News Story

I'm Just a Bill

A sampling of proposed state laws, as described on MichiganVotes.org

SENATE BILL 974
Impose licensure on interior designers

Introduced by state Sen. Patricia Birkholz, R-Saugatuck

The bill would impose licensure and regulation on interior designers, with annual license fees, at least six years of education and/or professional experience prerequisites, testing requirements to standards established by a board of incumbent designers, and more.

HOUSE BILL 5535
Authorize restaurant smoking ban tax credit
Introduced by state Rep. Pete Lund, R-Shelby Twp.

The bill would authorize a Michigan business tax credit for restaurants that choose to ban smoking. The credit would last for five years and would be based on the decline in the restaurant's gross receipts following the smoking ban.

HOUSE BILL 4100
Close restaurants that don't comply with all state regulations
Introduced by state Rep. Paul Scott, R-Grand Blanc

The bill would prohibit the owner of a bar or restaurant from conducting business if he or she does not comply with all "state or local laws, ordinances, codes, rules, or regulations," including a law proposed by House Bill 4099 that prohibits him or her from choosing to allow smoking in his or her establishment.

HOUSE BILL 5880
Digital billboard moratorium and ban
Introduced by state Rep. Rebekah Warren, D-Ann Arbor

The bill would ban electronic digital billboards except in cities with more than 35,000 people and impose a two-year moratorium on any new or converted digital billboards.

SENATE BILL 488
Mandate "comparable worth" compensation
Introduced by state Sen. Gretchen Whitmer, D-East Lansing

The bill would establish a government "commission on pay equity" to "develop definitions, models, and guidelines for employers and employees on pay equity." See also House Bill 4625, which would prohibit paying a person a wage or salary that is less than an amount established under a proposed statutory interpretation of comparable wages. The commission would include the directors of the Department of Civil Rights and the MEDC, and representatives from the Michigan Women's Commission, the National Organization of Women, and the Michigan Women's Studies Association, the AFL-CIO, the UAW, the Michigan Chamber of Commerce and the Small Business Association.

SENATE BILL 1038
Impose licensure and regulations on PEOs
Introduced by state Sen. Jason Allen, R-Traverse City

The bill would require and establish regulations for professional employer organizations to operate under the state unemployment insurance system law. PEOs are companies that "lease" employees to other firms on a long-term basis but remain the employer of record for purposes of paying payroll taxes.

HOUSE BILL 5562
Mandate full-service pump at gas stations
Introduced by state Rep. Coleman Young Jr., D-Detroit

The bill would mandate that every gas station have at least one full-service pump where an employee pumps gasoline.

HOUSE BILL 5750
Prohibit broadcast personality "non-compete" agreements
Introduced by state Rep. Fred Miller, D-Mount Clemens

The bill would establish in statute that a broadcasting industry contract provision that requires an employee to refrain from obtaining employment within a specified geographic area for a specified time after leaving the station is presumed to be unreasonable. A former employee would be allowed to sue a broadcaster for damages and costs if the station tried to enforce this provision. 

Michigan Capitol Confidential is the news source produced by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Michigan Capitol Confidential reports with a free-market news perspective.