As we celebrate this holiday season, I thought it would be festive to format my 2023 legislative update as a naughty and nice list. We’ve had a busy year with the Democrats in power for the first time in over 40 years, and unfortunately that has led to way more bad bills than good ones.

Here are a few of my thoughts on which bills were good for Northern Michigan and which will get Democrats coal this year.

Nice

Guardianship Package— HBs 4909-4912

This package would help protect vulnerable adults by making significant improvements to Michigan’s guardianship program. The plan includes HB 4912, which I sponsored. This legislation offers several new protections within the guardianship and conservatorship system, the process used after a court decides an individual is not capable of making their own legal, medical or financial decisions. The plan would provide procedural safeguards for the appointment of guardians, require guardians to take special precautions to protect people’s property, and increase transparency about the way a vulnerable adult’s property is being used. These common-sense measures would go a long way to helping prevent abuse and hold guardians to a higher standard.

The package passed the House and is under consideration by the Senate Committee on Civil Rights, Judiciary, and Public Safety.

Disabled Veteran Tax Credits— HB 4724

This bill would give a tax credit to 100% disabled veterans who rent or lease their home. Currently, these veterans qualify for a property tax exemption. This would extend the exemption to veterans renting or leasing.

HB 4724 passed the House and is under consideration by the Senate Committee on Finance, Insurance, and Consumer Protection.

Crime Victims’ Rights Package— HBs 4420-4423

These bills support crime victims by ensuring their voices are heard throughout the justice process. Our goal was to make the process more conducive to helping victims heal and move on with their lives without fear of being harmed again. The reforms in this package are long overdue and make victims eligible for additional protections and services.

The plan passed the House and Senate and was signed into law.

Prohibiting Child Marriage— SBs 209, 212, 213, and 216 and HBs 4294, 4295, 4296, 4299, 4300, and 4302

This package would prohibit anyone under the age of 18 from getting married. There is no active age restriction for marriage in Michigan. In the US, girls as young as 10 have been married. Typically, girls who are forced to marry under the age of 18 are wed to adult men. No child should be forced to get married.

The plan passed the House and Senate and was signed into law.

Naughty

Renewable Energy Mandates and Solar Siting— SBs 271-273 & 502 and HBs 5120 -5123

This package of bills mandate Michigan to switch over to 100% renewable energy sources by 2040 and give the Michigan Public Service Commission authority to permit large solar and wind construction instead of local governments. The plan requires that most current power plants be replaced with thousands of square miles of windmills and solar panels. Michigan families already pay far too much for a grid that isn’t reliable. Folks in northern Michigan have no interest in paying higher energy costs as they’re forced to switch over to unreliable green energy sources. Michigan cannot afford this plan. A similar plan was introduced in the State of California in 2018. CA has since had to reverse course and reopen their natural gas power plants due to the unreliability of renewable energy.

The plan passed the House and Senate and was signed into law.

Reproductive Health Package— HBs 4949, 4953-4956 & SBs 474, 476-479

These bills decriminalize and normalize the worst parts of abortion practices and remove health and safety requirements in abortion clinics. These are serious medical procedures with many risks. The package also repealed a ban on partial birth abortion – an extremely unpopular late term abortion procedure. Recent polling shows that a majority of Michigan voters support common sense abortion regulations. These radical bills undermine the will of a majority of Michigan voters, even those who voted yes on Proposal 3 in November 2022.

The plan passed the House and Senate was signed into law.

Red Flag Laws— HBs 4146-4148

These bills ignore constitutional rights by stripping legally owned firearms from law-abiding citizens without due process. The bills are extremely difficult to implement and create more problems than they solve. We already have a process in which a person who is mentally ill or a danger to themselves or others can be involuntarily committed. Instead of blaming firearms, we need to focus on the broken mental health system in our state.

The plan passed the House and Senate and was signed into law.

Right to Work Repeal—HBs 4004 & 4005

These bills repealed Right to Work in Michigan mandating union membership in some industries. Every worker should have a choice on whether they want to join a union or not. No person should be forced to join a union because they work in a certain industry.

This plan passed the House and Senate and was signed into law.