnel will be required to inspect and verify evidence created by the cameras. Data storage will likely be expensive. A third-party vendor who installs and uses the speed detection system may be required to testify in court on the accuracy of their system when a ticket is challenged in court. It is unclear how this video surveillance system could identify the driver of the vehicle in question. For example, speeding tickets are issued to drivers, not to registered owners of vehicles. Furthermore, far greater physical, spiritual and academic harm is done to children inside the schools than outside at the bus stops. PASSED: 60-50, PASSED: 60-50, respectively.

I voted YES on HB 5535 & 5536 (Reps. Aragona & Liberati) would increase maximum pawn interest rates in Michigan.

EXPLANATION: Michigan’s current maximum interest rate on pawn transactions is 3 percent, the lowest rate amongst all 50 states. This interest rate was set in 1917 and has remained unchanged since. Over the last century, the financial landscape has evolved significantly, prompting continuous consolidation and adaptation within the industry. As most businesses pass along the increased costs of labor and goods to customers, pawnbrokers are locked in by law to their interest rate and must absorb these changes. This is untenable. The low interest rate in Michigan has also created a “Black Market” pawn industry. Very few pawn and secondhand dealer shops operate within the law. To avoid dealing with low interest rates, some secondhand dealers use an illicit “buy back” strategy which allows them to offer a customer an option to buy back something they pawned within 30 days, but the shop in turn charges a steep interest rate, usually 25 to 35 percent. This is nearly 10 times the amount law abiding shops charge. This practice is illegal but has gone unaddressed by law enforcement for decades. The bills are tie-barred. By modestly increasing the interest rate from 3 percent to 5 percent, law abiding pawn shops can remain competitive in the finance industry and bridge the gap between legal business and illicit practices. PASSED: 88-22, PASSED: 90-20

I voted YES on HB 4613 (Rep. Prestin) would amend the Public Health Code by extending a temporary license for an EMTs or paramedic from 120 days to 1 year.

EXPLANATION: Michigan already requires this license. It should be repealed to allow for a free market, but extending a temporary license is better than nothing. There is a shortage of EMTs and paramedics, this will allow individuals to help fill needed roles while they finish their licensing requirements. Extending the timeframe of a temporary license will allow those wishing to be EMTs and paramedics more time to satisfy the requirements to become fully licensed. PASSED: 110-0

I voted NO on HB 4723 (Rep. Morgan) would create a special Merchant Marines registration plate for individuals and/or their spouses that were or are currently a member of the United States Merchant Marines.

EXPLANATION: The House Fiscal analysis indicates that the bill would result in additional costs to the Department of State of approximately $60,000 to produce a new vehicle registration plate. Start-up costs include costs associated with design, computer programming, and materials would be onerous. The bill would not require a service fee when applying for the new plate. The bill also would have an indeterminate fiscal impact on local units of government depending on the number of misdemeanor convictions for using this special registration plate by someone who does not qualify for it. This would result in increased costs related to county jails and/or local misdemeanor probation services. The Department of State should be cleaning up the voter rolls and restoring integrity to our elections rather than this. PASSED: 104-6

I voted YES on SB 716 (Sen. Klinefelt) Authorizes historic vehicles to have a personalized license plate for a fee of $150 dollars.

EXPLANATION: Current law under the Michigan Vehicle Code allows several vehicles to have a personalized license plate, including passenger motor vehicles, pick-up trucks, motorcycles, motor homes, buses, hearses, and more. To receive a personalized license plate, an individual must pay an $8 service fee for the first month and $2 per month fee for each additional month of the registration period (for a full year this totals $30). This is in addition to the regular vehicle registration fee. Personalized plates are valid for only ONE year and require an annual renewal service fee of $15, in addition to the vehicle registration fee. Historic vehicles are defined as vehicles over 25 years old, owned as a collector’s item and for participation in club activities, exhibitions, tours parades, etc. but is not used for general transportation. Current law was recently amended around historic vehicles (PA 34 of 2024), which now considers Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day each as an “exhibition”, allowing historic vehicles to operate. A historic plate costs $30 and is valid for 10 years. This bill provides greater freedom because individuals can customize their historic vehicles, and there is 10-year eligibility. PASSED: 109-0

I voted NO on SB 747 (Sen. Anthony) FY 2024-25 General Omnibus Budget.

EXPLANATION: : Democrats are spending $82.5 billion in the next state budget without any real solutions to address Michigan’s most pressing challenges. This horrible budget funds far-left programs while ignoring the priorities of Michigan families“ This budget is a disaster. Democrats have raided our teachers’ retirement funds, neglected critical needs while funding their own pet projects, and made life harder for struggling Michigan families by locking in the income tax hike.

I voted YES on HB 5635 (Rep. Kunse) Designates a portion of highway US-131 in Mecosta County as the “Sgt. Matthew Webber Memorial Highway.”

EXPLANATION: Matthew Webber was born October 30th, 1982, in Grand Rapids and grew up in Stanwood, Michigan. Webber joined the national guard in 1999 and was called to active duty in June of 2005 as a part of the National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 125th Infantry Regiment. On November 21, 2005, while stationed in Habbaniyah, Iraq, Sgt. Webber sustained injuries when an improvised explosive device detonated near his Humvee during combat operations. He was eventually transferred to the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, where he passed away due to his injuries on April 27th, 2006.

The naming of highways and bridges is often used to memorialize people or events of significance to the State of Michigan or its many local communities. The Michigan Memorial Highway Act (PA 142 of 2001) is the mechanism for naming bridges and highways within the state. The act requires that the cost of constructing, erecting, and maintaining the sign and other expenses associated with the naming be borne by the individuals requesting the designation. Under the act, the Department of Transportation is not required to erect the signs or markers until the costs to do so have been received. This highway naming is paid for with private funds, and it allows us to express our gratitude and appreciation for Sgt. Matthew Webber and the ultimate sacrifice he made to protect our country. PASSED: 110-0

I voted NO on HB 5826 (Rep. Xiong) would create a new act to establish a doula scholarship program.

EXPLANATION: The scholarship would do the following: award scholarships to eligible individuals, promulgate rules necessary to implement the act pursuant to the Administrative Procedures Act of 1969, PA 306, and publicize the availability of the doula scholarship program, in partnership with universities, nonprofit organizations, and other persons. This bill is unnecessary because it can already be done through an appropriation. The government should not be using taxpayer money to pay for someone else’s education anyway. PASSED: 58-52

I voted NO on HB 5696 (Rep. Price) would remove conflicting statutory language and delinks the definition of alterations and excessive/unusual noise from decibel levels. This would eliminate the affirmative defense of those who have altered their exhaust system to produce excess noise.

EXPLANATION: Issuing tickets for vehicle exhaust is wasting the time of law enforcement in Michigan, and it’s a major affront to car enthusiasts. POSTPONED: 42-49

I voted NO on HB 5127 (McFall) – Expands eligibility for disabled veteran license plates to include partially disabled veterans.

I voted YES on HB 4131, HB 4213, HB 4579 & HB 4580 (Liberati, Morse, Price, Brabec) – Telemedicine usage

EXPLANATION: Telemedicine is helpful and time-efficient for many individuals and should be encouraged when possible to ensure quicker and easier access for patients.

I voted NO on HB 5223 H-1 (Rogers), 5224 (Schuette) – Vulnerable roadway user.

I voted NO on HBs 4185 thru 4190 & SBs 225 & 226 (Chang, Geiss) (Aiyash, Mentzer, McKinney, Vanderwall) Asbestos Safety Package.

I voted NO on HB 4675 H-1 (Grant) which amends the Land Bank Fast Track Act by exempting user fees from property held by land bank fast track authorities.

Passed 110-58

ALL Passed: 56-51

EXPLANATION: Allowing a streamlined ability for only certain industries to avoid paying taxes is a form of picking winners and losers and fails to support Michigan’s small businesses equally.

Passed: 101-6, PASSED: 101-6

I voted YES on HB 5462 (Rep. Markkanen) which would designate a portion of Highway M-26 in Adams Township (Houghton County) as the “Wesley Vietti Karna Memorial Highway.”

Passed: 107-0

Passed: 56-51

EXPLANATION: The MSF should not be given more power or taking up legislation that is going to benefit only a particular municipality and hospital system.

Passed: 69-38

I Voted NO on HB 4523 (Rep. Hope) which would allow violent offenders to participate in Mental Health and Drug Treatment Court programs.

EXPLANATION: The State does not need to be creating mass amounts of new “special” courts in order to support the “new thing” or pay for Lansing’s insignificant pet projects.

Passed: 96-11

I Voted NO on HB 5510 (Rep. Morgan) which would create a Climate Change Emergency Disaster Relief Fund

I Voted NO on HB 5512. (Rep. Brixie), the Department of Natural Resources budget.

The budget also forces taxpayers to bankroll an unnecessary $4 million field trip program.

I Voted NO on HB 5500-5517 (Reps. Hood, Morese, Witwer, Snyder, Weiss, Steckloff, O’neil, Morgan, Brixie, Skaggs, Wilson, Barbec) Budgets.

Passed: 56-50 (5500, 5501, 5503, 5505, 5507, 5556)

56-47 (5504), 57-48 (5509) 56-49 (5502, 5506, 5508, 5511, 5517, 5499)

Tuesday, April 30th, 2024

I voted NO on HB 4169 H-1, 4170 H-1 (Reps. Rogers and Wozniak) Would create the Occupational Therapy Licensure Compact to allow for the privilege to practice in member states under the compact and state requirements. I voted NO because this legislation would have created more government bureaucracy when the answer is to give a simple license reciprocity. More power and a blank check to unelected bureaucrats is never a good thing. PASSED: 103-6; PASSED: 103-6

I voted NO on HB 5384-5386 (Reps. Roth, Mentzer, Breen) Would have add sections to allow for a temporary stay over when a seller sells their house. I voted no because this practice is already common and a change in the law was not needed.

PASSED: 104-5; PASSED: 104-5; PASSED: 104-5

Wednesday May 1st, 2024

I voted NO on SB 249 (Sen. Hertel) Would require the department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs to create a state paramedic certification exam and allow paramedics to take either the State or the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technician certification evaluation. I voted NO because this bill expands government further to administer these new tests that would be issued and would cost Michigan taxpayers millions of dollars.

PASSED: 101-4

I voted NO on SB 27 (S-3) (Sen. Anthony) Would require mental health benefits to be comparable to physical health benefits offered by insurance providers. This legislation mirrors the intent of existing federal statutes by requiring parity for mental and physical health benefits under insurance plans offered in the state. I voted NO because this would increase healthcare costs for everyone. Healthcare providers and the insured should come to mutual agreement on mental health benefits instead of the government forcing it upon them

PASSED: 93-12

I voted NO on HB 5182 & 5183 (Reps. Mentzer, Farhat) Would create a new 5-year felony offense for the possession of electronic technology with the intent to unlock or turn on a motor vehicle with the intent to steal the vehicle and retain the current 10-year felony for possession of traditional burglar’s tools with the intent to use them to break into a structure with the intent to steal money or other property. I voted NO because theft of a motor vehicle is already a crime and this would open abuse to unreasonable searches for electronic devices that would be mistaken for these devices.

PASSED: 88-17; PASSED: 89-16

Thursday May 2nd, 2024

I voted NO on HB 4504 H-1, 4505 H-1 (Reps. Fitzgerald, Zorn) Would create the Physical Therapy Licensure Compact to allow for the privilege to practice in member states under the compact and state requirements. I voted NO because this too expands the size of government to be a part of this compact that can create additional rules and regulations and fees. PASSED: 91-13, PASSED: 97-7

I voted NO on HB 5527 (Rep Fitzgerald), which would require all public schools to have an AED on campus and a cardiac emergency response plan. I voted NO because the state should not require this of school districts instead it should be recommended but not an additional requirement on top of the mountain of requirements already placed on schools. This bill would result in a huge increase in the school aid budget.

PASSED 77-30

I voted NO on HB 4618 (Rep Coffia), which would incorporate regional airports into the Public Health Insurance Contribution Act. I voted NO because we shouldn’t keep creating carveouts for new sets of people it should either be all or none.

PASSED 83-24

I voted YES on HB 4519 (Rep Scott) would designate May 2nd as Negro Leagues Day. I voted YES because this would honor the strides the negro leagues have made in baseball and show how far we have come as a country.

PASSED 104-3

I voted NO on HB 5077-5078 (Rep Vanderwall & Rheingans) would authorize state employees to distribute and administer Narcan. I voted NO because taxpayers should not have to fund this program and should look to nonprofits that already provide this drug. We will see state employees handing this out like candy to any who wants one.

PASSED 96-11

I voted NO on HB 5392 (Rep Lightner) a bill to extend the sunset for courts to collect court costs. This bill should be tied barred to a tax cut. Let’s make the government more fiscally conservative and learn how to live within a budget like every normal person.

PASSED 101-6

I voted NO on HB 5534 (Rep Breen) a bill to pull all court costs from across the state into one pot and then have the state distribute the money as they see fit. I voted against this bill because this would take from the communities that do a good job of collecting their court costs to pay for counties that don’t do a good job of collecting those costs.

FAILED 53-52

I voted NO on HB 4842 (Rep Price) a bill to eliminate the 5-year requirement for the state to pay back their creditors. I voted NO because we were not given enough time to consider the changes to the bill that were made last minute.

HB 4842 PASSED 83-22

I voted NO on HB 5392 (Rep Lightner) a bill to extend the sunset for courts to collect court costs. I voted NO because the democrats tied barred this bill to the Trial Court Funding Act which means even if this passed it wouldn’t go into effect unless HB 5534 passed as well.

HB 5392 PASSED 99-6

HB 5534 PASSED 58-47

I voted NO on HB 5378 & 5379 (Rep Prestin and Rep Hill), which is legislation to expand the fuel tax reciprocity from 30 to 50 air miles. I voted NO because the conversation we should be having is lowering our fuel tax so gas is cheaper and more truck drivers buy their gas in Michigan instead of fueling outside of the state and having other states share tax revenue with us.

HB 5378 passed 98-5

HB 5379 failed 53-45

I voted NO on HB 4927 (Rep Arbit), a bill to designate April as Chaldean American Month. I voted NO because adding a ton of state holidays for every group begins to wear out the specialty of a state holiday.

HB 4927 failed 53-44

I voted NO on HB 5527 & 5528 (Rep Fitzgerald and Rep T. Carter), a bill to require AEDs in every school and every coach to be certified in CPR. I voted NO because there are numerous private sector options, and we have a hard enough time finding quality coaches. Adding additional requirements hurts those chances. Instead of the government being the solution, schools should participate more with the private sector.

HB 5527 passed 55-29

HB 5528 passed 55-41

I voted NO on HB 4705 (Rep Tisdel), a bill to rename a portion of M-150 in Oakland County after Former Congressman William Broomfield. Although I appreciate Congressman Bloomfield’s service to our country as a veteran and elected official, I believe we should only rename highways after fallen first responders and active-duty military members who fall in the line of duty.

HB 4705 PASSED 104-3

I voted NO on HB 4977 and 4978 (Rep Roth & Rep Outman), bills to add certain summer resorts to the Summer Resorts and Park Associations Act. I voted NO on this legislation because the legislature would pick winners and losers regarding who can and can’t make this switch.

HB 4977 PASSED 94-13

HB 4978 PASSED 93-14

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7, 2024

I voted NO on HB 4924 (Rep Dievendorf), a bill to create a process for partitioning property when the owner has no will. I voted NO on this legislation because this bill was rushed through the House and not adequately scrutinized. Many organizations, such as the Michigan Bar Association, had significant concerns with this legislation and were not given enough time to air those concerns in committee. It is more government regulation where government doesn’t need to be involved.

