No. 44

STATE OF MICHIGAN

JOURNAL

OF THE

House of Representatives

97th Legislature

REGULAR SESSION OF 2013

House Chamber, Lansing, Thursday, May 9, 2013.

12:00 Noon.

The House was called to order by the Speaker.

The roll was called by the Clerk of the House of Representatives, who announced that a quorum was present.

Abed—present Genetski—present Lauwers—present Roberts—present

Ananich—present Glardon—present LaVoy—present Robinson—present

Banks—present Goike—present Leonard—present Rogers—present

Barnett—present Graves—present Lipton—present Rutledge—present

Bolger—present Greimel—present Lori—present Santana—present

Brinks—present Haines—present Lund—present Schmidt—present

Brown—present Haugh—present Lyons—present Schor—present

Brunner—present Haveman—present MacGregor—present Segal—present

Bumstead—present Heise—present MacMaster—excused Shirkey—present

Callton—present Hobbs—present McBroom—excused Singh—present

Cavanagh—present Hooker—present McCann—present Slavens—present

Clemente—present Hovey-Wright—present McCready—present Smiley—present

Cochran—present Howrylak—present McMillin—present Somerville—present

Cotter—present Irwin—present Muxlow—present Stallworth—present

Crawford—present Jacobsen—present Nathan—excused Stamas—excused

Daley—present Jenkins—present Nesbitt—present Stanley—present

Darany—present Johnson—present O’Brien—present Switalski—excused

Denby—present Kandrevas—present Oakes—present Talabi—present

Dianda—present Kelly—present Olumba—present Tlaib—present

Dillon—present Kesto—present Outman—present Townsend—present

Driskell—present Kivela—excused Pagel—present VerHeulen—present

Durhal—present Knezek—present Pettalia—present Victory—present

Faris—present Kosowski—present Poleski—present Walsh—present

Farrington—present Kowall—present Potvin—present Yanez—present

Forlini—present Kurtz—present Price—present Yonker—present

Foster—present LaFontaine—present Pscholka—present Zemke—present

Franz—present Lamonte—present Rendon—present Zorn—present

Geiss—present Lane—present

e/d/s = entered during session

Mr. Marvin Redlawski, Chaplain of Boy Scout Troop 216 in Marysville, offered the following invocation:

“Heavenly Father, we humbly come before You this day at the start of this legislative session seeking Your Wisdom and we ask for courage and strength for all of the House members in the decisions being made on behalf of the people of this great state of Michigan.

176 years ago in the year of our Lord, 1837, You ordained this land to be set apart from its territory to be forever knows as the state of Michigan and Your loving and guiding hand has been upon us ever since and we thank You Father. You have given us Your laws, certain rights and freedoms to live by and enjoy and You have blessed this beautiful State in so many ways. Keep us as a people from straying from the righteousness which You have set before us to live by.

You have ordained every man and woman who has served in this House from the very first session, until today, and we thank You for all who have passed through this chamber with the purpose to serve the people of their respective districts. We ask You Father to pour out Your spirit into the hearts of each and every member of this House that they may live by the spirit of truth, prudence, wisdom, purity of heart and humility in all decisions being made and that through this process, the people of the state of Michigan will prosper and be blessed in the days ahead. Father, we ask that You bless every farm, field, forest and even every little garden that every seed would produce a blessed bounty for Your people to enjoy.

Finally Father, we ask You to bless the families of this assembly and keep them safe who are back home especially all the mothers as we approach their very special day this Sunday. We pray and ask all these things through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.”

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The Speaker called the Speaker Pro Tempore to the Chair.

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Rep. Lyons moved that Reps. MacMaster, McBroom and Stamas be excused from today’s session.

The motion prevailed.

Rep. Hobbs moved that Reps. Kivela, Nathan and Switalski be excused from today’s session.

The motion prevailed.

Motions and Resolutions

Reps. Lyons, Brown, Cotter, Durhal, Geiss, Poleski, Santana, Slavens and Talabi offered the following resolution:

House Resolution No. 133.

A resolution to declare May 12-18, 2013, as InfantSee Week in the state of Michigan.

