sj09238t.065

No. 65

JOURNAL OF THE SENATE

Senate Chamber, Lansing, Wednesday, September 23, 1998.

10:00a.m.

The Senate was called to order by the President, Lieutenant Governor Connie B. Binsfeld.

The roll was called by the Secretary of the Senate, who announced that a quorum was present.

Bennett--present Gast--present Posthumus--present

Berryman--present Geake--present Rogers--present

Bouchard--present Gougeon--present Schuette--present

Bullard--present Hart--present Schwarz--present

Byrum--present Hoffman--excused Shugars--present

Cherry--present Jaye--present A. Smith--present

Cisky--present Koivisto--present V. Smith--present

Conroy--present McManus--present Steil--present

DeBeaussaert--present Miller--present Stille--present

DeGrow--present North--present VanRegenmorter--present

Dingell--present O'Brien--excused Vaughn--present

Dunaskiss--present Peters--present Young--present

Emmons--present

Senator Jackie Vaughn III of the 4th District offered the following invocation:

From the book of Proverbs we learn of the immeasurable value of wisdom:

"For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it."

Proverbs 8:11

A wise man will hear and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels. Wisdomleads in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment. He that handleth a matter wisely shall find good.

As we listen, as we deliberate, as we speak, and as we make decisions on behalf of the people of Michigan, give us wisdom. Amen.

Motions and Communications

Senators Stille and Vaughn entered the Senate Chamber.

Senator DeGrow moved that Senators Bouchard, Gast, Geake, McManus, Posthumus, Rogers and VanRegenmorter be temporarily excused from today's session.

The motion prevailed.

Senator DeGrow moved that Senator Hoffman be excused from today's session.

The motion prevailed.

Senator Bouchard entered the Senate Chamber.

Senator V. Smith moved that Senators Hart and Young be temporarily excused from today's session.

The motion prevailed.

Senator V. Smith moved that Senator O'Brien be excused from today's session.

The motion prevailed.

Senator Geake entered the Senate Chamber.

Senator V. Smith moved that the Committee on Human Resources, Labor and Veterans Affairs be discharged from further consideration of the following bill:

House Bill No.5654, entitled

A bill to amend 1972 PA 230, entitled "State construction code act of 1972," by amending sections 2, 8, and 28 (MCL 125.1502, 125.1508, and 125.1528), section 2 as amended by 1998 PA 42, section 8 as amended by 1994 PA128, and section 28 as amended by 1996 PA 48, and by adding section 8a; and to repeal acts and parts of acts.

On which motion Senator V. Smith requested the yeas and nays.

The yeas and nays were ordered, 1/5 of the members present voting therefor.

The question being on the motion to discharge,

Senator DeGrow moved that consideration of the motion be postponed temporarily.

The motion prevailed.

Senators Rogers, VanRegenmorter and Hart entered the Senate Chamber.

By unanimous consent the Senate returned to consideration of the following bill:

House Bill No.5654, entitled

A bill to amend 1972 PA 230, entitled "State construction code act of 1972," by amending sections 2, 8, and 28 (MCL 125.1502, 125.1508, and 125.1528), section 2 as amended by 1998 PA 42, section 8 as amended by 1994 PA 128, and section 28 as amended by 1996 PA 48, and by adding section 8a; and to repeal acts and parts of acts.

(The motion was made earlier today to discharge the Committee on Human Resources, Labor and Veterans Affairs from further consideration, yeas and nays ordered and consideration postponed. See p. 1762.)

The question being on the motion to discharge,

Senator DeGrow moved that consideration of the motion be postponed until Thursday, November 5.

On which motion Senator V. Smith requested the yeas and nays.

The yeas and nays were ordered, 1/5 of the members present voting therefor.

The motion prevailed, a majority of the members voting therefor, as follows:

Roll Call No.703 Yeas--17

Bouchard Emmons North Shugars

Bullard Geake Rogers Steil

Cisky Gougeon Schuette Stille

DeGrow Jaye Schwarz VanRegenmorter

Dunaskiss

Nays--13

Bennett DeBeaussaert Koivisto Smith, A.

Byrum Dingell Miller Smith, V.