HB 4924 PASSED 94-13

I voted NO on SB 57 & SB 58 (Sen Chang & Sen Bellino), bills banning devices used to inhale nitrous oxide. I voted NO on these bills because I don’t believe banning these devices will affect people inhaling nitrous oxide, nor do I believe these bills could be enforced with big online retailers like Amazon. It also opens the door for the next step of government regulation.

SB 57 PASSED 87-18

SB 58 PASSED 88-17

I voted YES on HB 5151 (Rep Shannon), a bill that would rename a portion of M-53 as Officer Leroy Imus Memorial Highway. I voted YES because this bill would commemorate the fallen police officer who gave his life in the line of duty to keep his community safe, and we should honor him as the hero he is.

HB 5151 PASSED 105-0

WEDNESDAY, FEB 28, 2024

I voted NO on HB 4279 (Rep Vanderwall), a bill allowing local ISDs (Independent School Districts) to contract with other ISDs that offer career tech programs. I voted NO because this would allow local ISDs to levy even more taxes.

HB 4279 PASSED 100-6

THURSDAY, FEB 29, 2024

I voted NO on HB 4011 (Rep Neyer), a bill that would define a family farm and lower fines for family farms that fail to report accidental deaths to MIOSHA. I voted NO because this bill would give a legal definition to a family farm and could potentially open family farms to more government burdens if they are defined. Ultimately, MIOSHA should have NO jurisdiction over a family farm.

HB 4011 PASSED 93-13

I voted NO on HB 4312-4313 (Rep Roth & Rep Coffia), which are bills to add certain summer resorts to the Summer Resorts and Park Associations Act. I voted NO on this legislation would pick winners and losers when it comes to who can and can’t make this switch.

HB 4312 passed 88-18 & HB 4313 passed 86-20

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2024

I voted YES on 4101 (Rep Vanderwall), a bill that amends existing law to extend speech pathologists’ temporary licenses from 1 year to 2 years. I voted YES on this bill because it gives students more time to get the hours required to get their full license. While I support fewer licenses being needed if we must have a regulation, I’d prefer it to be a longer period of time.

Passed 104-2

I voted NO on SB 388-389 (Sen Klinefelt). This would amend existing law to allow accounts to be dormant for up to 5 years instead of 3 years for active-duty military personnel. I voted NO because it should be amended to up the dormancy years for everyone instead of a select group of people.

FAILED 52-49

WEDNESDAY, FEB 14, 2024

I voted YES on HB 4416 (Rep Filler) this legislation would amend the law to increase the financial caps to adjust for inflation. I voted YES because this legislation is a commonsense reform that is increasing due to the rising costs of living.

PASSED 105-0

I voted NO on HR 191 (Rep Hoskins), which is a resolution to denounce the espousal of racist, xenophobic, and white supremacist language by members of the House. I voted NO because this resolution is being used to disparage Representative Shriver, whose only allegation is that he retweeted a meme. This resolution wishes to brand Representative Shriver into something he is not and violates his first amendment right.

PASSED 98-5

I voted NO on HB 4864 (Rep Wozniak) which would revise the law regarding trusts to allow a trust to be named within a trust with new trustees. I voted NO on this legislation because the Democrats tried using a Republican-led bill as a trojan horse to pass radical policies that I don’t agree with.

FAILED 54-49

WEDNESDAY, FEB 7, 2024

I voted YES on HB 4613 (Rep Prestin) which would amend the existing law to extend temporary paramedic licenses to be valid from 120 days to 1 year. I voted YES because this legislation would give paramedics more time to prepare to get their paramedic’s license.

PASSED 105-1

I voted NO on HB 4614 (Rep Fitzgerald) which would amend existing law to require paramedics with a temporary license to be directly supervised by a fully licensed paramedic. I voted NO because a temporary licensed paramedic has already completed the schooling and shown competency to be a paramedic. They should not be required to be directly supervised by a fully licensed paramedic.

PASSED 100-6

I voted YES on HB 4028 (Rep Zorn) which would exempt tow truck drivers from seasonal weight restrictions when towing or traveling to or from a disabled vehicle. I voted YES because tow truckers are doing crucial work to make sure the roadways are clear to make it safer for other drivers. This would give them the necessary exemption to do their job.

PASSED 106-0

Vote Explanations from this week and last week:

I voted NO on HB 4294-4296 & 4302 (Reps. Hope, Farhat, Coffia, Edwards, Brixie, Grant, Hill, Young & Andrews) which is a massive package which raises the minimum age for marriage to 18 and provides a process of annulments for those married under 18.

EXPLANATION: I understand this is a very controversial vote. However, the Democrats have been very deceptive with this package. They have been collaborating with their lapdogs in the media and their activists to claim that this is a bill package that will prevent children from being married to older adults. If that was the case, then why didn’t they phrase the bill to simply ban marriage between adults and children? They didn’t, because that isn’t part of their agenda.

This bill would restrict two consenting 17 year old high school sweethearts from getting married, even if both of their parents provided consent as well. Furthermore, the universal age of consent for sexual intercourse in Michigan is 16. If the Democrats believe you’re mentally capable of engaging in intercourse with whoever you please, you should also be capable of being married in a church and starting a family.

Moreover, this is absolutely hypocritical for the Democrats to campaign on. The Democrats, who believe it is morally righteous to provide sex changes to 6 year olds, host drag shows at your local elementary school, and load pornography into your kids’ library, are now going to lecture us on 17 year olds getting married?

Lastly, the package provides the state with an annulment process for those who were married before 18. Your parents or grandparents were Bible-believing Christians who got married at 17 and became fruitful and started a family? Have no fear, the state is coming to rip that away from them. Democrats would rather our youth grow up in sexual deviancy, growing old, and living a life alone than allow people to marry young, live good Christian lives, and put their country first.

I voted NO on SB 134-135 (Sen. Johnson and Sen. Hertel), which expands the use of interlock devices from DWI/Sobriety courts to other specialty courts.

EXPLANATION: Absolutely outrageous! In a display of government overreach, power-hungry Democrats are now attempting to infiltrate every aspect of innocent citizens’ daily lives, extending the draconian ignition interlock devices program from the realms of DWI/sobriety courts to other specialty courts with no explanation as to why it is necessary. This is nothing short of a totalitarian nightmare coming to life, with the government attempting to control our every move under the guise of “safety.” I will not allow everyday citizens to be subjected to these faulty devices or treated like criminals who must be under constant surveillance. I voted NO because I will NOT stand idle as they plan to expand their scope of control by jeopardizing your God-given freedoms to turn Michigan into a surveillance state!

PASSED: 82-25

I voted NO on HB 4829 (Rep. Aiyash) which would amend the Michigan Business Tax Act by allowing a multiphase Brownfield project to receive an extension to complete the project without penalty.

EXPLANATION: Let’s be clear- this project has been a festering wound in the heart of Detroit since its inception in 2011. This fiscally irresponsible legislation seeks to drain the lifeblood of Michigan’s economy to subsidize a bottomless pit of a project – a project with a voracious appetite for taxpayer dollars! This project already received an extension in 2021 due to “COVID-19.” Why should we give the developers another one? It disrespects all Michiganders by offering ceaseless extensions, allowing developers to postpone and procrastinate while draining taxpayers’ dollars indefinitely. It has been years since COVID would have affected the project. Continuing to claim “COVID” is an absolute farce!

PASSED: 74-33

I voted NO on SB 31 (Sen. Cherry) & 4200 (Rep. Scott) that would amend the Public Health Code to require physicians treating minors to test each minor for lead poisoning at intervals prescribed by the department by rule and to make an entry of the testing on the minor’s certificate of immunization on a created space.

EXPLANATION: By mandating medical screenings without a grounded suspicion of exposure, we are encroaching upon the individual freedoms of parents to make medical decisions for their children. While I acknowledge the dangers of lead poisoning, parents are already able to screen their children for lead if they have concerns about lead exposure. The government should NOT have final authority over minors’ medical decisions, and these bills set a dangerous precedent for them doing so. I voted NO to protect parents – and children- from the government having control over their medical decisions and immunization cards.

PASSED: 67-42

I voted NO on HB 4446-49 and 4544-45 that would designate Diwali, Eid al-Adha, Eid-al Fitr, the Lunar New Year, Vaisakhi, Rosh Hashana, and Yom Kippur as state holidays in Michigan.

EXPLANATION: These bills raise the question, where does one draw the line when it comes to officially recognizing holidays? While these holidays are significant to many individuals, many other religious and cultural groups in Michigan may also call for their festivals and holidays to be recognized officially. This could potentially lead to an unending list of state holidays, which might dilute the very essence of having a ‘State holiday.’ Beyond that, employees already have the right to request days off for religious reasons. Involving the State of Michigan for employees to practice their religion is unnecessary. I do not want the state involved in how I practice my faith, and I will actively work to keep it out of yours.

ALL PASSED

BUDGET VOTE EXPLANATIONS:

I voted NO on HB 4437 CR-1 (Rep. Witwer) which is the general omnibus budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

EXPLANATION: This whole budget is almost $82 billion. For comparison, the last budget passed before Whitmer entered office, FY19, was less than $60 billion. Furthermore, we started this year with a safe and reliable $9 billion surplus, which the Democrats have already rapidly eroded down to nearly nothing with their endless handouts to corporate allies and the Chinese Communist Party. HB 4437 alone, is roughly $57 billion, which is wasted on pointless left-wing projects when it could be used responsibly for our families.

While the overspending and fiscal irresponsibility that will surely deteriorate life for future generations is good enough reason to vote no on this monstrosity, the left-wing ideology that’s been forcibly injected into this bill is abhorrent. I won’t list every single crazy line-item in this bill (which is 1,040 pages long mind you) but I’ll include some things I found rather interesting.

First off, the budget is filled with left-wing, anti-white racial ideology. There’s a $10 million line-item grant program for small business owners, but you don’t qualify for the grant if your business is owned by a white person. This isn’t just a one-off thing either, there’s millions and millions of dollars’ worth of grants for farmers, food ventures, and other businesses, all only applicable to you if you’re a minority. Among other things, it creates something called the ‘Social Equity Program’ which will attempt to regulate licensing of the Marijuana industry to ensure there are more minority-owned pot shops.

The budget provides $161,000 into Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Research and mandates by 2025, the state shall have a mandatory Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion program which will be taught to every local police officer at every local police department in Michigan. Funny enough, there’s even a line item for the Department of Transportation to hire a ‘Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Coordinator’, who will have a salary of $218,000. I wonder when they start taking applications?

The budget commands the Michigan State Police to use leftover attrition from their budget to further diversify their recruitment to the force, which will surely place a higher emphasis on race and background than merit. There is also a $2 million line-item for a ‘Refugee and Immigrant Center’. I wonder what this will be used for.

There’s also plenty of provisional changes in the budget. Last term, Republicans had a provision in the budget barring the state and any state department from implementing vaccine passports on government property, or denying someone, veterans for example, service/care on the basis of their Covid-19 Vaccination status. This budget deletes all of those provisions and authorizes the state and her departments to create/require Covid-19 Vaccine Passports. How this develops further will surely be interesting.

Another change is that the budget authorizes the Department of Health and Human Services to use taxpayer money for abortions and abortion-related procedures. It removes any prior restrictions on elective abortions as well.

The budget also includes $11.5 million for “implementing Proposals 1 and 2” from last year, including $2.5 million to pay for pre-postage stamps for all the mail-in ballots for 2024. HB 4437 also includes roughly $20 million worth of climate change hysteria projects including an effort into implement a carbon credit program. It also leaves $100 placeholders for CIP and MSSR, which alongside SOAR, are watering holes that Democratic leadership essentially uses to launder money to their corporate donors and the Communist Chinese. These $100 placeholders will probably be changed to hundreds of millions, if not billions, in the supplemental coming this fall.

Of course, there’s hundreds of things I could name off which make this general budget terrible, but for the sake of the reader, I’ll cut it off at that. I understand that there was some money in there for our district, most notably Mackinac Island, and there was a subtle attempt by certain forces to flip me to a yes vote, but as a Christian and a Republican, there is no way that I could sell out my morality for small handouts in a massive and destructive budget like this. I voted NO and I am proud to have voted NO.

PASSED: 61-47

—————————

I voted NO on SB 173 CR-1 (Sen. Camilleri) which is the state education budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

EXPLANATION: Just like with the general budget, the education budget is extremely long (550 pages to be exact). There is noticeably a complete waste of taxpayer resources or general sense of concern for the taxpayer at all in this.

Just like with the general budget, the education budget shuffles around with vaccine mandates. Starting this fiscal year, universities and community colleges will no longer be requires to let students/staff know what their options are (medical/religious exemptions) in the case that a vaccine is mandated. The education budget also eases some restrictions on the teaching of abortion in sex education, and removes a prohibition on teachers coercing female students into obtaining abortions if they become pregnant. So, your daughter’s teacher can convince her to kill her child and send her to an abortion clinic, and you can’t do anything about it.

Another thing you’ll notice if you even just skim the publicly available fiscal analysis of the conference report, is that line-items in this bill disproportionately go to Detroit. In fact, the vast majority of programs in this bill are centered around Michigan footing the bill for Detroit, or serious problems that are disproportionately occurring in Detroit.

This education budget is $24 billion, the largest education budget in Michigan history. Considering that $21.5 billion of that 24 is for the School Aid budget, and the School Aid Fund is supplemented by property taxes that we all pay to the state, the way the government is blowing through it is very concerning. I would not be surprised to see increases in state property tax in the near future to further cater to the Democrat agenda.

PASSED: 58-50

Vote Explanations – Tuesday 6/27:

I voted YES on concurring in the substitute for HB 4437 (Rep. Witwer) which is an omnibus bill for the upcoming fiscal year budget.

EXPLANATION: I voted yes for the purpose of voting no. In order to send this substitute to conference committee and dump billions and billions of dollars of harmful spending into this budget, the Democrats need the chamber to be in disagreement. So what they do is draw up a blank bill, pass it in the senate, and reject it in the house so they can place it in conference committee. Conference committee is what the Democrats have previously used to unload billions of dollars in SOAR funding for the communist Chinese, so you can imagine I would be skeptical of allowing our state’s budget to be subjected to this as well.

NOT CONCURED: 56-52

I voted NO on HBs 4352-4353 (Reps. Shannon & MacDonnell) which allows for HOV Lanes on Michigan Roads, meaning it would be illegal to drive on certain lanes/streets if you are alone.

EXPLANATION: I previously voted NO on this package, and it failed. Leadership cut some deals to buy a few more votes today. See my explanation from 2 weeks ago:

This is more climate change hysteria that will only make everyone’s lives more difficult. The idea behind this bill is that if they can criminalize you driving by yourself in certain places, they can incentivize carpooling. Don’t let them fool you. This is nothing more than the far-left minority trying to dictate their ideology on the majority of people. The government can’t even maintain our current roads, how are they going to go about this massive overhaul without spending hundreds of millions of dollars?

PASSED: 56-52

I voted NO on HB 4569 (Rep. Coffia) which allows minors to now pre-register to vote at 16.

EXPLANATION: I think this bill is confusing and sets bad precedent. The Secretary of State’s office can barely keep track of anything already. Now we are going to pre-register thousands of teens per year to vote, under the guise that they’ll be automatically added to the registry when they are 17.5, and vote when they are 18. I can see many young kids being confused by this and thinking they can now vote, and I can also see many registering at 16 and finally going to vote a few years later and finding out that SOS had messed up their registration.

PASSED: 56-52

I voted NO on SB 59 (Sen. Cherry) which designates DNR Conservation Officers as ‘Peace Officers’ under the mental health code which will allow them to take individuals into protective custody.

