LANSNG –
Michigan Senate Majority
Leader Arlan Meekhof would be supportive of eliminating the Earned Income
Tax Credit, and he believes a majority of his caucus would be too, but that
doesn’t mean the House bill permitting such is primed for passage this week, Meekhof’s
spokesperson said Monday.
“Right
now, we’re not specifically identifying any of those (House bills) for
passage,” said Amber McCann, spokesperson for Meekhof (R-West Olive).
Indeed, the
Senate GOP is still having discussions about what it believes could be the
right combination to fix a $1.2 billion-and-growing road funding problem.
“In the
wake of Proposal 1, I think it’s undeniable that we need to address something
with regard to road funding,” McCann said, referencing the historic defeat
in early May of a ballot proposal that would have, among other things, raised
revenue for roads. “That $400 million in the fiscal year ’16 budget was a
beginning step, and we’d like to build upon that.”
The plan
earlier this month was to have four caucuses, at least, on the issue, and
majority Senate Republicans are approaching their third such meeting this week,
McCann noted.
“The
caucus has not come up with a specific plan. They’re digesting each
conversation then trying to figure out where there is consensus after each
conversation,” McCann said of any progress. “The goal was not to be
at a specific, delineated plan. I would think it would be challenging, given
the topics and the amount of information available on each topic, to have
something to consider before July.”
In fact, McCann
expects a short session tomorrow because of a planned caucus retreat, she said
Monday. And a regular caucus meeting can be expected for Wednesday.
Last week,
the House passed – with varying levels of support – a 12-bill package of how it
plans to try to fix the roads. Among some of the more controversial elements
were a bill to eliminate the Earned Income Tax Credit (HB
4609
) and increasing registration fees
for certain electric and hybrid vehicles (HB
4612). Some elements of the package were
met with harsh criticism from House Democrats and Michigan Economic Development
Corporation CEO
Steve Arwood (See Gongwer
Michigan Report, June 10, 2015).
WHAT TO
WATCH: Just because session may be a little quieter this week, that does not
mean the entire chamber will be quiet.
In fact, the
Senate Education Committee will meet at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday to discuss bills
first introduced by former Sen. Howard Walker last term – now taken up by other
House Republicans – to better identify schools in financial distress. The
package (HB
4325, HB
4326, HB
4327, HB
4328, HB
4329 and HB
4330) has become known as an “early
warning system,” and Governor
Rick Snyder has previously stated his interest in such legislation.
The
committee will also again be reviewing a pair of bills by Sen.
Marty Knollenberg (R-Troy) regarding paid release time for union workers (SB
279 and SB
280).
Although the
Senate Judiciary Committee removed from its agenda a pair of bills regarding
allowing certain individuals to carry weapons in otherwise weapon-free zones
such as schools, the committee is still taking up bills that would allow
policing powers to the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the
Inspector General.
And on
Wednesday, Sen.
Mike Shirkey (R-Clarklake) will take another try at allowing the granting
of baccalaureate degrees in certain professions at the community college level
(SB
98) in the Senate Commerce Committee.
FILM
INCENTIVE ELIMINATION: After shocking onlookers last week by reporting a bill (HB
4122) to not only eliminate film
incentives but now also end the Film Office itself, it was not immediately
clear whether the Senate GOP would act swiftly on passing the bill in the
chamber. McCann said voting is certainly possible at some point later in the
week but is not planned to take place on Tuesday, at least.
ENERGY
LEGISLATION AWAITS INTRODUCTION: Once a hot topic, Sen.
Mike Nofs (R-Battle Creek) still has not unveiled his legislation aimed at
reforming the state’s 2008 energy law – something onlookers are undoubtedly
awaiting. That said, Rep.
Aric Nesbitt (R-Lawton), who is spearheading the effort over in the House,
still has not reported his legislation (HB
4297, HB
4298, HB
4299, HB
4300, HB
4301 and HB
4302) related to the energy law and
electric utilities. He has, however, introduced more energy-driven legislation
related to the regulation of wind turbines (See Gongwer
Michigan Report, June 11, 2015).
This story
was published by Gongwer News Service. To subscribe, click on www.gongwer.com