Cherry Hart Peters Vaughn

Conroy

Excused--6

Gast McManus Posthumus Young

Hoffman O'Brien

Not Voting--1

Berryman

In The Chair: President

Protests

Senators Cherry, Conroy, Dingell and Byrum, under their constitutional right of protest (Art. 4, Sec. 18), protested against postponing consideration of the motion to discharge the Committee on Human Resources, Labor and Veterans Affairs from further consideration of House Bill No.5654.

Senator Cherry's statement is as follows:

I voted "no" on postponing the motion to discharge until November 5 because, as I noted, the good Senator from the 26th District said it was his intention to deal with this bill in the fall. My calendar shows that the fall season has started. Clearly, we are still engaged in the school construction season. This bill deals with that issue--is timely.

The incident in Flushing is at least debatable as to what impact this bill would have had. Others say that there were design flaws in the construction there, and in fact, a view of those plans perhaps would have discovered that design flaw. It is a debatable issue, but what is not debatable is that there have been a number of instances across the state here. We have had mishaps resulting from faulty construction at school sites. Those incidences were so numerous that on a previous occasion, this body had put a bill on the Governor's desk that unfortunately arrived there at the same time as another bill that resulted in the Governor vetoing this one so not to result in changes to thepotty parity law.

Clearly the bill is timely; this is not a new issue for the body. It seems to me there is no reason why we couldn't proceed and debate this bill on the Senate floor, adopt it, and send it to the Governor's desk. It is not a new issue for us. Clearly, we have construction workers who are on school construction sites who potentially could be impacted. We have children that will be in these school buildings after construction that could be impacted. It is an issue of public safety. We need to move on this bill as we have done in the past and put this bill on the Governor's desk, unimpeded by other legislation that has been the case in the past so it can be signed into the law. In fact, these buildings will receive the appropriate state inspection they ought to have. There is really no reason not to proceed, and that's why I voted "no" on the motion to postpone.

Senator Conroy's statement is as follows:

I heard the chair of the committee make some comments about apparently what some of us over here think about this issue, and the reason I was in favor of a discharge on this motion is that there are only nine session days left in this year. It happens to be nine in the Lieutenant Governor's life as well as the speaker here. So, I do want to get this issue resolved, and I wanted Senator Rogers to know that I did introduce a bill this week that would license builders who build commercial, industrial, and school buildings. I have been at the site, Senator Rogers; the site is in my district. Those four young men got killed at a school in my district. So, it is important to me, and it has nothing to do with an election. I know some of you who are running--everything seems to revolve around elections. It doesn't with me. I think we should protect the development of structures in this state in an appropriate way. If we could have discharged that bill, we could have at least talked about that issue.

Builders who build school buildings don't even have to be licensed in this state--not even like pawn brokers. It seems to me that we ought to at least discuss the idea that we should have inspections of buildings. I am sure I have built 150 structures before I ever got to this Legislature, and I always supported those basements with support systems just as soon as we put those basement walls up. I understand that there were not support systems for that. Basement walls or foundation walls will move if, indeed, there are not support systems to make certain that they stay up while they are drying out.

I think we should have some oversight on commercial, industrial, and school buildings. The Senator has shown leadership to put this issue in front of us. I think it is something we ought to look at when you have four deaths that occur; that's a pretty serious problem. I agree with the Senator that we ought to allow those families to grieve, but we are doing work down here that allows future sites such as this not to have serious accidents. The way they do it now is that they have architects and builders build these buildings without any public inspection. That's inappropriate and that is not something that other states do. Michigan has a glitch in the law, and I know because I am a licensed residential builder, but there is no way in the world that I feel confident to build a school building. So, I think we do have to have these people licensed and to have some inspections by the state. We have the people to do it. Let's get on with the discussion on this bill.

Senator Dingell's statement is as follows:

Eight years ago, in the district I represented, a school building almost fell down. At that time, I was the only engineer in the Michigan Legislature; House or Senate. I had extensive experience in building buildings when I worked at Ford Motor Company, including design work. I have a very good idea of how buildings are supposed to be built. And the design professionals' responsibility is not being lived up to if they don't pay attention to things such as bracing of walls. There is a word for design professionals that are supposed to be overseeing a construction project and who do not look at worker safety as a part of their responsibility. That word is malpractice, and I hope they get sued down to their BVDs.

