(Source: MIRS.news, Published 12/27/2024) Just a week ago, the Senate wrapped up an over 28-hour session to pass House bills and advance them to the governor, knowing the legislation they'd worked on, which was sitting in the House, wouldn’t see any more movement.

Since the House had failed to establish a quorum on Dec. 18 and 19, and the five-day rule requires each chamber to possess a bill for at least five days each before the governor can sign it, the Senate couldn't send more bills to the House or expect that any of their bills would be taken up.

Time had run out.

The Senate took up about 100 House bills on third reading during that session, but here are the Senate bills that died in the House that week, in no particular order.

1.  “Momnibus” for improving minority women’s pregnancy experiences

Under this eight-bill package that passed the Senate earlier in the month, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services would investigate instances of racism and violence that occur during pregnancy and childbirth.

Seven out of eight of the bills, SB 818, SB 819, SB 820, SB 821, SB 822, SB 823, SB 825 also expand the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act to include pregnancy or lactation status in its discrimination protections, creates scholarships for doula training, qualifies midwife medical training for MDDHS’ loan repayment program, and defines “obstetric racism” and “obstetric violence."

2. Bump stock ban and penalties for bringing a firearm into the Capitol SB 857 and SB 858 create a $100 fine and 90-day misdemeanor for a visitor to the state Capitol building that brings a concealed firearm inside. Only the second of the two was on the agenda in the last week of House session, but neither of them made it through both chambers.

The two bills were also the topic being discussed in the infamous Senate Civil Rights, Judiciary and Public Safety Committee hearing during which a testifier was gaveled down by Sen. Stephanie CHANG (D-Detroit) and condemned by the panel’s two Republicans for using the “N” word, the racial slur for Black people, in his testimony.

SB 942 bans bump stocks, which are semi-automatic firearm attachments that functionally turn the weapon into an automatic firearm by pulling the trigger to release a stream of bullets rather than one at a time.

SB 857 was used as a factor in determining MIRS’ most liberal and most conservative legislators of 2024.

3. Protections for Vulnerable Adults

Vulnerable adults 60 years of age and older would be able to request a restraining order from a family member or caretaker for being exploitative, manipulative, threatening violence, withholding medication and more under the package consisting of SB 922, SB 923, SB 924 and SB 925.

The legislation aims to reduce the cases of elder abuse in Michigan by creating more reasons a court could grant a restraining order.

4. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) expansion

Lansing’s long-timers aren’t shocked to see another term where FOIA expansions make some noise, but inevitably don’t cross the finish line. SB 669 and SB 670, sponsored by Sens. Ed McBroom (R-Waucedah Twp.) and Jeremy MOSS (D-Southfield), mark the first time that both chambers have taken action on the expansions in the same session.

On an upcoming episode of the MIRS Monday Podcast, Tony Zammit of Michigan State University’s Institute for Public Policy and Social Research, makes the argument that a certain governor who may be eyeing the White House in 2028 would be subject to fewer records transparency and therefore less vetting by the public during the campaign.

5. Waiver For Fines On Lapsed Insurance

Three bills, SB 708, SB 709 and SB 282 provide waivers for heightened auto insurance premiums for previously incarcerated individuals whose previous policies lapsed because they had no need for it.

The argument in committee was that , if a person was behind bars, they weren’t worried about maintaining an insurance policy for being behind the wheel, so it didn’t make sense to penalize someone during an already tumultuous acclimation period.

SB 282 was another bill used in the most liberal, most conservative scorecard.

6. Mental Health Programs for Individuals Charged with Misdemeanors

Under a jail diversion effort, courts could more easily provide mental health treatment such as outpatient treatment services or community mental health agencies to address root causes of crimes rather than imprisoning more people.

SB 915 , SB 916, SB 917 and SB 918 would also allow law enforcement officers to impose a psychiatric examination if they have “reasonable cause” to, rather than requiring that a display of uncontrolled mental illness be witnessed by the officer.

7. Locking devices on childcare centers

After legislation passed in 2020 to allow school districts to install “temporary door-locking” devices without violating the fire code, these bills expand the same ability to childcare centers, so long as they are operating outside of a home-based daycare structure.

Previously, the language in SB 906, SB 907 and SB 908 didn’t specify that childcare centers could qualify to install special locks, but passing these bills through the House would have made that specification.

8. Merchandise Distancing Requirements For Alcoholic Beverages

Alcoholic beverages that are co-branded with non-alcoholic drinks such as SunnyD, Dunkin’ Donuts and Simply Lemonade could not be displayed near the non-alcoholic versions of the drinks in order to avoid confusion under

SB 730, SB 731 and SB 732.