EXPLANATION: Under the Mental Health Code, peace officers (Sheriff, State Trooper, Local Police) can take an individual into custody without their consent if they reasonably believe this person needs mental health treatment. This would expand the definition to now include DNR Officers. This seems unnecessary. How many instances are DNR Conservation Officers in dire need of involuntarily taking mentally ill people into protective custody?

PASSED: 104-4

I voted NO on HB 4520 (Mueller) which increases the penalties for assault and battery if the victim is a “Medical Health Professional” or volunteer.

EXPLANATION: I find this bill to be particularly odd. I don’t want anyone being harmed or assaulted, and I believe everyone is entitled to equal treatment under the law. So why is it worse to assault someone who happens to work at a hospital than someone who happens to work at a law firm? Are hospital workers now of more value than the rest of us?

PASSED: 97-11

I voted YES on HB 4602 (Rep. Wilson) which designates part of I-94 as the “Washtenaw County Vietnam Veterans Memorial Highway”.

EXPLANATION: Our Vietnam Vets are heroes like no other and it is great to acknowledge them. They fought for freedom against the horrors of left-wing Marxism. Notably, they fought this fight and won each of their battles with an impotent government that was never willing to let them finish the job. Even worse, they were scandalized and ridiculed by those back home, who should support them above all else. Thank God for our Vietnam Vets!

PASSED: 108-0

I voted NO on HB 4082 which renames part of I-96 as: ‘Barry Lyn Hause Memorial Highway’.

EXPLANATION: Look, what happened to Barry Hause was of course tragic, and I certainly feel bad for his family and loved ones. However, what is the qualification for who gets a highway and who doesn’t? I reserve our highways for national heroes, our troops, and our law enforcement. What will the precedence be if we just start naming highway after highway after any individual that passes away which we choose to dedicate to?

PASSED: 106-2

I voted NO on SB 302-303 (Sens. Camilleri & McDonald) which revises, updates, and expands the Property Assessed Clean Energy Act with new requirements and new eligible projects.

EXPLANATION: This act should be repealed altogether. The government is in no place to finance clean energy projects and interfere in the market. If businesses want to renovate previously hazardous areas or create a new clean energy farm, let the market decided whether or not they will be successful.

PASSED: 56-52

I voted NO on SB 52 (Sen. Cherry) which reduces the DNR harvest reporting penalty from a misdemeanor to a civil infraction.

EXPLANATION: This reporting requirement should be repealed altogether. This requirement is the primary reason that I introduced HB 4135, which would repeal the duty-to-report requirement and prevent the DNR from issuing future orders that were never voted on. Reducing a tyrannical mandate simply isn’t preferable to getting rid of it.

PASSED: 61-47

I voted NO on SB 219 (Sen. Santana) which permanently authorizes pharmacists to administer vaccines without a physician.

EXPLANATION: This is a clear money grab for big pharma. This only incentivizes pharmacists to dish out more unnecessary vaccinations without a doctor to even verify if it’s necessary for the patient in question. Just because something was emergency authorized for Covid, doesn’t mean it should stay that way, and frankly, any remnant laws from the disastrous government handling of Covid should be thrown out anyway.

PASSED: 96-12

I voted NO on SB 339 (Sen. McMorrow) which establishes a state sponsored ballot tracking system, allowing for text message updates and tracking for those who vote by mail.

EXPLANATION: The Secretary of State likes to claim that implementing this system will cost less than a million dollars and they will be able to successfully have it running by next election cycle. Please, I know plenty of people who, during Covid, had to wait over a year just to get a new driver’s license that they requested on the online portal. How are they now going to track and update the status of every single absentee ballot casted, which is handled by local municipalities and county clerks? Responsible municipalities already provide updates on the status of your ballot if you vote absentee, so what is the purpose of centralizing this process and making it worse?

PASSED: 56-52

I voted NO on SB 367 (Sen. Moss) which establishes 9 days of early voting in Michigan.

EXPLANATION: Democrats are turning election day into election month and it’s getting out of hand. The Democrats already passed provisions to allow certain ballots 6 days after election day, without postmark, and now they want to extend early voting to 9 days before the day of the election? How hard is it to show up and vote in-person or just cast your absentee ballot on time? I see no reason to make such massive changes if there wasn’t malicious intent at play.

PASSED: 56-52

I voted NO on SB 370-371 (Sen. Santana) which pre-pays postage for absentee ballots and changes the absentee ballot system.

EXPLANATION: The state is now going to pay for other people to send their mail now? Why? Individuals casting absentee ballots in a Presidential Primary will now be required to indicate which political party they belong to. I don’t want Jocelyn Benson keeping track of which political party my constituents belong to and I don’t want my constituents footing the bill for someone in Detroit who can’t figure out how to use a stamp.

PASSED: 56-52

I voted NO on SB 373 (Sen. Chang) which expands the definition of identification for voting.

EXPLANATION: This bill strikes out definitions for ‘Student Identification’ and replaces it with ‘educational institution’. It also allows for a local ID to be used rather than other IDs. Who even carries a “local ID”? This is absurd. Being able to produce a state ID or driver’s license should be a requirement to vote.

PASSED: 56-52

I voted NO on HB 4644-4646 (Reps. Hope & Haadsma) which establishes a Uniform Power of Attorney Act in Michigan.

EXPLANATION: We already have the Estate and Protected Individuals Code (EPIC) in Michigan, so what is the purpose of creating another code. Creating a whole new law so that it’s structured more similar to laws in other states seems silly. The focus should be on the individuals we are looking to protect and EPIC already does a great job.

PASSED: 104-4

I voted NO on HB 4362 (Rep. Brabec) & HB 4363 (Rep. Neeley) which is a package to create an additional opt-in on state income tax returns for the organ donor registry.

EXPLANATION: I am not against the organ donor registry at all. But our state’s bureaucracy is out of control and swamped. You already can register for the organ donor registry online or in-person. The Secretary of State can barely handle getting someone mailed their new driver’s license in less than a year. Now there will have to be an extra line of communication between state offices since there is a duplicate system for registering as an organ donor. This will create extra work for tax offices, and surely cause malfunction in Jocelyn Benson’s totally incompetent bureaucracy.

HB 4362 – PASSED: 103-5

HB 4363 – PASSED: 104-4

I voted NO on HB 4495 (Rep. Snyder) which is a major reform to the Healthy Michigan Plan.

EXPLANATION: This is a very slight edit to a bill I voted NO on 2 weeks ago, see my explanation from June 12:

“Government bureaucracy is complicated, especially when it comes to healthcare. However, these bills take the first step in eliminating the copay system, without elaborating on what the replacement system would be. Furthermore, the Healthy Michigan Plan currently has a provision that the system cannot create programs that cost the taxpayers more than it benefits those in need of care. This bill strikes out the provision, and will allow DHHS to absorb however much taxpayer money they deem necessary at the expense of the citizenry, and also strikes out guidelines on cost-sharing.”

PASSED: 81-27

I voted NO on SB 247 (Sen. McCann) which allows liquor licenses to public university sporting venues.

EXPLANATION: The point all of the lobbyists in Lansing have been making as they try to bribe this bill into passing is: “Think about how many millions colleges could make off of this!”

Why on earth would I want these indoctrination camps known as public universities to make millions of dollars? These public schools, which aren’t even private companies, already abuse their students with massive tuition rates and make millions, if not billions off of their athletic programs. Furthermore, some public universities in Michigan receive upwards of 5 billion a year in assistance from the state and federal government alone. Despite all of this money, Michigan State or the University of Michigan would never even consider lowering their tuitions. Instead, they’ll use their surplus to hire ten Diversity Coordinators with $250,000 a year salaries who all conveniently work remotely.

Furthermore, yes, people already drink when they tailgate at games. However, these people now have the whole game to sober up once they go inside. Allowing drinking at the games will almost certainly result in more drunk driving and more death.

PASSED: 85-23

Wednesday 6/28:

I voted NO on SBs 209, 212, 213, & 216 (Sens. Anthony, Kinfelt, & Geiss) which is which is a senate package which raises the minimum age for marriage to 18 and provides a process of annulments for those married under 18.

EXPLANATION: I voted against the House version of this bill package last week. See my explanation here:

“I understand this is a very controversial vote. However, the Democrats have been very deceptive with this package. They have been collaborating with their lapdogs in the media and their activists to claim that this is a bill package that will prevent children from being married to older adults. If that was the case, then why didn’t they phrase the bill to simply ban marriage between adults and children? They didn’t, because that isn’t part of their agenda.

PASSED: 104-5

I voted NO on HBs 4619-4623 (Rogers, Edwards, Fitzgerald, Miller, Koleszar) which codifies Obamacare into Michigan Law, as well as adds a provision that insurance companies cannot treat clients differently based on “gender identity”.

EXPLANATION: Obamacare has been a disaster for Americans and is vastly unpopular. Government overreach into the healthcare system has proved to be atrocious on all counts. Furthermore, it isn’t outlandish to think that an insurance company should be able to charge someone more based on gender identity. Someone who believes that they are a different gender than they were born are probably going to want their health insurance company to pay for routine hormones that they’ll be injecting and are going to cost more than they’ll ever pay in.

HB 4619 – PASSED: 67-41

HB 4620 – PASSED: 84-24

HB 4621 – PASSED: 74-34

HB 4622 – PASSED: 64-44

HB 4623 – PASSED: 59-49

I voted YES on SB 141 (Sen. McMorrow) which removes the January 1, 2026 sunset in the Liquor Control Code that allows on-premises licensees to serve to-go cocktails.

EXPLANATION: I voted YES on the House version of this bill (HB 4201) nearly 2 months ago. See my explanation for HB 4201:

“To-Go cocktails worked out fine during the Covid restrictions on bars and hasn’t turned out to be much of an issue, contrary to what was previously thought regarding the law. To-go cocktails were approved in 2020 and bars have already successfully implemented it in their day-to-day routine. I see no reason that these bars should have to abolish this policy that is now essential to their businesses when 2026 comes around. Less mandates and regulations on small businesses is a great thing! The government has spent the past several years absolutely decimating small businesses; it’s about time that we let these businesses prosper. I’m proud to be a free market Republican, and I would encourage all of my colleagues to support more free market solutions to the problems which face us today!”

PASSED: 103-5

I voted NO on HB 4706 which establishes Electric Vehicle Charging Stations as Separate From Utility Providers.

EXPLANATION: This is going to make the cost of energy go up. The current laws are very oriented toward actual utilities. By charging stations becoming separate unregulated institutions which now purchase energy from utilities and sell it to customers, there is now opportunity for price inflating rather than the electricity simply coming from the utility itself.

PASSED: 100-8

I voted NO on SB 14 (Sen. McCann) which repeals provisions added by Public Act 602 of 2018 which prohibit a state agency from adopting rules more stringent than the applicable federal standard with certain exemptions.

EXPLANATION: While I am for protecting the environment, the federal government is already pretty fierce, and this protection was left in place during Snyder’s Administration in order to prevent Whitmer from overregulating Michigan and destroying our tourism industry, energy, and infrastructure (she’s already done all of that). Overregulation is a threat to our market, security, and way of life.

PASSED: 56-52

SB 56 (Sen. Chang) would repeal the criminal misdemeanor offense for unmarried cohabitation.

EXPLANATION: This bill is deceitful. The misdemeanor for unmarried cohabitation was nullified and thrown out in 1999. The purpose of this bill is to get rid of the law on the books so that unmarried couples or anyone cohabitating can share all of the same benefits as married couples. I don’t believe that roommates should have the same tax benefits as a man and his wife.

PASSED: 82-26

I voted NO on SB 377 (Sen. McBroom) which establishes guidelines for the Michigan Sentencing Commission.

I previously voted NO on this bill HB 4384, but the sponsor removed his name, so we had to vote on the senate alternative. See my vote explanation for HB 4384:

“Whenever government is expanded and a new commission is created, it only sucks taxpayer money and resources into a thinktank, this one is particularly focused at creating new early-release policies, letting violent criminals off the hook, and pushing no-cash bail in Michigan. We’ve seen how that works in Blue State War Zones, and we certainly cannot allow this to happen here.”

PASSED: 56-52

I voted NO on HB 4573 (Rep. Glanville) which extends the sunset on the New Jobs Training Program and modifies wage requirements for jobs in the program by adding data from the United for ALICE Wage Tool to the considerations.

EXPLANATION: The United for ALICE Wage Tool is heavily biased toward high-population areas, and hurts trainees in rural areas. Particularly, my constituents in Mackninac, Chippewa, and Cheboygan Counties would see wage decreased in the program. I am not for reducing my constituents’ wages.

PASSED: 85-23

I voted NO on HB 4752 (Rep. Koleszar) which allows retired public school teachers who return to work to double dip their full salary at the same time as collecting all of their public retirement benefits.

EXPLANATION: Why even retire if you still plan on working? It seems a little disingenuous for a teacher to be able to receive a high-paying, high-seniority salary, and still be able to collect full retirement benefits at the same time. This should be especially frustrating to younger teachers who are competing for higher seniority, only to be outpaid by someone who is already double dipping.

PASSED: 100-8

I voted NO on HB 4696 (Rep. Tsernoglu) which is part of the massive election package, with slight edited language.

EXPLANATION: I previously voted NO on this bill, which is just the criminal guidelines for the rest of the package. Oddly enough, the bill came back to us slightly edited. The substitute strikes out a criminal penalty for: “Disclosing election result or how ballot voted”. What does this mean? Only time will tell.

PASSED: 56-52

I voted NO on HB 4280 (H-1) (Rep. Skaggs) which is a very slightly edited version of the teacher’s union package I voted against last week.

EXPLANATION: I voted against this whole package last week. See my vote explanation from last week:

“By opening up certain issues to collective bargaining, teachers unions will now have full control of school districts and will be able to force their will with little opposition. The union will be able to determine all of the following: Whether or not teachers are required to undergo performance evaluations, school disciplinary policy, school use of contractors, start date, subject areas assigned to teachers, and more. Furthermore, these bills remove a prohibition on automatic collection of union dues for employees.

This bill package is dangerous because it opens up the precedent to unions having full control of their districts, rather than local control by the families living there. This is the first step in disenfranchising local families and paying off MEA.”

PASSED: 56-52

I voted NO on the Conference Reports of SB 173 & HB 4137 ($81.7 billion budget).

EXPLANATION: This budget was awful financially speaking, and awful for freedom. I will have a separate post soon dedicated to the budget.

SB 173 – PASSED: 58-50

HB 4437 – PASSED: 61-47

I voted NO on HB 4454 & SB 164 (Reps. Carter & Shink) which amends Business Improvement Zones to provide for proportional voting for the creation and operation of zones.

EXPLANATION: When the Democrats say they want to make Business Improvement Zones Proportional, that means big business would sway all of the power and small businesses would be crushed and burdened. I didn’t come to Lansing to prop up the big guy or satisfy elitist donors, I came to Lansing to stick up for the little guy. Making Business Improvement Zones would allow massive companies to dictate the municipality levies large financial costs on mom & pop shops, driving them out and taking down market competition.

HB 4454 – PASSED: 77-32

SB 164 – PASSED: 75-34

I voted NO on SB 288 (Sen. Singh) which eliminates the sunset (makes permanent) on the Michigan Energy Assistance Program.

EXPLANATION: I believe this program would be better off ended. I do not support taxpayers footing the bill to power and heat low-income housing, and I would assume most conservative Republicans would feel the same. Perhaps the solution to rising energy costs would be actually allowing for competition in energy rather than affirming state-enforced monopolies.

PASSED: 87-22

I voted NO on HBs 4132-4133 (Reps. Snyder & Mueller) which establishes speed traffic enforcement cameras in construction zones across the state.