Now, with regard to this legislation, there are no complicated unresolved issues; none at all. This legislation has been in front of us three times. It has actually been passed by the House and Senate and put on the Governor's desk. There are no groups other than ones with a pecuniary interest, such as insurance companies, who are expressing any kind of concern. There are some school superintendents who are expressing some minor opposition now. In the past, they have expressed no opposition. What the problem is, as far as school inspections, is that school districts don't get along with local governments, and therefore, they do not want to be subject to inspection by local building inspectors. There is at least some rationale for this in that in many parts of Michigan, school buildings are easily the largest structures. They are also structures that have architectural features that are not in common with any architectural features in the community. So, it's nice to have an experienced inspector doing it. Therefore, it makes sense to have somebody from the outside do it, like the state of Michigan.

Well, current statute says that we would have the state Department of Education do that inspection work. In a questionable referral delegation of authority some years ago, the Michigan Department of Education gave it to the fire marshal. Well, the money didn't go with it, so essentially school inspections stopped at that time. Here we are many years later; I'm still trying to get our children and working people protected from unsafe conditions--unsafe conditions that wouldn't be tolerated in any kind of other construction project or building. There aren't any controversial issues here, really. There are no unresolved questions. Do you believe in having school buildings inspected? If you don't, well, continue to vote "no," continue to drag your feet. If you believe that we should take up these issues and do something about it, well, you voted with me.

I'd like to note if I could, that long before the collapse that cost so many lives recently, I had already asked this bill to be taken up. I had already signaled that I was going to be making exactly this motion at exactly this time. There're no politics related to the collapse that happened a few days ago and the lives that were taken then. This is a simple request that's made everyday by members of this body. Either do it, or if you drag your feet, I'll take you up in a forum where the people know about it and hold you accountable, and I hope they hold you accountable.

Senator Byrum's statement is as follows:

I frankly don't know why the committee didn't take up the bill. That's really irrelevant at this point and time. It's the end of the year, time is of the essence, and this is a critical issue in terms of not only workers' safety, but more importantly, school children's safety. We can talk and argue about the incident in Flushing and whether or not that would have made a difference with the school inspection bill. However, let's look a little bit closer to home. Let's look at DeWitt. Let's look at the situation where we had a failure of a wall or a column. I really hadn't intended to speak on this, or I would have pulled the article. The anchor bolts and the foundation were failed--flawed. After there was a worker injured because of a collapse of this column or wall, there was an inspection done on the site; it turned out that some 90 percent of the foundation anchor bolts were flawed. It was only because there was an incident on site, because this building had not been properly inspection. This was a high school building that is currently under construction. This happened this calendar year. I would submit to you, with all of the construction that is going on across the state of Michigan in all of our communities, that it would behoove us to make sure that these buildings are being put up safely by safety building codes, so they could be safe places of learning for our children. Safety for our children in a school building goes beyond interaction with other school children and adults. It goes also to the structure of that building.

I think this is important legislation. It is a safety issue. It's important to all of the citizens of this state, particularly our children. We have an opportunity to act today. Because the committee failed to take the legislation up should not stop the body as a whole from taking action. We know this makes good public sense. We know this is a safety issue. Let's act today. Otherwise, we run the risk of having this legislation die because there aren't enough session days left to act. So for me, this isn't a political issue. I wasn't even going to speak on this issue today until the debate started to be wrapped up--well, this is just politics. What happened in DeWitt was not politics. What happened in DeWitt was a failure to adhere to construction and safety codes that could have endangered every child and every individual that would go into that potentially brand new high school. I think we have a duty to act, and that is why I give my "no" vote explanation.

Senator Rogers asked and was granted unanimous consent to make a statement and moved that the statement be printed in the Journal.

The motion prevailed.

Senator Rogers' statement is as follows:

I would argue here today, if this discharge is about the safety of our children or about politics and the next election, I think it's a shameful occasion.

