Ann Arbor Area State Legislators Get Resolutions Passed (But Few Bills)

Editor’s Note: Representative Jeff Irwin contributes to the newspaper’s “House Calls” column.

52nd District State Representative Gretchen Driskell is planning to run for re-election in 2014. Over the past year, Representative Driskell introduced five bills, one of which passed (A bill which sought to declare May 12-18 Women’s Health Week in Michigan). Her other bills included:

• House Bill 4518: Increase wage sex discrimination penalty. This bill authorized penalties of between $1,000 and $2,000 depending on the number of employees for an employer who pays different wages to men and women who are “similarly employed.”
• House Bill 4904: Impose new regulations on gas and oil “fracking.” This bill would have given counties and townships the power to regulate and possibly ban hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas through their zoning ordinances.

Representative Driskell has voted 366 times since January 1st, and voted against her own party majority 25 times since the beginning of the year. For instance, the majority of House Dems voted against House Bill 4118: Require drug testing of welfare applicants. Driskell voted in favor of the bill.

Likewise, the majority of House Democrats voted against House Bill 4952: Halt unemployment benefits for failed drug test. Driskell voted in favor of cutting off unemployment benefits to recipients who failed trug tests.

Since January 1, 2013, Representative Driskell has missed no votes.

Adam Zemke represents Michigan’s 55th District in the Michigan State House. Since January 1, 2013, Representative Zemke has introduced 10 bills. They have included:

House Bill 4794: Facilitate taxpayer-subsidized metro-region “light rail” creation. This bill was meant to repeal a requirement that to start a taxpayer-subsidized “light rail” system there must be a unanimous vote by the 10-member board of the Detroit Regional Transit Authority authorized by a 2012 law. Under the bill, a simple majority of the board could establish a mass transit rail system.

• 2013 House Joint Resolution R: Dock pay of missing legislators. This would have placed before voters in the next general election a Constitutional amendment to give the state House and Senate the authority to dock the pay of members who miss 10 or more session days (unless their colleagues vote to give them an “excused absence”).

Since January 1, 2013 Representative Zemke has missed 18 votes. Among those votes included:

Bill 4952: Halt unemployment benefits for failed drug test. to make a person ineligible to collect unemployment benefits if a prospective employer requires a drug test as a condition of a job offer and the individual either refuses to take the test or fails it. The proposed law would “sunset” the drug testing one year after it goes into effect.

Jeff Irwin represents Ann Arbor as Michigan’s 53rd District State Representative. Like Representative Gretchen Driskell, Irwin’s attendance record since the beginning of 2013 is perfect. During those sessions, he has cast 366 votes and introduced 20 bills. Those bills include:

• House Bill 4900: Impose new regulations on gas and oil “fracking.” To prohibit the extraction of natural gas using “hydraulic fracturing” unless a driller discloses extensive details on the particular well and the chemicals used in the process, applies for permission, is granted a permit by state environmental regulators.
• House Bill 4909: Repeal ban on same-sex marriage. To eliminate the state ban on same-sex marriage. Enactment of the bill would require adoption of House Joint Resolution V or another constitutional amendment repealing this ban.
• House Bill 4623: Repeal criminal penalties for marijuana possession. To repeal criminal sanctions on possession of 1 ounce or less of marijuana, and instead authorize a civil penalty of $25, and $50 to $100 for subsequent violations.

Representative Irwin has voted against the majority of his fellow Democrats 70 times since January 2013. This makes him the Ann Arbor state representative who broke with his fellow Democrats most often.

Since January 1, 2013, Ann Arbor’s State Senator Rebekah Warren has introduced 29 bills. These included:

• Senate Bill 593: Human trafficking crime package. This bill would require child placement agencies to give special consideration to information that a child may be the victim of human trafficking crimes, and on that basis find that the usual reunification, adoption, or other foster care services may not be suitable
• Senate Bill 464: Define breastfeeding woman as civil rights “protected class.” To include a woman who is breastfeeding in the protected classes in the state civil rights law.
• Senate Bill 457: Authorize “second parent adoption.” To provide for “second parent adoption” in Michigan law. This is a legal procedure that allows a same-sex parent to adopt his or her partner’s biological or adoptive child without terminating the first parent’s legal status as a parent.
• Senate Bill 291: Elect U.S. presidents by a national popular vote. To enter into an interstate compact to elect U.S. presidents by a national popular vote.

Warren voted against the majority of her fellow Democrats in the Michigan Senate 28 times this year. She cast 481 votes this year, and proposed 16 amendments to bills. Of those 16 amendments, two passed.

Together Ann Arbor’s Lansing contingent have had a tough time getting their bills out of committee.

Representative Irwin managed to get two House Resolutions passed on voice votes. The first, House Resolution 94, declared April 19, 2013, as a Day of Silence in the state of Michigan. House Resolution 69 declared April 7-13, 2013, as Barbershop Harmony Week in the state of Michigan.

Likewise, Representative Driskell was unable to get any of her proposals passed save House Resolution 140 to declare May 12-18, 2013, as Women’s Health Week in the state of Michigan.

House Resolution 96 was sponsored by Adam Zemke. It passed on a voice vote and urged the Governor to establish a Cyber Security Task Force to review federal and state cyber security laws and policies for inconsistencies. His House Resolution 203 to urge the United States Congress to adopt legislation to change the manner in which sexual assaults are reported within the military was referred to committee.