EXPLANATION: Obviously you shouldn’t speed through a construction zone with workers present, but this package is over the top. The issue is that this entire state is basically a construction zone, and the bill will fine drivers $150 for their second violation, and $300 for every violation after that. There is also a legal precedent issue in the bill, since unlike parking tickets, speeding tickets have to be issued to a single person and not a vehicle in Michigan. How will the enforcement cameras be able to identify the driver of the vehicle, especially if the driver is not the registered owner on the title?

HB 4132 – PASSED: 67-42

HB 4133 – PASSED: 68-41

I voted NO on HBs 4317 & 4318 (Reps. Vanderwall & Neely) which creates a Solar Energy Tax in Michigan and exempts solar energy facilities from property tax.

EXPLANATION: The government is already too big and picks enough winners and losers. You’re not going to ever catch me voting to create a new tax. As a Leader in the Michigan House Freedom Caucus, I also am not keen on picking winners and losers. Rather than exempting solar fields from state property tax, state property tax should be eliminated altogether, and I am glad that the majority of Freedom Caucus members agreed with me on this one.

HB 4317 – PASSED: 93-16

HB 4318 – PASSED: 92-17

I voted NO on HB 4561 (Rep. Liberati) which modifies restrictions on electronic coupons from “result in the retail customer’s purchase of alcoholic liquor being below the retailer’s cost” to “make any alcoholic liquor free”.

EXPLANATION: I am a small government, free market guy. I don’t care about some menial change to the restrictions on coupons. These restrictions should be repealed anyways. Why should the government dictate what you buy, how you buy it, and how the stores operate?

PASSED: 100-9

I voted NO on I voted NO on HB 4375 (S-1), (Rep. Grant) which allows cities and townships with populations above 50,000 and their surrounding areas to establish land banks if the county does not already possess a county land bank.

EXPLANATION: I previously voted NO on this bill last month. This bill returned from the Senate with a substitute (S-1) which expands the definition from just cities to townships as well. See my vote explanation for this bill from May 17:

“Really what this means when they say, ‘cities with populations above 50,000’, they’re talking about Grand Rapids. The talking point that’s been used in support of this bill that: “This will make Grand Rapids more like Detroit!” Why would we want to make Grand Rapids more like Detroit?

Land banks are just corporate welfare at the city level. Why not let the free market and small business owners decide on what businesses should go where, and if there is public property that needs to be sold, let it go an open bid, rather than shady deals to hand over land directly? The people and economy thrive when there is less control and more freedom in the private sector. The development of cities should be handled by business owners, rather than a centralized city planning committee.”

PASSED: 61-48

I voted NO on HB 4343 (Rep. Conlin) which requires DIFS to conduct a report on companies practicing payday lending and submit the report to the legislature.

EXPLANATION: Why are we going after payday lenders as if they’re usurers? Payday loans are often very helpful for people in a pinch, and there isn’t a very excessive interest rate charged on the quick and easy loan. It isn’t usury if the interest rate isn’t excessive, and the business actually aims to help people in need rather than simply profit off of them. You know who actually commits usury and dominates over people with only high interest rates and profit in mind? Big banks and credit card companies. Why aren’t our elected officials going after them? They must be big donors.

PASSED: 97-12

I voted NO on HBs 4377-4378 (Reps. Carter & Neely) which creates new standards for how food will be taxed in Michigan.

This legislation is overcomplicated and overburdening for both producers and consumers. Under the legislation, items such as unsweet tea would be taxed, but sweet tea would not be subject to that same tax. Similarly, prepackaged chips and nuts would be taxed but prepackaged candy would remain untaxed. The bill package is jam packed with math equations and definitions that are far too complicated for anyone to understand and will drive small companies out of business and allow larger companies that can hire legal experts to flourish.

PASSED: 56-53

I voted NO on SBs 137 & 138 (Sens. Damoose & Irwin) which creates standards for the DHHS to pay for guardianship programs for children from other states and Indian Tribes.

EXPLANATION: This may seem controversial, but I don’t believe that the state should be paying to resettle kids from other states into Michigan, and I also think that kids in the tribe should be kept in the tribe since that’s where they grew up and are comfortable, at least until they are older. I don’t believe we should be financing moving children around from place to place, which can be quite traumatizing. Furthermore, while it is a great role to help kids get the support they need, this is the duty of the church, and we should not be stepping on her toes. We should be working with clergy and laypeople of all denominations to get help to children in need rather than creating welfare-style programs which only incentivize the beginning of the process.

PASSED: 105-4

I voted NO on SB 326 (Sen. Singh) which exempts a vehicle sale from the Use Tax if the vehicle was purchased by a dealer for resale and was not registered in the name of the dealer prior to the customer purchase.

EXPLANATION: This bill claims it is designed to close a loophole, which it might, but what it also does is create another loophole. These changes in SB 326 create the potential that previously untaxed transfers would become taxable, if registered. I don’t blame many of my colleagues for voting to close the loophole, but I voted NO simply because I think that we should close any further loopholes in the mix.

PASSED: 106-3

I voted NO on HB 4066 (Rep. Coleman) which creates the Michigan High-Speed Internet Office within the Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity.

EXPLANATION: While I want as many people to have high-speed internet as possible, the Democrats’ current agenda for “broadband expansion” is a massive money laundering union scheme that the mob has been running for 20 years now. They create new bureaucratic government offices to hire their friends and use those offices to hire their biggest and favorite unions to take multi-billion dollar expansion contracts for, which the crews will inevitably be incentivized to take as long as possible with it. We know their tricks, and they need to stop.

PASSED: 56-53

I voted YES on SBs 161-162 (Sens. Geiss & McCann) which allows teachers and school counselors to have reciprocity from other states with their certifications.

EXPLANATION: Whether we want to admit it or not, we do have a shortage of teachers. Teachers from other states who move to Michigan should be able to be certified if they have already received adequate training. This should also apply to counselors, who are becoming more and more critical to the function of our schools and keeping our kids on track.

PASSED: 109-0

I voted NO on HB 4293-4302 (Reps. Hope, Farhat, Coffia, Edwards, Brixie, Grant, Hill, Young & Andrews) which is a massive package which raises the minimum age for marriage to 18 and provides a process of annulments for those married under 18.

HBs 4293, 4295-4302 – PASSED: 104-5

HB 4294 – PASSED: 98-11

I voted NO on SBs 129-132 (Sens. Singh, McDonald, Cavanagh & Shink) which expands the Brownfield Redevelopment Project that I voted NO on Tuesday.

EXPLANATION: On Tuesday I voted NO on the first part of this package, SB 289, for Brownfield Redevelopment. Allow me to explain what this whole package does. The state wants to spend $1 billion, if not more, to pay builders to “Redevelop” areas that were condemned as hazardous to human beings, and build massive Section 8 style housing blocks on them. This is morally reprehensible on multiple fronts. On one hand, I don’t support corporate welfare and the government handing your tax dollars away to companies. Secondly, how are we going to judge the status of these hazard zones and when they are fit for human life again? Third, I certainly think there are better ways to provide for our population than to prop up massive housing blocks which go completely against human nature and natural law.

SB 130 – PASSED: 72-37

SBs 129, 131, 132 – PASSED: 71-38

I voted NO on SBs 66-73 (Reps. Chang, Lauwers, Geiss, Theis, Johnson, Hauck, McDonald, & Shink) which is yet another Larry Nassar themed bill package to show off.

EXPLANATION: Sexual assault, rape, and any sexual misconduct is extremely morally reprehensible in any case objectively. Most of what this bill package does is criminalize actions which are already criminal. Deleting sections of old law, and then replacing them with near identical sections of law are completely unnecessary and this is nothing but a publicity stunt. It feels like we have passed at least 20 of these Nassar laws now, and it is always nothing but a feel-good publicity stunt. This bill also mandates mandatory sexual assault packets and training for grades 6-12, which is I find extremely interesting. Will we now designate groomer teachers who coerce our children into taking hormone blockers or changing their gender identities be punished under these new bills? Oh I didn’t think so. The bill package also makes rape under the guise of a medical examination a crime, which I support making a crime. However, THIS ALREADY IS A CRIME.

These bill packages, which literally repeal laws and reintroduce them is nothing but a Democrat psychological operation, so they can publicize these bi-partisan emotional bills to make you believe that things aren’t as bad as they are. Leadership wants you to focus on this and not the fact that they legalized late term abortion, are confiscating your guns, made it illegal to not join a union, have given billions of dollars to a genocidal communist regime, banned free speech deemed offensive, and ushered in a new era of anti-Christian persecution, all in the last 6 months. I pray that God helps us and wakes up the people to the level of far-left terror that is actually being forced on us.

PASSED: 105-4

I voted NO on HBs 4820 (Rep. Skaggs), 4354 (Rep. Weiss), 4356 (Rep. Carter), & 4357 (Rep. Hood) which allows teachers unions to dictate a wide range of issues that were formerly left up to school administrations and districts.

EXPLANATION: By opening up certain issues to collective bargaining, teachers unions will now have full control of school districts and will be able to force their will with little opposition. The union will be able to determine all of the following: Whether or not teachers are required to undergo performance evaluations, school disciplinary policy, school use of contractors, start date, subject areas assigned to teachers, and more. Furthermore, these bills remove a prohibition on automatic collection of union dues for employees.

PASSED: 56-53

I voted NO on SB 35 (Sen. Irwin) which eliminates the asset test for food assistance programs.

I believe that to qualify for public food assistance, you should actually be required to need it. Currently, you are required to demonstrate that you are impoverished in order to get food assistance in Michigan. Democrats want to get rid of that provision in this bill so that anyone can get public food assistance. Allowing anyone to get food assistance, despite making more than enough money to pay for food, takes up resources and taxpayer money that should be dedicated to families that are actually in need.

PASSED: 56-53

I voted NO on SB 289 (Sen. Moss) which incentivizes builders to place housing blocks on areas condemned as hazardous or shut down due to excess pollution.

EXPLANATION: The House Fiscal Agency projects that this project could cost the state a billion dollars. Why are we using $1 billion to pay companies to clean up inhospitable areas and build high-density housing blocks or create “opportunity zones”? This is an outlandish abuse of taxpayer money.

PASSED: 90-19

I voted NO on HB 4474-4477 (Reps. Arbit, Grant, & Puri) which creates a new class of felony for “intimidating” someone based on gender identity, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, etc.

EXPLANATION: This bill package is far too broad and criminalizes speech. Establishing a victimized crime of “intimidation”, dependent on the feelings of the alleged victim is ripe for abuse. It is unimaginable to think that in Michigan, if this bill passes, 2 individuals could be having a conversation, a third person hears it, gets offended, and the 2 individuals go to prison for 5 years. The primary sponsor of this bill package seems to think that berating and lashing out at conservatives on the House Floor while simultaneously playing the victim is how you’ll eliminate hate in Michigan. Policing speech and cracking down on people is what pushes them toward more irrational and sporadic behavior, and you’re only going to make the problem worse.

HB 4474 & 4475 – PASSED: 59-50

HB 4476 – PASSED: 83-26

HB 4477 – PASSED: 82-27

I voted YES on HB 4689 (Rep. Hope) which designates part of US-127 as ‘Trooper Starr Memorial Highway’.

EXPLANATION: Our fallen heroes in law enforcement deserve our upmost respect. I am very happy that this bill received unanimous support from both parties.

PASSED: 109-0

I voted NO on HB 4233 (Rep. Churches) which allows teacher’s unions to use public/school resources to collect union dues.

EXPLANATION: This is one of the final nails in the coffin of Michigan as a Right to Work state, and seems to be near the end of the Democrats’ push to turn Michigan into a union-run oligarchy. Why should a union be propped up with taxpayer resources? Furthermore, why should a school administration be required to collect union dues on behalf of a union that is, in many cases, bitterly hostile to them and actively bargaining against them?

PASSED: 56-53

I voted NO on HB 4044 (Rep. Koleszar) which allows for Step Increases for public employees (aside from Police & Fire) and repeals requirement for employees to pay for insurance costs after a contract has expired between an employer and union.

EXPLANATION: Giving raises to employees while negotiations are ongoing gives very little incentive for a common-sense agreement between the union and employer to be reached. If anything, it puts a stranglehold on departments struggling with their budget and forces them to fold at the feet of the union.

PASSED: 56-53

I voted NO on HBs 4695-4702 (Reps. Tsernoglu, Koleszar, Hope, Byrnes, Rheingans & Morgan) which is a massive election reform package and nearly universally changes the way elections are held in Michigan.

EXPLANATION: The Democrat messaging on this bill package has been that it simply implements Proposal 2 from the 2022 election. This could not be further from the truth. This bill package is a massive overhaul which essentially makes fraudulent voting a heck of a lot easier. Giving more power to the Secretary of State, expanding the ability for individuals to register and vote after the election, and doing away with video surveillance of drop boxes is not what the voters had in mind when they passed Proposal 2.

Furthermore, nearly doubling the size of precincts and condensing our populations into one line are only going to lead to longer lines on election day, which in turn is forcing working-class people to vote by mail. It’s worth mentioning as well that this package is projected to cost millions and millions of dollars, with no plan for appropriations or who is going to foot the bill for these extra expenditures.

Where in Proposal 2 did it say that we needed to redefine what actually constitutes a valid ID and allow for local IDs to be used for voting? Where in Proposal 2 did voters ask for the SOS to be able to mail them absentee ballots for eternity, only stopping if they don’t vote by mail 6 years in a row? Where in Proposal 2 did voters ask that taxpayers foot the bill for mail-in ballots and the SOS replace our current signature verification system for a far-less efficient system that is bound to allow fraudulent ballots cast? I think the voters deserve better than this, so I voted NO.

HBs 4695-4701 – PASSED: 56-53

HB 4702 – PASSED: 62-47

I voted NO on HB 4352 (Rep. Shannon) which allows for HOV Lanes on Michigan Roads, meaning it would be illegal to drive on certain lanes/streets if you are alone.

EXPLANATION: This is more climate change hysteria that will only make everyone’s lives more difficult. The idea behind this bill is that if they can criminalize you driving by yourself in certain places, they can incentivize carpooling. Don’t let them fool you. This is nothing more than the far-left minority trying to dictate their ideology on the majority of people. The government can’t even maintain our current roads, how are they going to go about this massive overhaul without spending hundreds of millions of dollars? Thankfully, a couple Democrats did not vote, so the bill failed. Out of humiliation, Democrat leadership cleared the voting board and erased the vote from the record of the house journal, similarly to what they did in the first iteration of the Distracted Driving bill package.

FAILED – Board Cleared – Journal Wiped

I voted NO on HBs 4616 & 4617 (Reps. Brabec & Hoskins) which broadly bans ‘Conversion Therapy’ in Michigan for minors.

EXPLANATION: HB 4617 defines ‘Conversion Therapy’ as: any practice or treatment by a mental health professional that seeks to change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity.

The bill also includes social workers, therapists, and counselors, into the definition of ‘mental health professional’. This means for one of these individuals simply tell a biological boy that he is a boy or a biological girl that she is a girl would be criminalized. The bill does, however, make exemptions for counselors if they are willing to further sexualize the child and push them further into transgenderism or homosexual behavior. Democrats are saying these bills are meant to protect children, however this couldn’t be further from the truth.

My number 1 goal is to protect children, both born and yet to be born, which is why I introduced HB 4136 which protects children from the dangers of pornography in public. Oddly enough, when I introduced the bill in February, my Democratic colleagues berated and attacked me for not wanting to sexualize kids. Furthermore, in March I co-sponsored Rep. Steve Carra’s bill to make it a felony to provide sex changes and puberty blockers to children, which the Democrats firmly oppose as well. It is clear that Republicans want to protect our kids, whereas Democrats simply wish to push their obscure sexual behavior on them.

