Teacher training is focus of new bills in Lansing

Kathleen Gray | Detroit Free Press Lansing Bureau

LANSING -- Education policy jumped to the forefront of a slew of new bills introduced at the state Capitol last week.

A trio of bills would require professional development training for teachers, mentors for new teachers and penalties for teachers who do not comply with continuing education requirements.

Other bills would require teachers to get training in how to detect the warning signs of suicide and depression, and yet another bill would require that schools that host polling places be closed to students on election days.

Bills introduced last week include:

House bills

HB 5150-5151: Limit municipalities ability to pay a judgment by levying a tax or issuing bonds. Sponsor: Rep. Earl Poleski, R-Jackson

HB 5152: Provide for less-stringent protection for wetland waters that aren’t waters of the U.S. Sponsor: Rep. Larry Inman, R-Williamsburg.

HB 5153: Require that schools that are used as polling places not hold classes on Election Day. Sponsor: Rep. Peter Lucido, Shelby Township.

HB 5154: Make instruction and professional development on the warning signs for suicide and depression mandatory for teachers. Sponsor: Rep. Peter Lucido, R-Shelby Township.

HB 5155: Modify penalties for unlawfully taking a fish from an inland lake. Sponsor: Rep. Triston Cole, R-Mancelona.

HB 5156-5159: Require compliance with guidelines and standards regarding professional development for teachers; assign new teachers with mentor teachers; and provide for penalties for non-compliance with continuing education requirements. Sponsors: Reps. Lisa Lyons, R-Alto; Daniela Garcia, R-Holland; Amanda Price, R-Park Township; Ken Yonker, R-Gaines Township.

HB 5160: Require instruction in cardiopulmonary resuscitation and use of external defibrillation for graduation from high school. Sponsor: Rep. Thomas Hooker, R-Byron Center.

HB 5161: Prohibit termination of employment for medical marijuana users under certain circumstances. Sponsor: Rep. Sam Singh, D-East Lansing.

HB 5162: Restrict state assistance with federal government data collection. Sponsor: Rep. Martin Howrylak, R-Troy.

HB 5163: Repeal the Urban Land Assembly Act and transfer any funds into the Michigan Land Bank. Sponsor: Rep. Kurt Heise, R-Plymouth.

HB 5164: Revise fees collected for land use final plat. Sponsor: Rep. Lee Chatfield, R-Levering.

HB 5165: Clarify recording fees for judgments recorded by Register of Deeds. Sponsor: Rep. Jeremy Moss, D-Southfield.

HB 5169: Eliminate and repeal the taxable value and income disqualifier for qualifying disabled veterans and property tax exemption. Sponsor: Rep. Earl Poleski, R-Jackson.

HB 5170: Provide for reimbursement of revenue lost to school aid fund as result of certain expenditures. Sponsor: Rep. Jim Townsend, D-Royal Oak.

HB 5171: Modify conditions of renewal of a driver's license for people older than 75, requiring that renewal be done in person. Sponsor: Rep. Ben Glardon, R-Owosso.

HB 5172: Eliminate a lower minimum wage for certain employees. Sponsor: Rep. Kristy Pagan, D-Canton.

HB 5173: Allow first-time voters to use an absentee ballot if they have registered to vote by mail. Sponsor: Rep. Kristy Pagan, D-Canton.

HB 5174: Prohibit the use and sale of coal tar sealant for pavement. Sponsor: Rep. Kristy Pagan, D-Canton.

HB 5175: Implement an employee scheduling accommodation act. Sponsor: Rep. Robert Wittenberg, D-Oak Park.

HB 5176: Modify the distribution of local community stabilization authority act share revenues. Sponsor: Rep. Jeff Farrington, R-Utica.

HB 5177: Require supplier of water to provide access to water for drinking or household purposes under certain circumstances. Sponsor: Rep. Ed Canfield, R-Sebewaing.

HB 5178: Require continuous water and sewer billing to customers by city public services. Sponsor: Rep. Ed Canfield, R-Sebewaing.