Whereas, The most critical stages of vision development occur in the first year of a child’s life; and

Whereas, Undetected eye and vision problems can lead to permanent vision impairment or loss of life; and

Whereas, One in 10 children is at risk from undiagnosed eye and vision problems; and

Whereas, One in 30 children will be affected by amblyopia – a leading cause of vision loss in people younger than 45 years; and

Whereas, Undetected vision problems can contribute to a decrease in a child’s quality of life, may lead to developmental and behavioral difficulties which impede classroom learning, as well as increase the costs to society; and

Whereas, Early detection of vision problems is the best way to treat and prevent permanent vision impairment; and

Whereas, Member optometrists of the American Optometric Association and The Vision Care Institute of Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Inc., have partnered to create InfantSee, a public health program to provide a one-time, no cost eye assessment for infants six to twelve months; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the House of Representatives, That the members of this legislative body declare May 12-18, 2013, as InfantSee Week in the state of Michigan. We commend the members of the Michigan Optometric Association and the profession of optometry on the fifth anniversary of the InfantSee program for voluntarily dedicating their expertise and services to the infants of Michigan; and be it further

Resolved, That we encourage parents to schedule an InfantSee assessment for their infants.

The question being on the adoption of the resolution,

The resolution was adopted.

Reps. Pscholka, Pettalia, Victory, Somerville, Rendon, McCready, Foster, Poleski, Kowall, Zorn, Yonker, Lori, Muxlow, Outman, VerHeulen, MacMaster, Brown, Durhal, Geiss, Howrylak, Santana, Slavens and Talabi offered the following resolution:

House Resolution No. 134.

A resolution to declare May 16, 2013, as High School Radio Day in the state of Michigan.

Whereas, Any radio station in a high school should celebrate its existence because there are so few of them nationwide; and

Whereas, In Michigan, only one percent of the high schools in the state have a radio station and that number is dropping due to school district budget cuts; and

Whereas, Generally, only one to five percent of the students who attend a high school are actually able to work on the radio station; and

Whereas, Terrestrial and internet-only radio stations located in high schools around the country will be celebrating the day; and

Whereas, The first high school radio station ever, WNAS, was created in May of 1949; and

Whereas, Students and advisors are uniting as one on the same day to celebrate the accomplishments of high school radio shows; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the House of Representatives, That the members of this legislative body declare May 16, 2013, as High School Radio Day in the state of Michigan.

The question being on the adoption of the resolution,

The resolution was adopted.

Reps. Lauwers, LaFontaine, Shirkey, Rendon, Clemente, LaVoy, Victory, Glardon, Muxlow, Goike, Johnson, Cotter, Durhal, Hooker, Howrylak, Santana and Talabi offered the following resolution:

House Resolution No. 135.

A resolution to urge the other Great Lakes states and Canada to adopt ballast water standards equivalent to U.S. federal requirements.

Whereas, Aquatic invasive species (AIS) are one of the most serious threats to the health of the Great Lakes and the people and businesses that depend on them. Once introduced and established, these harmful species are nearly impossible to eradicate and naturally spread across political boundaries with potentially major environmental and economic impacts. Past invasions have been estimated to cost the Great Lakes region more than $100 million annually; and

Whereas, Ballast water carried in ships participating in overseas trade is the primary pathway for bringing AIS into the Great Lakes. To protect the Great Lakes, the introduction of AIS through ballast water discharges from these oceangoing ships must be controlled; and

Whereas, Preventing AIS must not be at the cost of crippling vital maritime commerce. Great Lakes shipping is an integral economic link among the Great Lakes states and provinces and the rest of the world. Oceangoing ships operating on the Great Lakes and the cargo they carry account alone for nearly 18,000 jobs and more than $2.3 billion in annual business revenue in the United States and Canada; and

Whereas, The U.S. federal government has finally established strong and reasonable ballast water standards to prevent the introduction of AIS. The U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have adopted an internationally-accepted standard and a compliance timeline that will lead to the installation of technology on oceangoing ships to treat ballast water and kill AIS; and

Whereas, It is in the best interest of the Great Lakes states and Canada to align with U.S. federal requirements and create a consistent and seamless standard for the Great Lakes region. Adopting similar standards will ensure the shipping industry will not have to operate in a quagmire of different regulations. At the same time, the Great Lakes states and Canada will achieve a new milestone in its efforts to prevent the introduction of aquatic invasive species and protect the natural treasure in our shared trust; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the House of Representatives, That we urge the other Great Lakes states and Canada to adopt ballast water standards equivalent to U.S. federal requirements; and be it further

Resolved, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to the governors of Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, the premiers of Ontario and Quebec, the Canadian Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities, the Council of Great Lakes Governors, and the members of the Great Lakes Legislative Caucus.

The resolution was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources.

Reps. Lauwers, Shirkey, Kelly, LaFontaine, Clemente, Goike, Rendon, LaVoy, Victory, Glardon, Muxlow, Johnson, Cotter, Durhal, Hooker, Howrylak, Santana and Talabi offered the following concurrent resolution:

House Concurrent Resolution No. 6.