I voted NO on HBs 4191-4194 (Aiyash, Brabec, Edwards, McFall) which changes MI Driver’s Licenses from Biological ‘Sex’ to the ‘gender’ you identify as and overhauls the system in which the SOS supplies prisoners pending released with licenses.

EXPLANATION: I believe boys are boys and girls are girls. I do not buy into that you can identify as a Jeep Wrangler if you so choose to. The reason your biological sex is on your license is to help identify you, not to appease the mental illnesses of the minority. Furthermore, it’s pretty obvious why the left wants to overhaul the system in which prisoners get shipped new drivers licenses: The Democrats and establishment Republicans are preparing for a massive release of prisoners into our communities. I cannot bring myself to support this process, so I voted NO.

HBs 4191, 4192, 4194 – PASSED: 73-36

HB 4193 – PASSED: 74-35

I voted NO on HBs 4173 & 4384 (Rep. Aiyash) to create a new bureaucratic commission on sentencing and enacting bail reform.

EXPLANATION: Whenever government is expanded and a new commission is created, it only sucks taxpayer money and resources into a thinktank, this one is particularly focused at creating new early-release policies, letting violent criminals off the hook, and pushing no-cash bail in Michigan. We’ve seen how that works in Blue State War Zones, and we certainly cannot allow this to happen here.

PASSED: 56-53

I voted NO on HB 4515 (Rep. Hill) which extends the annual license fee on Off Road Vehicles (ORVs) forever.

EXPLANATION: I don’t support having to pay license fees to the government. Even when this fee was originally proposed, it had a temporary sunset to it. Now, politicians just openly want to tax and fine you forever simply for wanting to go off-road. The government never spends our money correctly anyways, so I will always vote against unnecessary fees.

PASSED: 79-30

I voted NO on HB 4153 & SB 125 (Rep. Churches & Sen. Camilleri) which creates a local rail grade separation grant program within the Michigan Department of Transportation and the rail grade separation fund within the department of Treasury.

EXPLANATION: Nowhere in the bills do they specify where the money for these projects is going to come from. Furthermore, as I asked with the HOV bill above, if the government cannot even maintain our current roads, how are they going to build above and beyond railroad crossings. It would seem that Democrats are bent on bankrupting our state and dishing out as many big union work contracts as possible.

HB 4153 – PASSED: 95-14

SB 125 – PASSED: 93-16

I voted NO on HB 4457 & SB 50 (Rep. Scott & Sen. Santana) which declares ‘Juneteenth’ as a “Bank Holiday” and further elaborates on the history of the holiday.

EXPLANATION: For one, Juneteenth is already a state and federal holiday in Michigan. I support all Americans celebrating the emancipation of the slaves during the civil war. I oppose this bill for two main reasons. For starters, state employees in Michigan will now all have the day off, and banks will be closed. Where do we draw the line? If every social justice day is now declared a holiday, pretty soon nobody is going to work all year. Second, the bill is filled with all sorts of Critical Race Theory exaggerations as a means of guilt tripping Americans. For example, the bill insinuates that 11.5 million slaves were brought to the US, and even more died on the journey there. This is completely historically inaccurate. At most, 600,000 slaves were brought to the United States from African slave traders. It’s also factually untrue that more Africans died on the journey to America than arrived. The bill completely neglects that hundreds of thousands of Americans died in the war to end slavery or that only 5% of slaves in the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade went to the 13 Colonies/United States. When you immensely exaggerate and alter history, you disenfranchise the real suffering felt by those enslaved.

PASSED: 105-4

I voted NO on HB 4159 (Rep. Brixie) which designates the Black Swallowtail Butterfly as the Michigan State Butterfly.

EXPLANATION: The Democrats threw in this random feel-good bill in the middle of a session where they are destroying our state and preying upon our children. This is a waste of taxpayer money. I also don’t find the Black Swallowtail particularly nice-looking. I think the Monarch Butterfly would look a lot nicer.

PASSED: 67-42

I voted NO on HBs 4495 & 4496 (Reps. Snyder & Filler) which is a major Healthcare reform to the Healthy Michigan Plan.

EXPLANATION: Government bureaucracy is complicated, especially when it comes to healthcare. However, these bills take the first step in eliminating the copay system, without elaborating on what the replacement system would be. Furthermore, the Healthy Michigan Plan currently has a provision that the system cannot create programs that cost the taxpayers more than it benefits those in need of care. This bill strikes out the provision, and will allow DHHS to absorb however much taxpayer money they deem necessary at the expense of the citizenry, and also strikes out guidelines on cost-sharing.

HB 4495 – PASSED: 80-27

HB 4496 – PASSED: 83-24

I voted NO on HB 4420 (Rep. Rogers) which allows police/prosecutors to release your personal information and address to certain groups designated as domestic violence support/shelter groups without your consent.

EXPLANATION: Domestic violence shelters and support groups are great and do plenty of lifesaving work, particularly for women. However, I do not believe that an officer should be able to provide your information to these institutions without your consent so that they may solicit their services to you. To me, this violates personal privacy too much. In fact, this bill allows the police to provide your information even if you express directly to them not to do it.

PASSED: 100-6

I voted YES on HB 4421 (Rep. Young) which allows for the court to blur a victim’s face if the contents of a trial are made public.

EXPLANATION: Giving a victim impact statement can be very embarrassing for someone, especially if a crime was particularly egregious. Giving these victim’s the ability to have their faces blurred if video footage from a trial is released would be helpful to them healing.

PASSED: 105-1

I voted NO on HB 4422 (Rep. Filler) which expands the list of “Serious Misdemeanors” under the Crime Victim Rights Act.

EXPLANATION: The current list in the Crime Victims Rights Act goes far enough and expanding it to crimes that aren’t particularly traumatic de-legitimizes the points of the victims of egregious crimes this is supposed to protect. Trauma-inducing, heinous crimes that would cause panic and stress to a victim in the courtroom should be covered under the Crime Victims Rights Act, not embezzling $15 or threatening a DHHS employee.

PASSED: 10-6

I voted YES on HB 4223 (Rep. VanWoerkom) which allows a victim to give an impact statement electronically.

EXPLANATION: Giving a victim impact statement can be very traumatizing for many. Allowing a victim to give an impact statement outside of the courtroom may allow them to freely express the damage that has been done to them without feeling threatened.

PASSED: 105-1

I voted NO on HB 4516 (Rep. Coffia) which allows federal grants money reserved for Domestic Violence Prevention programs in Michigan towns to be used on federally recognized Native American reservations as well.

EXPLANATION: Native American reservations already get their own separate Domestic Violence Prevention grants from the federal government. Giving more money to these tribes without increasing the size of the pool means less money for Michigan towns.

PASSED: 103-3

Thursday – June 8

I voted NO on SB 90 (Sen. Anthony) which redesignates workplace hair/grooming standards as racial discrimination in the Elliot-Larsen expansion.

EXPLANATION: It is already illegal in Michigan for an employer or potential employer to discriminate against someone based on their race. If there is seriously racially-based discrimination, in the workplace, that is not okay and it should be dealt with. However, mandating that any hairstyle now fits under the definition of race goes too far beyond that. Many business environments prefer to stay professional, allowing someone into a formal work environment that refused to wash their hair, keeps it overgrown and messy, isn’t keeping within that formal work environment.

PASSED: 100-7

I voted NO on HB 4273 (Rep. O’Neil) which requires municipalities to inform every occupant/tenant of an apartment complex to be notified on violations after every inspection, regardless of lack of hazard.

EXPLANATION: Currently, Michigan law mandates that tenants must be informed if there are serious violations after an inspection that pose a hazard or danger to the tenants. This law would include each and every miniscule violation, which is an unnecessary expansion and will only waste the time of local authorities and the landlords themselves. Simple words in documents and little mundane errors that can easily be fixed could be a violation in an inspection, and would now have to be notified to all of the occupants.

PASSED: 93-14

I voted NO on HB 4197 (Rep. Witwer) which allows for a temporary hold on disbursement of funds for an elderly or at-risk individual who is potentially a victim of scamming or fraud now or in the future.

EXPLANATION: I would support a measure to protect our seniors and those incapable of handling their own finances from con artists and criminals who would try to take advantage of them. My issue with this bill is the potential for abuse that it has and the precedent for future bills. The timeline allows for a freeze for 15 business days, and an extension of 40 days, however, if law enforcement gets involved the freeze can become indefinite with no court oversight. This could be dangerously abused, so I voted no.

PASSED: 103-4

I voted YES to concur in the Senate Substitutes (S-1’s) for HBs 4244 (Rep. Morgan), 4245 (Rep. Wilson), 4247 (Rep. O’Neil), 4281 (Rep. Skaggs), 4289 (Rep. Brixie), 4290 (Rep. Brixie), 4292 (Rep. Brabec), & 4310 (Rep. Morse) in order to prevent these bills from going into a Conference Committee.

EXPLANATION: I voted NO several weeks ago on all of these atrocious budget bills because of an immense amount of overspending, left-wing political ideology, and corporate welfare. However, Democratic leadership likes to play a little game with appropriations bills to make them 10 times worse than they already were:

The House votes on the bill, sends it over to the Senate where the Senate creates a substitute (S-1) version of the bill, where the department’s budget is now blank except for a $100 appropriation. This substitute gets passed by the senate, then gets sent back to the House, where the Democrats vote no on it. Now that both chambers are technically in disagreement, Democrat Leadership can take up the bill in Conference Committee and drop the worst imaginable things into it now.

This was previously done to HB 4001 in January and February. The bill started out as a bill to cut taxes on public pensioners. However, after sending the bill back and forth with substitutes between the chambers, the bill went to Conference and, unsurprisingly, came out with a $500 million deposit to the SOAR fund. The SOAR money has since then been used to aid the Chinese Communist Party in building battery plans in Marshall and the Big Rapids area. One can only imagine that the Democrats will use the opportunity of these bills going into Conference Committee to drop massive corporate welfare, SOAR funding, and handouts to the Communist Chinese into the Conference Reports of these bills and get them signed by the Governor. They must be stopped!

VOTE EXPLANATIONS MAY 24, 2023:

I voted NO on HB 4555 (Rep. Rogers) which designates, in statute, June 12 as Women’s Veteran’s Day.

EXPLANATION: I love our veterans. I love and appreciate all of our veterans whether they are male or female, black or white, protestant or catholic. We already have a Veterans’ Day on November 11th. November 11th commemorates the end of World War I, which the whole globe prayed would be the war to end all wars.

I don’t believe in identity politics and I believe every man or woman that has shed blood for this country bled the same red as any other patriotic American. How long until we see men’s veteran’s day? Gay veteran’s day? Transgender veteran’s day? The list goes on and on. The point of America, especially our military, is that we are all Americans and should focus on our similarities rather than our differences. Establishing a separate veteran’s day for women exclusively almost insinuates and diminishes the heroic sacrifices of women veterans and insinuates that they didn’t make the cut for the holiday we already have.

PASSED: 104-3

I voted NO on HB 4071 (Rep. Steckloff) which requires that the co-pay for oral chemotherapy cannot be charged by insurance companies for more than regular chemotherapy or exceed $150 for a 30-day supply.

EXPLANATION: This bill is so misleading. If the Lansing Swamp really cared about making oral chemotherapy cheaper for patients, they would take measures against Big Pharma’s immoral monopolies or put actual price caps on the medication. However, the Democrats will never really go after their biggest donors: Big Pharma.

Instead, they’ll attack health insurance companies. What was never mentioned in the deliberation of this bill is that the co-pay is so much higher for oral chemotherapy because the pharmaceutical companies charge much higher rates. So small insurance companies are going to be blown out of the water having to cover the cost of expensive treatment without getting any payment in return. Let’s actually make things easier for cancer patients instead of brutally attacking small companies on behalf of big pharma.

PASSED: 70-37

I voted NO on HB 4120 (Rep. Rogers) which would require employers to provide training to employees designated as mandatory reporters.

EXPLANATION: This whole bill package seems nice on paper, but it is based on emotion and is a feel good excuse to do political theater to deceive our constituents into thinking there is actually productivity going on in Lansing. This bill would require employers now to provide training for mandatory reporters. Mandatory reporting has not proven to be successful in combatting child abuse, and in recent years, it is weaponized against conservatives who do not promote the child groomer agenda. If there truly is child abuse or sexual assault occurring, the average person is competent enough to understand what is happening. Forcing regulations on companies to teach classes and provide paperwork to understand what these things are is absurd and it is socialist in principle. I cannot force my conscience to vote for emotionally based irrational socialist behavior.

PASSED: 102-5

I voted YES on HB 4121-4122 (Reps. Breen & Hope) which revokes a medical license from an individual which commits a sexual assault.

I agree wholeheartedly with this bill. No one who is actively committing crimes of a sexual nature should be able to practice medicine, especially around children. There must be punishment for such terrible actions.

PASSED: 107-0

I voted NO on HB 4123-4124 (Reps. Glanville & Filler) which makes it a crime to dissuade or attempt to prevent the reporting of alleged abuse or sexual misconduct.

EXPLANATION: This bill is extremely vague. While it should certainly be criminal if someone is legitimately obstructing justice and using intimidation to prevent a crime from being reported, this bill is worded in a way that could potentially criminalize authoritative figures from giving advice or consoling a potential victim.

Furthermore, the bill is worded using “alleged” violation, which means attempting to stop someone from filing a false report is also criminalized. This is extremely troubling, and I could not bring myself to support something framed as preventing obstruction of justice but would instead give free passes to those who wish to do just that.

PASSED: 102-5

I voted NO on HB 4125 (Rep. Rheinigans) which gives an immunity period to students who are sexually assaulted.

I do not understand the logic behind this bill. Giving someone the ability to break school policy or the law because they’ve been sexually assaulted? I’ll give you a scenario:

Student A is sexually assaulted by Student B. 9 days after the sexual assault, student A calls in a bomb threat to the school and breaks into the school to steal from students’ lockers. Student A claims they did this because of trauma from the sexual assault and now the school is not allowed to even expel student A for their terroristic threats.

This is insane precedent and cannot be allowed in a rational society.

PASSED: 97-10

I voted NO on HBs 4438-4439 (Breen & Bezotte) which changes the definition of ‘public police or fire department employee’ in Act 312 of 1969 (Compulsory Arbitration) to include corrections officers.

EXPLANATION: Currently, unresolved labor disputes regarding police officers or firefighters go to compulsory arbitration to resolve the dispute. The employer selects a designee to represent their interests and the employers are represented by their designated union representative on an arbitration panel. This process was allegedly created as a compromise so first responders cannot go on strike since that would endanger the lives of the community.

So why is this now being extended to individuals working in corrections? You can make the argument that it wouldn’t be good for an entire county jail to go on strike and thus this is necessary, but you could make the argument that there are a lot of occupations in the public sector that you wouldn’t want to go on strike. How many employers are going to be forced into compulsory arbitration now that Michigan is becoming more and more of a union-dominated state, where employees and employers are shackled down by union bosses and forced to pay dues against their will?

HB 4438 – PASSED: 88-18

HB 4439 – PASSED: 90-16

I voted NO on SB 32 (Sen. Santana) & HB 4176 (Rep. Carter) which is a bill package to allow collections agencies to go after police officers for cost of academy tuition if they leave their original department within 4 years.

EXPLANATION: Not only is this bill anti-cop, it’s also anti-taxpayer. Not only do I proudly back the brave men and women in blue, but I also want to stand up for my taxpaying constituents.