I took the time to go up to the site of this particular accident, and it was a horrible tragedy; it was terrible. These people lost their lives--some of them very young. One was going to get married on the coming Saturday before this accident happened. To have folks stand up and say, "Boy, if we had just passed my bill, this wouldn't have happened," only serves to increase the anxiety, the hurt, and the pain of those families who are trying to regather their lives after they've lost a loved one. I say, shame on every one of you.

I would venture to guess that no Senator over there has even been to the site or talked to the investigators or talked to the inspectors. Quite frankly, what happened in the particular cases brought up by the Senator from the 7th District was not the fact that the wall was improperly built or unsafely built. It came down to the fact that the workers on the site did not properly brace the wall. It has nothing to do with what this bill would have done. No inspector in the world could have caught that! MIOSHA inspectors on the site said, "We could have been here a day before and not been able to determine that would have happened."

Construction is a dangerous business, and if you know anything about it, the site changes everyday, practically every hour. The structure of that site changes, and the safety of that site changes, hour by hour, day by day. If you had taken the time to talk to the inspectors, if you'd taken the time to talk to the investigators, you know, sir, that, in fact, is not true. This bill would have done nothing for the safety of those workers. To put those families through even more pain than they're going through now is disgusting, at best.

This is all about electioneering. I have promised to give this bill a hearing in the fall. I fully intend to do that. There are some very real safety issues in this bill. Who's qualified to give safety inspections? Are the locals? Or are the architects and engineers who are on the site everyday on these job sites? That's a question that we need to talk about and debate, not make political.

If you're truly concerned about our children, if you're truly concerned about the safety of schools, then you would electioneer this bill and put it on the floor today. You'll wait until we can address all the serious safety issues that arise in this bill. I'm going to say it one more time because it's very important--the passage of this bill, if it were last week, last year, three years ago or next year, would have not prevented the accident that happened that cost four workers their lives. Let those families grieve in peace. Let them find peace in the terrible upcoming months they have ahead of them. Don't rehash it. Don't give them false hope. Let's let those folks, and rest their souls, in peace.

Senator Young entered the Senate Chamber.

Senators Berryman and Young stated that had they been present when the vote was taken on the motion to discharge the following bill, they would have voted "nay":

House Bill No.5654

The Secretary announced that the following House bills were received in the Senate and filed on Tuesday, September 22:

House Bill Nos. 5815 5816 5978

The Secretary announced the printing and placement in the members' files on Tuesday, September 22 of:

Senate Bill Nos. 1227 1228 1229 1230 1231 1232 1233 1234 1235 1236 1237 1238 1239 1240 1241 1242 1243 1244 1245 1246 1247 1248 1249 1250 1251 1252 1253 1254 1255 1256 1257 1258 1259 1260 1261 1262 1267 1268 1269 1270 1271 1272 1273 1274 1275 1276 1277 1278 1279 1280 1281 1284 1285 1286 1287 1288 1289 1290 1291 1292 1293 1294 1295 1296 1297

House Bill Nos. 6008 6009 6010 6011 6012 6013 6014 6015 6034 6036 6037 6038 6041 6042 6043 6044 6046 6047 6048 6049 6050 6051 6052 6053 6054 6055 6056 6057 6058 6059 6060 6061 6062 6063 6064 6065 6066 6067 6068 6069 6070 6071 6072 6073 6087

By unanimous consent the Senate proceeded to the order of

Third Reading of Bills

By unanimous consent the Senate proceeded to consideration of the following bill:

House Bill No.5887, entitled

A bill to amend 1982 PA 528, entitled "An act to authorize the department of natural resources to convey certain state owned property in Sanilac county; and to prescribe conditions for the conveyance," by amending the title and sections 2 and 3 and by adding sections 2a and 2b.

The above bill was read a third time.

The question being on the passage of the bill,

The bill was passed, a majority of the members serving voting therefor, as follows:

Roll Call No.704 Yeas--31

Bennett DeBeaussaert Jaye Shugars

Berryman DeGrow Koivisto Smith, A.