A concurrent resolution to urge the other Great Lakes states and Canada to adopt ballast water standards equivalent to U.S. federal requirements.

Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That we urge the other Great Lakes states and Canada to adopt ballast water standards equivalent to U.S. federal requirements; and be it further

The concurrent resolution was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources.

Reps. Dianda, Brown, Lamonte, Yanez, Brunner, LaVoy, Hobbs, Stanley, Dillon, Brinks, Greimel and Lane offered the following resolution:

House Resolution No. 136.

A resolution to urge the Governor and Department of Corrections to convert heating plants at the state’s correctional facilities to combined heat and power plants.

Whereas, Corrections facilities are big consumers of electricity, as they account for nearly 45 percent of the electricity used by all state facilities. In 2012, Corrections facilities consumed nearly 172 million kilowatt hours of electricity at a cost of almost $15 million. Nine of the facilities in the corrections system operate heating plants on-site to meet the heating and cooling needs of multiple buildings. The nine facilities with on-site heating plants collectively account for nearly 50 percent of the Department’s annual electricity use, which presents an opportunity for substantial savings from more efficient delivery of utilities. The combination of existing heating capacity and electricity demand make these facilities ideal candidates for new cogeneration projects; and

Whereas, The Department of Corrections is responding to the legislature’s demand to complete energy utilization assessments and implement energy savings initiatives in the last two state budgets. Their efforts look promising as recent reports suggest early reductions in electricity use at G. Robert Cotton Correctional Facility of nearly 12 percent. Still, the Department needs to think more broadly at what can be accomplished to reduce utility use and look to the example of other state department efforts to dramatically reduce costs; and

Whereas, A cogeneration conversion project implemented at the state secondary complex achieved dramatic reductions in utility use and ultimately costs. Electricity, heat, and air conditioning are now being provided through a cogeneration system fired by natural gas, a cleaner burning fuel. New, high-efficiency gas turbines producing 1.2 megawatts of electricity were installed at the complex. The co-benefit of the system is the production of steam that is used to heat the facility in the winter and operate chillers in the summer to cool the facility. The energy efficient cogeneration system displaced old, inefficient boilers used for heating and cooling as well as the need to buy electricity off the grid. In all, the state expects to save $1.6 million per year in reduced utility costs with a payoff on investment in less than 8 years. This is from a facility that is a much smaller energy user than the corrections facilities with heating plants; and

Whereas, Making an investment in a cleaner, more efficient, cost-saving technology allows the state to demonstrate leadership and a sense of urgency in managing taxpayer investments in our state. Switching to a cleaner burning fuel will help the state reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and mercury and reduce our carbon foot-print. Installing more efficient technologies will help the state meet utility needs by consuming less energy. Reducing energy use will produce much needed savings in the Department of Corrections budget and free-up resources for other state spending priorities; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the House of Representatives, That we urge the Governor and Department of Corrections to convert power plants at the state’s correctional facilities to combined heat and power, also known as cogeneration plants to reduce pollutant emissions and to save the state millions of dollars in utility costs over the equipment’s lifespan; and be it further

Resolved, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to the Office of the Governor and Director of the Department of Corrections.

The resolution was referred to the Committee on Energy and Technology.

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The Speaker Pro Tempore called Associate Speaker Pro Tempore Cotter to the Chair.

Second Reading of Bills

House Bill No. 4242, entitled

A bill to amend 1969 PA 306, entitled “Administrative procedures act of 1969,” by amending section 45 (MCL 24.245), as amended by 2011 PA 242.

Was read a second time, and the question being on the adoption of the proposed amendment previously recommended by the Committee on Regulatory Reform (for amendment, see House Journal No. 42, p. 633),

The amendment was adopted, a majority of the members serving voting therefor.

Rep. Goike moved that the bill be placed on the order of Third Reading of Bills.

The motion prevailed.

House Bill No. 4574, entitled

A bill to amend 1980 PA 299, entitled “Occupational code,” by amending section 1806 (MCL 339.1806), as amended by 1988 PA 463.

The amendment was adopted, a majority of the members serving voting therefor.

Rep. Kurtz moved that the bill be placed on the order of Third Reading of Bills.

The motion prevailed.

By unanimous consent the House returned to the order of

Motions and Resolutions

Rep. Haveman moved that the Committee on Appropriations be discharged from further consideration of Senate Bill No. 182.

(For first notice see House Journal No. 43, p. 648.)