With their anti-police rhetoric and aggressive union expansion, Democrats and their allies have destroyed the working economy of Michigan. Thousands of workers, police officers especially, are fleeing Michigan for Right-to-Work states and states which proudly back the blue. Since the costs of police academy are typically covered by the department a new recruit is joining, this bill will allow a department to hire a collections agency in order to recoup the tuition if the officer leaves within 4 years. Therefore, all of the brave police officers fleeing Whitmer’s anarcho-tyranny will now be hunted down and fined for their attempts to escape. The bill also does not grandfather in police officers who left before the bill was passed, which will lead to unfair persecution of our police.

This bill is also extremely bad for taxpayers. The cost of a police academy in Michigan is typically a few thousand dollars. Many of the police officers, who have moved across the country, that these collections agencies will be hunting down could take years to be reached and have their tuition recouped. The cost of the legwork for these collections agencies is going to surely amount to more money than will actually be retrieved. All this bill will do is shuffle money out of the hands of the taxpayer and into the hands of collections agencies.

PASSED: 103-4

EXPLANATION: Not only is this bill anti-cop, it’s also anti-taxpayer. Not only do I proudly back the brave men and women in blue, but I also want to stand up for my taxpaying constituents.

PASSED: 103-4

Today, I voted NO on 9/14 budget bills that were passed by the Senate and came before the House. While the Senate’s budget is an outrageously high waste of taxpayer money, and that would be reason enough to vote NO, like the House this budget is filled with outrageous left-wing ideology and shady agenda dealings. I thought I would highlight some disapprovals I have with each bill:

To start things off, the General Government Fund Budget (SB 189) has a line item of $161,000 to pay for a Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI) Research project. It also selectively dumps massive amounts of money into a select few counties.

The Department of Veterans and Military Affairs Budget (SB 197) will allow the department to require veterans to be vaccinated for Covid 19 in order to receive treatment, removes the requirement for Veterans’ Homes to have psychiatrists on site, and provides massive corporate handouts to provide for military base expansion.

The Department of Education Budget (SB 186) removes the state in-person work requirement and allows the department to institute Covid-19 Vaccine Mandates.

The Judiciary Budget (SB 192) includes $1.5 million to give retrials to 18 year olds serving life sentences for first degree murder and appropriates $500,000 more to ensure each Michigan Supreme Court Justice has a security force on standby 24/7.

The Department of Corrections Budget (SB 191) includes $1.2 million to ship the breast milk of female inmates home to their children, $250,000 to pay for female inmates to get bachelor degrees at EMU, Roughly $150 million to pay for healthcare/medication costs for inmates, $2 million to provide affordable housing, insurance, and job opportunities to former inmates.

The Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs Budget (SB 195) includes vaccine passports and mandates Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI) and Abortion Rights.

The Department of Natural Resources Budget (SB 188) includes vaccine passports and a $1.5 million carbon credit expansion.

The Department of Insurance and Financial Services Budget (SB 196) includes Covid Vaccine mandates and Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI) mandates.

The budget for community colleges (SB 201) removes the tuition cap for community colleges and will allow community colleges that go above the tuition cap to receive state aid and construction projects.

The Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy budget (SB 199) increases the department’s budget by nearly 50%. It also includes a $100 million appropriation for “Environmental Justice”… What does that even mean? The budget also allows the department to refuse services to those not vaccinated for Covid-19.

The Higher Education budget (SB 200) removes a provision that encourages free speech on college campuses and removes university’s obligation to allow/report data on vaccine waivers.

The Department of Labor & Economic Opportunity Budget (SB 194) includes $500 million for SOAR, which the Democrats have been using to shuffle money to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), $7.5 million for adult reading classes, $1 million handout to minority businesses, and a $40 million corporate handout for EV infrastructure.

The School Aid Fund Budget (SB 173) includes $10 million to create a new Critical Race Theory curriculum in schools. It also crosses out an older prohibition and will allow teachers to coerce their students into getting abortions.

As you can see, all of these budget bills either have some sort of far-left talking point inserted into them or some clear backroom deal made between Democrats and their donors. Each of these bills are massive, with long lists of line items, and the above examples are just a select few out of many, many things that are wrong with this budget.

All 9 passed on party-line votes. I assume we will vote on the other 5 tomorrow at a later date.

I voted NO on HB 4375, which allows cities with populations above 50,000 and their surrounding areas to establish land banks if the county does not already possess a county land bank.

EXPLANATION: Really what this means when they say, ‘cities with populations above 50,000’, they’re talking about Grand Rapids. The talking point that’s been used in support of this bill that: “This will make Grand Rapids more like Detroit!” Why would we want to make Grand Rapids more like Detroit?

PASSED: 57-50

I voted NO on HB 4033 (Rep. Paiz) which will require the state to pay counties/local governments out of the general fund when the governor calls a special election.

EXPLANATION: This is troublesome and ripe for misuse by the current administration. The Democrats know that 2 of their colleagues in the Metro Detroit area will be stepping down to run for mayor later this year. Presumably, since the House would now be 54-54, Whitmer is going to call special elections to retake the majority. With the disastrous early voting system we now have in place, these blue cities will have no problem generating massive receipts that the people of this state will vote for.

PASSED: 94-13

I voted NO on HB 4376 (Rep. Carter) which adds additional regulations on individuals acting as fiduciaries and requires them to keep funds stored in a separate account.

EXPLANATION: The big time insurance lobby, banking executives, and Lansing bureaucracy pushed hard for this one to further erode at free market competition. We already have transparency laws for fiduciaries on the books in Michigan. This bill will only put a tighter stranglehold on small businesses and independent insurance agents, to the benefit of the banks and larger firms. The state and big business teaming up to take down the little guy is not what I sought out to do in Lansing.

PASSED: 83-24

I voted NO on HB 4362 (Rep. Brabec), HB 4363 (Rep. Neeley), HB 4364 (Rep. Price) which is a package to create an additional opt-in on state income tax returns for the organ donor registry.

EXPLANATION: I am not against the organ donor registry at all. But our state’s bureaucracy is out of control and swamped. You already can register for the organ donor registry online or in-person. The Secretary of State can barley handle getting someone mailed their new drivers license in less than a year. Now there will have to be an extra line of communication between state offices since there is a duplicate system for registering as an organ donor. This will create extra work for tax offices, and surely cause malfunction in Jocelyn Benson’s totally incompetent bureaucracy.

HB 4362: PASSED: 102-5

HB 4363: PASSED: 103-4

HB 4364: PASSED: 103-4

I voted NO on HB 4437 (Rep Witwer) which is a blank omnibus bill for Whitmer’s upcoming budget which will have additional funding added later in negotiations.

EXPLANATION: The session prior to this, I voted NO on all 17 departmental budget bills because they were outrageous wastes of taxpayer money and prioritized far-left ideology over what our state actually needs. I’m not going to vote to give a blank check to Whitmer under the hope that whatever gets thrown into this omnibus is actually good and worthwhile for the state.

PASSED: 57-50

I voted NO on HBs 4250-4252 (Reps. Koleszar, Carter, Mueller) which criminalizes nearly all use of electronic devices in the car and levies heavy penalties against those who do.

EXPLANATION: This is the same bill package that I voted NO on last week and the week before. The only difference is that the senate added a substitute to change the effective date to June 30, 2023. See my previous explanation below:

While I do believe it is extremely unsafe to text and drive, and I would encourage everyone not to do so, this bill package is insane and goes way too far in every way imaginable. Forcing community service or license suspension for simply owning a Dash-Mount-GPS system? Who could possibly be for this? The bill also indicates that even simply ‘receiving’ a text message would be criminalized. What’s even more suspicious is that the vote on this exact same bill failed last week with 9 Democrats even standing against the insanity. Now, the Democrats have magically returned back to their partisan line and 15 Republicans came out voting yes this time? Give me a break. What is going on behind the scenes in Lansing that is causing our elected officials to compromise and strip away God-given rights from We The People?!

HB 4250: PASSED: 71-36

HB 4251: PASSED: 69-38

HB 4252: PASSED 70-37

Today, I voted NO on 17 appropriations bills for the FY24 budget for the State of Michigan. The state budget is proposed to be a whopping $81 billion dollars. For context, just 4 years ago it was only $56 billion. Raising the budget nearly 30%, a dangerous precedent which will almost surely be followed by raising your income taxes, will result in a disaster.

While these bills are reckless, uncontrolled government spending, and that alone is enough to vote no, the Democrats didn’t just stop there. Democrat leadership decided to inject their far-left ideology into the basic budgeting of our state, so I thought I’d let the public know about some of the craziness.

Starting off, the appropriations in HB 4246, the budget for Labor and Economic Development includes $10 million in grants for small businesses, but the catch is these businesses cannot be owned by white people. Sounds pretty racist, doesn’t it? Furthermore, the budget includes $7 million to be spent relocating refugees to Michigan, along with a proposed additional $500 million to SOAR, which has been actively used this year to finance Communist Chinese Political Operations in the state.

Another example is HB 4248, which provides funding for Veterans Affairs/Michigan National Guard. Sounds reasonable enough, these brave men and women deserve our respect. Instead of focusing on funding our troops, Democrats removed a prohibition on use of vaccine passports. Now, military bases/veteran offices will be able to deny entry to soldiers, veterans, and civilians based on vaccine status. They also shuffled large sums of money to “infrastructure projects” on near-empty military bases to help pay off their union/contractor donors in the military industrial complex.

Democrats are raising millions to the School Aid Fund to provide universal free breakfast & lunch at all public schools, but the catch is that the government will provide a list of approved food and drinks that schools can provide. Furthermore, a huge, disproportionate chunk of this budget goes toward Detroit. Clearly, the Democrats, who have fraudulently kept their stranglehold on Detroit for decades, don’t care about schools throughout the rest of the state.

Of course, Democrats increased funding to the Department of Education; we knew they would. But in their budgeting and legislating, school staff can now coerce students into getting an abortion. Furthermore, this budget also deletes the prohibition on vaccine discrimination, so teachers unions will be able to collectively bargain to implement vaccine passports at their public schools.

I could go on all day, but that would just be a waste of time. These bills are dangerous from both a fiscal and ideological perspective. I voted NO on all of them, and I will continue to serve for truth and justice in Lansing.

**All bills passed on a party-line vote 56-52 with 2 Republican members absent**

I voted NO on SB 147 (Sen. Geiss) which mandates employers to pay for their employees’ elective abortions.

Once again, it’s no secret that I’m pro-life; but this goes beyond the pro-life/pro-choice debate. This clearly violates the rights of employers and healthcare providers to not pay for elective abortions. Abortion is a terrible, infanticidal practice that I am 100% opposed to as a Christian. Even if elective abortion is legal in Michigan, why should I have to pay for my hypothetical employees to kill their own children? This is madness and completely infringes on individual religious liberty.

PASSED: 56-52

I voted NO on HB 4238 (Rep. Andrews) which is an appropriations bill for the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund.

Our state has suffered tremendously under Whitmer’s disastrous lockdowns and our roads are still completely trashed and pothole-ridden. We cannot continue shuffling tens of millions of dollars into various projects that sound nice. $300,000 of TAXPAYER MONEY for a BATHHOUSE in Muskegon? $200,000 to renovate a few bathrooms in Traverse City? Who comes up with the numbers for these things? Of course there are a few nice parks and admirable projects sprinkled in, but overall, the entire package is extremely fiscally irresponsible. Democrats and their bought-and-paid-for colleagues are absolutely draining our government of money, knowing full well that when the pool is empty, they’ll have to raise taxes. We cannot continue to disperse millions upon billions every week at the state level or we are surely headed for Venezuela-level economics.

PASSED: 95-13

I voted NO on HB 4084 (Rep. Shannon) which will allow certain businesses to apply for a personal property tax exemption in the 2021 tax year only.

I am firmly against state property tax existing altogether. All the excess money currently occupied by the state government left over from the covid lockdowns should be returned to the people. Government bureaucracy should not be put in charge of picking winners and losers, who gets to get a property tax rebate and who doesn’t. State property tax is unnecessary, it should be eliminated for everyone. Instead of collecting insane amounts of money from the people, the government should focus on cutting spending, cutting out state property tax, and slashing the income tax to allow businesses to flourish. This would be way more beneficial than some sort of selective-business rebate system for 2021 alone.

PASSED: 94-14

VOTE EXPLANATIONS – 2 MAY 2023

I voted NO on HBs 4250-4252 (Reps. Koleszar, Carter, Mueller) which criminalizes nearly all use of electronic devices in the car and levies heavy penalties against those who do.

HB 4250 – PASSED: 68-39

HB 5251-5252 – PASSED: 66-41

I voted YES on HB 4201 which removes the January 1, 2026 sunset in the Liquor Control Code that allows on-premises licensees to serve to-go cocktails.

To-Go cocktails worked out fine during the Covid restrictions on bars and hasn’t turned out to be much of an issue, contrary to what was previously thought regarding the law. To-go cocktails were approved in 2020 and bars have already successfully implemented it in their day-to-day routine. I see no reason that these bars should have to abolish this policy that is now essential to their businesses when 2026 comes around. Less mandates and regulations on small businesses is a great thing! The government has spent the past several years absolutely decimating small businesses; it’s about time that we let these businesses prosper. I’m proud to be a free market Republican, and I would encourage all of my colleagues to support more free market solutions to the problems which face us today!

PASSED: 102-5

I voted NO on SB 18 (Sen. Chang) which amends Michigan Public Act 225 of 2003 to declare January 30 as ‘Fred Korematsu’ Day.

EXPLANATION: Currently, according to Public Act 225 of 2003, in the State of Michigan, there are only 3 days permanently declared on behalf of people vitally important to Michigan. These folks are President Gerald Ford, Henry Ford, and Cesar Chavez. Each of these men were famous individuals that had a positive and permanent impact on our state. 4 months ago, if you walked around on the House Floor and asked people who Fred Korematsu was, they’d be completely confused and have no clue. But now everyone is going to pretend that everyone knows who this man is and pretend that he’s had some massive impact on all of our constituents is completely absurd.

Henry Ford made Detroit the ‘Motor City’. Gerald Ford was President of the United States of America. Cesar Chavez pioneered America’s labor movement, having a lasting impact on Michigan as an industrial powerhouse. Fred Korematsu lived in Detroit for 3-4 years and is pretty unknown to the average Michigander. So what connection do Michigan residents have with Fred Korematsu?

Look, being interned during World War II wasn’t a good thing, and we should recognize that. But where do we draw the line? If we are going to just start declaring every person we sympathize with, Michigander or not, their own holiday, it’s going to be never-ending madness. There are other ways to honor someone you respect than creating an artificially fake holiday and pretending this is something our voters have always wanted. Let’s get back to focusing on the issues our constituents sent us to Lansing for and keep the virtue signaling to a minimum.

PASSED: 104-3

I voted NO on HB 4250 (Rep. Koleszar) which criminalizes nearly all use of electronic devices in the car and levies heavy penalties against those who do.

EXPLANATION: While I think it is extremely unsafe to text and drive, this bill is absolutely insane. Simply using your dash-mounted GPS or “receiving a text” would be considered a crime. The bill also opens up the ability for the Secretary of State to SUSPEND someone’s license for illegally operating an electronic device. This bill is so extreme, even 9 Democrats voted against it. Record of the bill is not to be found in the House journal as Democrat Leadership TURNED OFF THE VOTING BOARD and terminated the vote the second they saw things weren’t going their way. This bill is absolutely tyrannical, and so was the methods used by leadership during the voting period.

FAIL: Democrats turned off the voting board as they were about to lose!

———

I voted NO on HR 81 (Rep. Paiz) which is a resolution to praise librarians and declare April 25 as Librarian and Library Worker in the State of Michigan.

