House Bills 4616-17

Conversion Therapy

These bills would prohibit a mental health professional from engaging in certain talk therapy with a minor. They would also ban any practice or treatment by licensed mental health professionals that seek counsel for individuals that are exploring changing sexual orientation or gender identity.

Why I voted no:

1. These bills provide for no parental notification when a mental health professional is discussing the gender identity or sexual orientation of their child. Parents have a right to know when an adult is talking about such sensitive topics with their own children.
2. This legislation places political and/or moral beliefs above what a licensed professional thinks is best for their patient. Even going further to include punishment of those who do not conform to those beliefs.
3. These bills are another attack on religious beliefs and continue to erode parental control- further pushing the LGBTQ and transgender agenda on our youth.

House Bills 4696-4702, 4594, 4569

Election Law Changes

These bills would expand the number of early voting days, require more absentee voter drop boxes, create an absentee voter ballot tracking system, and allow for the preregistration to vote at age 16.

Why I voted no:

1. These bills were designed to implement Proposal 22-2 passed last year by the voters, but they go well beyond the now Constitutional language.
2. These bills create an undue burden on our rural areas, requiring drop boxes in unnecessary areas and local officials to spend time and resources maintaining them
3. These bills loosen requirements of video monitoring of drop boxes
4. These bills expand early voting every more than nine days before election day- going beyond Prop 2. This adds additional burdens to our Clerks, requiring coordination with outside municipal and county officials.
5. Every Local clerk that I talked to were opposed to this bill package.
6. Requiring an absentee ballot drop box per 15,000 voters makes little sense for our rural communities. The cost of installation, maintenance, and oversight can be significant to our state and low-income, underfunded municipalities.
7. The elimination of the requirement of video monitoring of drop boxes allows for increased fraud or vandalism opportunities.
8. Loosened ID requirements, allowing IDs issued by local governments (such as a library card) or educational institutions, is misguided. Those cards do not guarantee residency or proper voter registration.
9. Permanent absentee ballots create a scenario in which ballots could be sent out to voters that no longer live in the state or have passed away. Unless the voter rescinds the permanent absentee application, six consecutive years of nonvoting are required for the state to pull that voter from the list. This creates a scenario of wasting resources.
10. Increasing the number of electors in a given precinct from 2,999 to 5,000 creates additional work and potential problems for our clerks.

House Bills 4191-94

Licenses and ID’s for Parolees

This package of bills creates a program where Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) parolees are provided with state ID’s and operator’s licenses.

Why I voted no:

1. These bills create a situation in which non-citizens could use their state IDs to vote.
2. The department already does a version of this, making this bill unnecessary and duplicative.

House Bill 4173

Sentencing Commission

This bill creates a commission that would analyze corrections-related data and develop modifications to the sentencing guidelines.

Why I voted no:

1. The commission represents another taxpayer-funded entity that spends valuable time and resources with little to no benefit to the taxpayer.
2. We do not need another commission that grows government to change certain sentencing laws. The legislature, in partnership with Judges and Prosecutors, can certainly handle that task.
3. I fear this commission is just a further attempt to weaken our crime laws and further bring us in line with states such as New York and California- where crime is skyrocketing.