Bouchard Dingell Miller Steil

Bullard Dunaskiss North Stille

Byrum Emmons Peters VanRegenmorter

Cherry Geake Rogers Vaughn

Cisky Gougeon Schuette Young

Conroy Hart Schwarz

Nays--0

Excused--5

Gast McManus O'Brien Posthumus

Hoffman

Not Voting--1

Smith, V.

In The Chair: President

The question being on concurring in the committee recommendation to give the bill immediate effect,

The recommendation was concurred in, 2/3 of the members serving voting therefor.

The Senate agreed to the title of the bill.

Recess

Senator DeGrow moved that the Senate recess subject to the call of the President.

The motion prevailed, the time being 10:44a.m.

10:46a.m.

The Senate was called to order by the President, Lieutenant Governor Binsfeld.

Senator Jaye asked and was granted unanimous consent to make a statement and moved that the statement be printed in the Journal.

The motion prevailed.

Senator Jaye statement is as follows:

I am very privileged and excited today to introduce a special guest here to the state Capitol. Joining us in the east Galleries of the Senate is the Romeo Peach Festival Queen, Heather Hampton, who is escorted by Malcolm Castle. I would like Heather Hampton and her escort to rise and receive a warm Senate welcome from my colleagues. Welcome to the Capitol.

Recess

Senator DeGrow moved that the Senate recess subject to the call of the President.

The motion prevailed, the time being 10:48a.m.

10:50a.m.

The Senate was called to order by the President, Lieutenant Governor Binsfeld.

Senator DeGrow moved that rule 2.106 be suspended to allow the Committee on Health Policy and Senior Citizens to meet during Senate session.

The motion prevailed, a majority of the members serving voting therefor.

By unanimous consent the Senate proceeded to the order of

Introduction and Referral of Bills

Senators Rogers, Schuette, Stille, Steil and Bullard introduced

Senate Bill No.1317, entitled

A bill to amend 1927 PA 175, entitled "The code of criminal procedure," by amending section 6b of chapter V (MCL 765.6b), as amended by 1994 PA 335.

The bill was read a first and second time by title and referred to the Committee on Judiciary.

Senator Jaye introduced

Senate Bill No.1318, entitled

A bill to amend 1994 PA 451, entitled "Natural resources and environmental protection act," (MCL 324.101 to 324.90106) by adding section 1301.

The bill was read a first and second time by title and referred to the Committee on Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs.

Senator Jaye introduced

Senate Bill No.1319, entitled

A bill to amend 1954 PA 116, entitled "Michigan election law," by amending sections 10, 11, and 492 (MCL 168.10, 168.11, and 168.492), section 492 as amended by 1989 PA 142.

The bill was read a first and second time by title and referred to the Committee on Government Operations.

Senator Jaye introduced

Senate Bill No.1320, entitled

A bill to amend 1994 PA 451, entitled "Natural resources and environmental protection act," by amending section 1602 (MCL 324.1602), as added by 1995 PA 60, and by adding section 1503.

The bill was read a first and second time by title and referred to the Committee on Government Operations.

Senator Jaye introduced

Senate Bill No.1321, entitled

A bill to amend 1994 PA 451, entitled "Natural resources and environmental protection act," (MCL 324.101 to 324.90106) by adding section 1610.

The bill was read a first and second time by title and referred to the Committee on Government Operations.

Senator Jaye introduced

Senate Bill No.1322, entitled

A bill to amend 1994 PA 451, entitled "Natural resources and environmental protection act," (MCL 324.101 to 324.90106) by adding section 1611.

The bill was read a first and second time by title and referred to the Committee on Government Operations.

Senator Jaye introduced

Senate Bill No.1323, entitled

A bill to amend 1994 PA 451, entitled "Natural resources and environmental protection act," by amending section 30311 (MCL 324.30311), as added by 1995 PA 59.

The bill was read a first and second time by title and referred to the Committee on Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs.

Senators Schuette, Bullard, Shugars and Schwarz introduced

Senate Bill No.1324, entitled

A bill to create an urban homestead program for single-family public housing; to provide that certain local governmental units, public housing entities, nonprofit community organizations, and certain state entities create and administer urban homestead programs for single-family public housing; to prescribe the powers and duties of certain state and local governmental units, public housing entities, and nonprofit community organizations; and to provide for the disposition of personal and real property.