EXPLANATION: This resolution was cooked up by the Democrats for their “library advocacy day” where their lackeys went office to office trashing me and my bill, HB 4136, which is meant to protect young children from the dangers of pornographic content. The Democrats and librarians hurled countless insults at me, calling me a “book burner” or a “religious extremist”. These are just excuses for the fact that they not only think it’s okay to show pornography and transexual ideology to children, but they militantly want to sexualize children and force this material on them. I have been under constant siege and attack by these people for months, simply because I want to keep our kids safe. This is the first “advocacy day” they’ve apparently had in 15 years, and they spent the whole day attacking me!

Part of this resolution says:

“Whereas, Michigan’s librarians and library workers demonstrate courage and professionalism in upholding the principles of intellectual freedom and open access to information for all, even in the face of opposition or controversy;”

What they really are saying is that they don’t want restrictions on the sexualization of children. My bill, HB 4136 would only require that sexually explicit or pornographic material be excluded from the kids’ section. What kind of people are opposed to protecting the innocence of children?

PASSED: 56-53

———

Wednesday April 26

I voted NO on SB 259 (Sen. Wojno) which will allow ballots from citizens overseas or serving in the military to be received and counted up to 6 days after election day and without postmark.

EXPLANATION: This is completely ripe for fraud. While I was personally opposed to Proposal 2 last year, it passed in Michigan. By the Michigan constitution, residents living abroad or serving in the military have the right to have their absentee ballot counted up to 6 days late ONLY IF the envelope is postmarked on or before election day. Now, the Democrats want to count ballots that aren’t even post marked. Get ready in 2024 for elections to go on for a week afterwards when Democrats don’t get the Election Day results that they want, they’ll just get 100,000 unmarked ballots from Bangladesh!

PASSED: 56-52

———

I voted NO on HB 4146 (Rep. Breen), HB 4147 (Rep. Brixie), HB 4148 (Rep. Young) which is an amended version of the Red Flag Law package that I previously voted NO on.

EXPLANATION: I previously voted NO on red flag laws, and my opinion hasn’t changed. See my previous vote explanation as to why I will continue to oppose red flag:

This package is beyond UNCONSTITUTIONAL. This package allows for gun confiscation raids against our constituents on the basis of mere accusations, not even giving them an opportunity to defend themselves in court.

The Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution in the Bill of Rights clearly states that NO PERSON SHALL: “be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law;”

This package is not only unconstitutional because it deprives citizens of their right to bear arms, but also their rights to due process and a legitimate defense. I will never vote for tyrannical, illegitimate raids on my constituents. This radical, extreme, and terror-driven package cannot stand. In no world, should an ex-girlfriend/boyfriend, former roommate, or old adversary be able to claim to the state that you’re crazy and have your house raided. This will, undoubtedly, be abused and weaponized against foes and political dissidents. I voted no, and I encourage my colleagues, local sheriffs, and constituents to stand against this and make their voices heard.

PASSED: 56-52

———

I voted NO on HB 4054 (Rep. VanWoerkom) & SB 97 (Sen. Bellino) which amends the tax code in Michigan for industrial producers, which I previously voted NO on last month.

EXPLANATION: This is the same bill that I previously voted NO on, with one district amendment. This bill will keep track of any loss that the government takes from this “tax-break” and funnel it to the public School Aid Fund. SB 97 clarifies that the effects of HB 4054 only take place if sales or use tax is paid on the product. See my previous explanation from March 15, as to why I voted NO:

This bill package very narrowly and specifically describes down to the last detail which conditions industrial processors must meet in order to receive a tax exemption. Why shouldn’t everyone receive a tax cut instead of several specific corporate donors? Clearly, these bills were written with intentional big business interests in mind.

This package, by definition, picks winners and losers and is an insult to the free market. As a conservative, I wholeheartedly support tax cuts for all my constituents and beloved places of business. What I do not support is a fancily-worded handout to massive companies that totally neglects small businesses.

HB 5054 – PASSED: 86-22

SB 97 – PASSED: 85-23

———

I voted NO on SB 160 (Sen. Singh) which amends requirements in the Michigan tax code on sales and delivery in regards to reporting losses to the Governor and is the same as HB 4137, which I previously voted NO on.

EXPLANATION: I previously voted NO on this bill. See my previous vote explanation from March 15:

This bill package was framed to us as a tax cut to eliminate the sales tax on delivery and installation of goods. This package is quite literally the OPPOSITE of a tax cut. The bills would force each individual to file a claim with the state, keeping track of all separate fees, then the state will use these numbers to file a loss. They’ll use this loss to move millions of dollars out of the general fund and funnel it to into the School Aid Fund to replace any money rebated to claimants and bail themselves out.

So, this package doesn’t actually eliminate taxes on these services and the only protections it provides are for public schools, not local revenue sharing. The retroactive claims will more than likely raise taxes in the future to pay for all of the money taken out of the general fund.

Instead of bad rebate programs and helping the Democrats funnel millions of dollars in school aid, Republicans should be ACTUALLY CUTTING TAXES and improving the lives of our constituents.

PASSED: 92-16

I voted NO on SB 101 (Sen. Anthony) which is a bill to permanently authorize insurance companies to conduct meetings electronically.

EXPLANATION: The Covid lockdowns and mass-transitions onto Zoom have been a disaster all across this country. Across Michigan and the United States alike, employees refuse to go to work, students refuse to attend class, and executives refuse to attend meetings out of the lethargic mindset that Governor Whitmer’s lockdowns caused. This lethargy is a cancer that we cannot allow to continue. If an insurance company is required to hold a board meeting by law, it’s pretty inexcusable to think that board members can’t even do their job and just attend the meeting. The line must be drawn somewhere, and it’s time for everyone to get off Zoom and return to work!

PASSED: 102-4

I voted YES on HB 4047 (Rep. Bezotte) which designates February 1st as Blue Star Mother’s Day in Michigan.

EXPLANATION: It is a very honorable decision for one to serve in the military, and I am sure their mothers are proud. Blue Star Mothers is a great service organization and has done wonderful things for this country. The mothers of our troops, which are dedicated to serving our communities at home while their sons and daughters do abroad, deserve recognition.

PASSED: 106-0

I voted NO on SB 63 (Sen. Polehanky) which allows public school districts to raise and levy new taxes to pay for transportation.

EXPLANATION: School Districts already have enough in their budgets to pay for transportation. The reason the Democrats are pushing to levy millages/sinking funds is so taxpayer money in the school’s budget can be used elsewhere. With their repeal of Right to Work, the Democrats already made revisions to allow the teacher’s union some access to public resources and the budget. In another bill coming up, HB 4354, the Democrats are planning on stripping power away from school districts/boards and giving them to the teacher’s unions. Some of these powers include performance evaluations, individual pay, layoffs, hiring, teacher placement, disciplinary measures, and classroom observation.

So there you have it folks, MEA is pushing the Democrats to raise taxes for transportation so the remainder of the school’s budget can be funneled over to the teachers union and their agenda. This should be sickening to everyone.

PASSED: 61-45

I voted NO on HB 4202 (Rep. Pothutsky) which amends definitions under sections 520b to 520g to the Michigan penal code to strike out ‘mentally incapacitated’ as an exception for a legal spouse as a victim.

This bill is nothing but a publicity stunt. Marital rape is already illegal in the state of Michigan, no matter what lies Democrat Leadership and their lackeys in the media dish out to you. Their left-wing lapdogs in the press are already advertising this vote as a vote to criminalize marital rape; this couldn’t be further from the truth. The Democrats’ current agenda is so unpopular and destructive to the average citizen, they feel the need to save face with this propaganda operation.

Currently, under Michigan law, there are 3 exceptions under which a legal spouse cannot be the victim of a sexual crime: ‘[the] legal spouse is under the age of 16 , or mentally incapable , or mentally incapacitated.’ All this bill strikes out is the exception to ‘mentally incapacitated.’ This means that if you have relations with your drunk/intoxicated spouse, he or she can now press charges on you for marital rape sometime in the future after a fight/disagreement.

We can debate on whether or not striking out this exception is good or bad all day, but if Establishment Leadership truly cares about victimized spouses, why are they only striking out the one exception? The messaging from HB 4202 is that: “It’s criminal to have sexual relations with your spouse after a night at the bar, but it’s okay if your spouse is in a vegetated state or a coma.” Either keep all the exceptions, or cross all of them out, otherwise, it makes zero sense. This fake, do-nothing bill was used as a publicity stunt by the Democrats, and they used their journalist attack dogs into intimidating most Republicans to vote yes. I will not be intimidated by anyone, and I certainly am not going to back down for the sake of feeding the propaganda machine.

PASSED: 103-5

I voted NO on HB 4145 (Rep. Puri), HB 4146 (Rep. Breen), HB 4147 (Rep. Brixie), HB 4148 (Rep. Young), & SB 83 (Sen. McMorrow) which is a Red Flag package to allow for gun confiscation raids on accused individuals without due process.

EXPLANATION: This package is beyond UNCONSTITUTIONAL. This package allows for gun confiscation raids against our constituents on the basis of mere accusations, not even giving them an opportunity to defend themselves in court.

The Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution in the Bill of Rights clearly states that NO PERSON SHALL: “be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law;”

PASSED: 56-51

I voted NO on HB 4064 (Rep. Carter) which presses the State Department of Education to implement cursive into the public school curriculum and incorporate it into the 2024-2025 school year.

EXPLANATION: While I support our kids having a knowledge of cursive and being able to read and write it, take a look at our current education system: Our schools are already drastically behind and failing to meet standards due to the Governor’s disastrous period of lockdowns. So far, the Democrats’ answer to schools failing to meet standards has been to get rid of the standards altogether. So now we’re going to add even more material into the school curriculum, when our students are dangerously behind and overwhelmed by the material they already have to learn due to the Covid lockdown hiatus? Let’s get our schools on track and back up to standards before we try to mandate additional materials on our kids.

PASSED: 103-4

I voted NO on HR 72 (Rep. Price) a resolution to condemn the Judge’s order in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA to suspend FDA approval of the abortion drug known as mifepristone.

EXPLANATION: Democrats and radical abortionists have been obsessively preaching about mifepristone lately and how safe it is. How can a pill that’s used to kill another human being be considered safe? The resolution is gross, openly celebrating how over 5.6 million babies have been killed using the drug. This evil, and infanticidal resolution openly praises the practice of abortion, which Democrats have told us for years would be: “safe, legal, and rare”. Our opponents are not pro-choice or for individual liberty, it is clear that they enshrine the institution of abortion and love the practice as some sort of religious sacrament. These are very dark times in Michigan and we must keep our faith up, pray for our enemies, and continue to do what is morally right.

PASSED: 56-51

I voted NO on HB 4199 (Rep. Conlin) which expands state National Guard education benefits to non-members (spouses and dependents) as well as increases the budget from $10 million to $15 million.

EXPLANATION: I support both our guardsmen and federal troops, but a line needs to be drawn somewhere. We simply do not have the money right now to extend our great state benefits from guardsmen to non-members at the moment. Furthermore, guardsmen who have been deployed or placed on active duty for a certain period of time can already direct their Post-9/11 GI Bill towards their spouses/dependents using federal funds.

PASSED: 102-6

I voted NO on SB 2 (Sen. Geiss) which removes regulations on do-it-yourself abortions and abolishes all restrictions on sale of abortion pills.

EXPLANATION: I am unapologetically pro-life and fundamentally oppose all elective abortions, both at Planned Parenthood and in the form of a pill. Proponents of this mass infanticide will tell us that our fight is pointless because Proposal 3 has been added to the constitution. Legality and morality are 2 different things, and I will never throw in the towel in this fight to do what is fundamentally right.

PASSED: 56-52

I voted NO on HB 4167 (Rep Morgan) which creates a new council on rare diseases in MI.

EXPLANATION: The private sector has already made great gains in the field of curing/treating rare diseases. Creating another massive bureaucratic structure at the mercy of the Governor is only going to lead to more corporate welfare and government expansion down the line.

PASSED: 88-20

I voted NO on HBs 4139-4141, 4144, & SBs 79-80 (Reps. McDonell, Whitsett, Price, Brabec and Sens. Bayer, Rivet) which is a gun control package pushing Safe Storage Laws.

EXPLANATION: Safe Storage laws might sound nice on paper. Obviously, we don’t want guns in the hands of curious children or individuals with bad intentions, we can all agree on that. But Safe Storage is dangerous. Why should we force a young pregnant woman who lives on her own in the city to keep her weapons locked away? Safe Storage only gives an advantage to intruders and bloodthirsty criminals who want to do harm. It’s 3 in the morning, it’s dark, someone is breaking into your home, you only have seconds to act… Can you appropriately remember the combination to your safe under stress in enough time to save your life and the lives of those you love? My constituents shouldn’t be disadvantaged to violent thugs.

HB 4139 PASSED: 61-47; HB 4140 PASSED: 64-44; HB 4141 PASSED: 63-45; HB 4144 PASSED: 61-47; SB 79 PASSED: 61-47; SB 80 PASSED: 61-47

I voted NO on SBs 81 & 82 (Sens. Irwin and Chang) would amend the General Sales Tax Act and Use Tax Act respectively by exempting “firearm safety devices” from sales and use tax.

EXPLANATION: This “tax cut” was just a ploy to get moderate Democrats and Republicans on board with Safe Storage Laws. Federal law already mandates that gun dealers give you a free trigger lock with every firearm purchased. How much do trigger locks even cost? Most gun stores and sheriff’s offices will give them our for free by the hundreds. Since this was just a ploy to push gun control, I voted NO!

SB 81 PASSED: 64-44; SB 82 PASSED: 64-44

I voted NO on SB 6 (Sen. Klinefelt) which reinstitutes the state’s prevailing wage law.

EXPLANATION: I previously voted no on the house bill to reinstate prevailing wage. Prevailing wage hurts small and local-owned businesses and damages market competition. The government artificially creating high wages for contractors leads to unnecessary government spending and moves all public works contracts over to much larger state-wide companies that can afford to take the hit. The key difference in the senate prevailing wage bill is that SB 6 includes an appropriation to LEO in order to make this referendum-proof. Sadly, Democrats know their agenda is unpopular, and they’re actively trying to prevent the people from having a voice on how their money is spent.

PASSED: 56-52

I voted NO on SB 34 (Sen Camilleri) which repeals Michigan’s Right to Work Law.

EXPLANATION: I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: NOBODY should be forced, coerced, or harassed into joining a union or paying union dues. The bill allows for state and public resources to be used as a means of collecting union dues and gives far too much power to the state in terms of private employment. Studies have shown that Right to Work has economically benefited Michigan and other states. Repealing Right to Work will destroy our economy and hurt the individuality of our great workers.

PASSED: 56-52

I voted YES on HB 4166 (Rep. Koleszar) which repeals the A-F system for public schools in the Revised School Code.

EXPLANATION: While I am one hundred percent in favor of schools being held to standards, the A-F system that we currently have does quite the opposite. Under the current system, schools are rewarded and rated higher simply for achieving higher letter grades and passing students, rather than giving them a quality education. The system incentivizes schools to direct all of their attention into areas/testing which factors into the A-F grading and to ignore any academics that don’t feed into this grade. The A-F system is also massively pro-common core, which I am firmly AGAINST. Conservatives should be strongly against common core and hold schools to a tougher standard, which is why myself and the majority of my colleagues in the House Freedom Caucus voted to repeal this disastrous system.

PASSED: 63-52

I voted NO on HB 4288 (Rep. Koleszar) which amends the Public Employee Relations Act of 1947 to remove references of the Revised School Act to remove references to the how pubic employees must conduct collective bargaining.

EXPLANATION: This bill is just a victory lap for the Democrats on their quest to fully destroy Right to Work in Michigan. The bill removes sections of code that either no longer exist or apply due to other bills that have been passed previously. There is also a very likely possibility that the Democrats use this change to drop something more malicious into the bill in the form of a house amendment or senate substitute.

PASSED: 57-52

I voted NO to concur in HB 4004’s (Rep. Weiss) Senate Amendment.

EXPLANATION: As I explained previously, I am opposed to repealing Right to Work, and this is now the 3rd time I have voted NO on it. This amendment contains all of the same Marxist infringements as the first 2 bills, however this amendment allocates $1 million out of the 2022-2023 fiscal year budget to LEO to try to make it referendum proof. Democrats fundamentally know this agenda is unpopular with voters and now they want to disenfranchise you of your ability to stop this repeal.

PASSED/CONCURED IN: 56-52

I voted NO to concur in HB 4007’s (Rep Carter) Senate Amendment.

EXPLANATION: As I explained previously, I am opposed to reinstating Prevailing Wage, and this is now the 3rd time I have voted NO on it. This substitute/amendment appropriates $75,000 to LEO out of the 2023-2024 fiscal year budget to try to make the bill referendum proof. The Democrats would rather take away the voice of the people in order to satisfy union bosses and their donors than actually listen to what the people have to say.

PASSED/CONCURED IN: 56-52

I voted NO on HBs 4054 and 4055 (Reps. VanWoerkom and Thompson) which amends the tax code in Michigan for industrial producers.

I refuse to vote for ANTI FREE MARKET corporate welfare, no matter which party presents it.

HB 4054 PASSED: 80-23

HB 4055 PASSED: 81-22

I voted NO HBs 4039, HB 4253, and HB 4137 (Reps. Outman, Coleman, and VanWoerkom) which amends the Michigan tax code on sales and delivery.

EXPLANATION: This bill package was framed to us as a tax cut to eliminate the sales tax on delivery and installation of goods. This package is quite literally the OPPOSITE of a tax cut. The bills would force each individual to file a claim with the state, keeping track of all separate fees, then the state will use these numbers to file a loss. They’ll use this loss to move millions of dollars out of the general fund and funnel it to into the School Aid Fund to replace any money rebated to claimants and bail themselves out.

Instead of bad rebate programs and helping the Democrats funnel millions of dollars in school aid, Republicans should be ACTUALLY CUTTING TAXES and improving the lives of our constituents.

HB 4039 PASSED: 85-19

HB 4137 PASSED: 85-18

HB 4253 PASSED: 88-15

Several Republicans cooked up a spending deal with the Democrats in order for their bills to be taken up on the floor today:

I voted NO on HB 4045 (Rep. Schmaltz) which updates language to the criminal background check guidelines in Michigan and solidifies Michigan State Police as the sole provider of background checks in Michigan.

EXPLANATION: Why should the state gatekeep and monopolize a service that could be provided easily by private companies? Furthermore, this bill is being celebrated as some sort of conservative victory and was used by the Democrats as a bargaining chip in order to get Republicans to give $800 million to COMMUNIST CHINA just a couple weeks ago. Expansion of government power and foreign handouts are frankly, NOT a conservative victory.

PASSED: 96-7

I voted NO on HB 4219 (Rep. Hall) which adds additional appointments to the Michigan Strategic Fund Board.

EXPLANATION: The Michigan Strategic Fund is almost exclusively used for corporate welfare and handing billions of your dollars over to megaclass donor interests statewide. Adding 2 additional seats will only pressure more Republicans into dishing out our hard-earned dollars over to massive corporations. The Democrats are throwing billions and billions of dollars towards China and their special interest groups and many Republicans are letting them get away with it in exchange for bread crumbs.

PASSED: 93-10

(Tuesday, March 7, 2023)

I voted NO on SB 12 (Sen. Polehanki), which amends the Revised School Code by removing the mandatory retention requirement from the 3rd Grade Reading Law.

EXPLANATION: I think that we can universally agree that we want our kids to be able to read. By 3rdgrade, students should at least be reasonably literate. Proponents of the bill claim that it’s unreasonable to expect the school system to teach our kids to read and write because of Covid-19. So the solution is to permanently get rid of standards? I agree wholeheartedly that the illegal government shutdowns were detrimental to our schools and should have never happened. But instead of getting rid of standards for our schools, why don’t we come up with real solutions on how to improve learning for our students?

PASSED: 57-51

(Wednesday, March 8, 2023)

I voted NO on SB 4 & HB 4003 (Sen. Moss & Rep. Hoskins), which expands Elliot-Larsen protections to include things like ‘Gender Identity’ and Sexual Orientation against discrimination.

EXPLANATION: While I certainly am not an advocate for discrimination and I fundamentally believe in the right to the pursuit of happiness, I also cherish the right to religious liberty. Republicans presented multiple amendments to include protections for churches and a religious exception to the bill but the Democrat “leadership” refused to allow a vote on any of these amendments. I will NEVER vote to violate the religious liberty of my constituents. The free exercise of religion is so important that the founders placed it first and foremost in the Bill of Rights. Freedom of religion was so crucial that our nation’s greatest founder inscribed the following on his gravestone: ‘Here was buried: Thomas Jefferson… Author of The Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom’. Jefferson valued this seemingly minor statute so much, he wanted to be remembered by it. This bill is dangerous and will almost certainly be used as a pretext for persecuting traditional Christian churches.

PASSED: 64-45

I voted NO on HBs 4004 & 4005 (Rep. Weiss), which would repeal Michigan’s Right to Work Law.

EXPLANATION: I’m not personally opposed to workers unionizing if it’s their own prerogative. I know that many of our country’s great accomplishments have been achieved by union-working men and women. However, no worker should be forced, coerced, or harassed into joining a union, nor should they have to pay union dues. Furthermore, the bills would allocate state money and resources as a means to collect union dues, and would even allow teachers unions to block school choice within their own districts. This Marxist tyranny isn’t pro-worker, it is ANTI-WORKER and will be detrimental to our economy and workforce for years to come.

PASSED: 56-53

I voted NO on HB 4007 (Rep. Carter), which reinstitutes the 2018 State Prevailing Wage Law.

EXPLANATION: While our state is home to many skilled and talented tradesmen, it is not the business of the government to interfere in our free and fair market. A prevailing wage would institute artificially high wages for different jobs for companies seeking public works contracts. The government has no place to tell local small construction companies bidding for contracts what they can or cannot pay for labor. It also drastically increases the amount of taxpayer money that’s wasted on projects as they no longer go to the genuine lowest bidder. We should give the local, small-town workers a chance to get state projects.

PASSED: 56-53

I voted NO on HBs 4138, 4143, & 4148 (Reps. Churches, Carter, & Grant), which would mandate licensing and background checks be extended from handguns to all firearms in Michigan.

EXPLANATION: It’s no secret that I am a devoted supporter of the second amendment. I’m also a Christian, and my heart and prayers go out to the victims and families at MSU and Oxford. But what does criminalizing private transfers and sales of long guns have to do with saving lives? Both of these recent, tragic shootings were committed with handguns (which already require background checks and law enforcement registration). This law would not have prevented any tragedy. It will only criminalize millions of good-hearted men and women. Furthermore, it will only create busy work for our brave police, who are already underfunded and under siege by the left, and prevent them from fighting real crime.

PASSED: 56-53

While all of these bills passing is a tragedy, it is important to take note that Republicans were fully unified for 3 packages in a row. This hasn’t happened yet this term, and I hope we can remain unified now and when we are in the majority once again.

I voted NO on HB 4006 & HB 4032 (Rep. Pohutsky & Rep. Young) which repeals the 1931 abortion ban and legalizes all abortion in Michigan.

EXPLANATION: It’s no secret that I am PRO-LIFE. As a Christian and a father, I will always fight to uphold the sanctity of life, especially for our innocent children. To me, Proposal 3 passing last November was a tragedy for life and a poor reflection on our state. However, if HB 4006 becomes law, this burden will become much worse and more destructive. Proposal 3 allowed for restrictions on abortion after fetal viability, meaning that our 1931 law could be severed and still outlaw late-term abortions and maintain regulations on the practice of abortion. HB 4006 will completely throw out this law, allowing for any and all abortions up until birth. HB 4006’s package bill, HB 4032, also gets rid of punishments for those who kill women in the act of an abortion, and also further liberalizes standards on who can perform an abortion. It truly pains me to think about the future generations of our state who will be wiped out under the guise of “a woman’s right to choose”. It aches my soul to think about the consequences of these bills decades down the line and the morality of our state moving forward. Our founding fathers believed in the unalienable, God-given rights of LIFE, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, with the first being LIFE. They purposefully placed these rights in this order because they knew that once the government declares its ability to take away LIFE, all our other rights are up for grabs too. Without the right to LIFE, what other rights do we truly even have?

PASSED: 58-50

I voted NO on HB 4016 S-1 (Rep. Witwer) which is a supplemental appropriations bill.

EXPLANATION: Once again, the Democrat “leadership” suspended the rules for their bill, attempting to hide it from the public eye and buying off votes where they sensed weakness. Despite the bill itself appropriating about $1.3 billion, roughly $800 million of that goes as a direct handout to Ford. While I am strictly against corporate welfare and believe that your tax dollars should never be used as a handout to massive corporations, this offense is especially egregious. The $800 million handout will be used for Ford’s upcoming Marshall Plant, where your tax dollars will be used on behalf of COMMUNIST CHINA and their electric vehicle business. It would be bad enough for your tax dollars to be handed away to local corporations, but it is absolutely insane to think that hundreds of millions of dollars are about to go to our #1 enemy, the Chinese Communist Party. Extending corporate welfare to our communist enemy is a tragic day for our entire nation and this cannot be allowed to continue. I will never vote for corporate welfare, and I certainly will never vote to send your dollars to our enemies, no matter how much they attempt to bribe, slander, or deceive me. My loyalty is to my God, my constituents, and our constitution.

PASSED: 59-49

I voted NO, on HB 4001 CR-1 (Rep. Witwer) which was a combined spending bill and tax plan for pensions.

EXPLANATION: While the Democrats routinely used our wonderful men and women who serve as first responders for leverage in this bill, the bill was not at all what they advertised. As indicated when I voted to try to prevent HB 4001 from going to Conference Committee, I said they would use this opportunity to add mass reckless spending into 4001, and they did. The Democrats took a bill, which they claimed was just an effort to repeal seniors’ pension tax, and threw near 2 BILLION DOLLARS of corporate spending onto it. This is just more absurd, reckless spending, that I will ALWAYS oppose. Michigan taxpayers were supposed to be getting their rightful money back this year and instead, under HB 4001 CR-1, will be receiving only $180 checks that will prevent the triggering of the planned income tax rollback. To summarize: The Democrats had an opportunity to lower your taxes, and instead are dispersing billions of dollars out with ZERO accountability or legislative oversight via SOAR. The Democrats picked mass corporate welfare over the working class, so I adamantly opposed their Conference Report.

My constituents in the Great White North deserve better than this.

PASSED: 56-53

I voted NO on HB 4016 (Rep. Witwer), which is a Supplemental Appropriations Bill. The Democrats have already proven in just a few weeks that they are ready to recklessly spend every last dime of taxpayer money in our great state. Every single bill has been rushed onto the floor, discharged from any committee process, and given little to no deliberation time. Why would anyone vote for a blank check, for funding to be determined, that the Democrats can manipulate for more reckless spending? If money is going to be spent for our state, there should be a process of review and deliberation before our legislature, it shouldn’t be rushed out as if politics is some sort of game.

PASSED: 56-53

I voted YES on a concurrence for Senate Substitute (S-2) HB 4001 (Rep. Witwer). After being discharged through the committee process by the Democrats, HB 4001 (which I originally voted NO on) has returned with a Senate Substitute, S-2. In order to sneakily spend your tax dollars, Democrats brought the substitute before the Senate, which voted YES on it. The next part of their plan was to vote NO on the substitute in the House in order to bring the House and Senate together in Conference to insert nearly a billion dollars for SOAR. This money would be discharged out of the government, and then used with zero oversight or accountability afterwards. Schemes like this to hide reckless spending from the public are dangerous. My Republican colleagues and I voted YES on this bill simply for the purpose of avoiding Conference where your tax dollars will be maliciously dished out with ZERO accountability.

CONCURENCE DID NOT PASS: 53-56

I voted NO on SB 13 (Sen. Moss) which moves the Presidential Primary to the fourth Tuesday of February.

EXPLANATION: There are several factors and variables as to why this bill would be a disaster for our state. In the Republican National Convention next year, Michigan will likely be penalized for having a primary prior to March 1st. This penalty will be the reduction of Michigan from 60 delegates at national convention to only 12, crippling our state’s voice in national politics.

There would also be a separately scheduled election soon after the primary in March. Because of Proposal 2, which amended our state constitution last year, clerks are required to provide a minimum of 9 days early in-person voting and 6 days after the election are afforded to military members casting absentee ballots. Because of this, these two extremely close elections would overlap and become an absolute nightmare for county clerks. Many Michigan residents already have little faith in our elections, overlapping elections would cause chaos and confusion of which our state has never seen.

Due to the fact this bill not only disenfranchises Michigan voters on the national scale, but disrupts and destroys efficiency in our electoral system, I firmly voted no alongside my Republican colleagues.

PASSED: 56-53

Vote Explanations This Week 1/28/2023

Tuesday, 1/24/2023

I voted NO on SB 7, part 1 (Sen. Anthony) which is an appropriations bill for funding various state agencies through the upcoming fiscal year.

EXPLANATION: The Democrats are purposely and recklessly throwing hundreds of millions of dollars in multiple directions to create an atmosphere of chaos and confusion. This bill was purposefully hidden from the public for fear of public backlash, and then rammed through the legislature without any committee being allowed to read or analyze it. Reckless government spending is one of the many reasons our country and our state are suffering right now.

PASSED: 56-52

Thursday, 1/26/2023

I voted NO on SB 7, part 2 (Sen. Anthony) which was the same reckless spending bill as Tuesday.

EXPLANATION: The bill was full of corporate welfare, which humiliates our business owners, workers, and economy. Business should be left to the people, and their tax dollars should only be spent on programs that are necessary.

PASSED: 60-48

I voted NO on SB 8 (Sen. Anthony), which was part of the same package as SB 7, used as a propaganda operation to strengthen Governor Whitmer’s public appearance.

EXPLANATION: This bill was rammed through the house and senate with rules suspended and no committee process. The Democrats do not want the people of Michigan to see what they’re doing with their hard-earned money. This bill recklessly and maliciously throws hundreds of millions of dollars to expand the size of government bureaucracy and the corporate welfare state. This bill is a slap in the face to those living in Northern Michigan and rural areas, focusing almost completely on handouts to large, urban communities.

PASSED: 74-34

I voted NO on HB 4001 (Rep. Witwer) which eliminated the tax on certain pensions.

EXPLANATION: This bill penalizes and persecutes private pensioners for the sake of benefiting public pensioners. Our retirees should not be discriminated against on the basis of where they worked. I value all of our workers, both in the public and private sector, as they all contribute in their own significant way to our great state. The Democrats also plan on withholding relief to our seniors until 2026! This is outrageous and our seniors need relief ASAP!

PASSED: 67-41

I voted NO on HB 4002 (Rep. Shannon) which increased the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).

EXPLANATION: While I firmly believe in less taxes and more prosperity, the Democrats’ solution simply did not benefit our state’s workers. Unfortunately, the bill acted as a handout that equally rewarded those who refused to work. I supported Rep. Carra’s amendment, which would have given the credit to individuals NOT utilizing public assistance. The amendment was not adopted so I voted no.

PASSED: 100-8