HB 5179: Revise the poverty exemption for property tax exemptions. Sponsor: Rep. Wendell Byrd, D-Detroit.

HB 5180: Create the Healthy Foods Assistance Act. Sponsor: Rep. Dave Pagel, R-Berrien Springs.

HB 5181: Expand arrest authority of certain peace officers to include airport authority police in certain circumstances. Sponsor: Rep. Kurt Heise, R-Plymouth.

HB 5182: Update certain language in Michigan school for the deaf act. Sponsor: Rep. Martin Howrylak, R-Troy.

HB 5183-5186, 5188: Replace the words hearing impaired with deaf, deaf blind, and hard of hearing in state statute, and remove references to "deaf and dumb" in state statute. Sponsors: Reps. John Bizon, R-Battle Creek; Jim Runestad, R-White Lake Township; Amanda Price, R-Park Township; Winnie Brinks, D-Grand Rapids; Phil Phelps, D-Flint.

HB 5187: Remove obsolete language in provision relating to the transfer of books and materials to successors. Sponsor: Rep. George Darany, D-Dearborn.

HB 5189-5191: Provide for the transfer of value of credits not claimed under the farmland and open space preservation program to the department of agriculture and rural development. Sponsors: Reps. Dan Lauwers, R-Brockway; Brett Roberts, R-Eaton Township.

HB 5192: Revise scope of practice for public accounting. Sponsor: Rep. Chris Afendoulis, R-Grand Rapids Township.

HB 5193-5194: Provide for standards to grant waivers on school calendars and prohibit the school calendar from becoming a part of bargaining a new labor contract. Sponsor: Rep. Daniela Garcia, R-Holland.

HB 5195-5196: Provide for penalties for storing or leaving a firearm where it may be accessed by a minor. Sponsors: Reps. Jim Townsend, D-Royal Oak; Jon Hoadley, D-Kalamazoo.

HB 5197: Require doctors to give options regarding cord blood stem cells to patients during the second trimester of pregnancy. Sponsor: Rep. Jim Townsend, D-Royal Oak.

HB 5198: Modify requirements for oil and gas spill reporting, prevention response plans, and penalties. Sponsor: Rep. Lee Chatfield, R-Levering.

HB 5199-5201: Revise the prohibitions for carrying certain weapons and eliminate gun-free zones. Sponsor: Rep. Lee Chatfield, R-Levering.

HB 5202: Create a youth advisory council in the Legislature. Sponsor: Rep. Martin Howrylak, R-Troy.

HB 5203: Allow local units of government to regulate how fireworks are used on any day other than the three days surrounding Fourth of July and New Year's Day. Sponsor: Rep. Martin Howrylak, R-Troy.

HB 5204: Create a fund-raising driver's license plate for libraries. Sponsor: Rep. Ed McBroom. R-Vulcan.

HB 5205: Designate a portion of U.S. Highway 2 as the "Kenneth J. Moraska Memorial Highway." Sponsor: Rep. Ed McBroom, R-Vulcan.

Senate bills

SB 669: Establish a noise-control act. Sponsor: Sen. Mike Green, R-Mayville.

SB 670: Create World War I Centennial commission. Sponsor: Sen. Rebekah Warren, D-Ann Arbor.

SB 671: Expand membership and duties of the wine and grape council. Sponsor: Sen. Goeff Hansen, R-Hart.

SB 672: Expand parental waiver of liability for a minor to include camping activities. Sponsor: Sen. Goeff Hansen, R-Hart.

SB 673: Extend the sunset on the obsolete property rehabilitation act. Sponsor: Sen. Ken Horn, R-Frankenmuth.

SB 674-676: Modify criminal history check for employment in a covered health and adult foster care facilities. Sponsor: Sen. Hoon-Yung Hopgood, D-Taylor.

SB 677: Require judicial foreclosure for certain residential mortgages. Sponsor: Sen. Curtis Hertel Jr., D-East Lansing.

SB 678: Allow use of inclining block rate structure for water and sewer rate charges to customers. Sponsor: Sen. Coleman Young, D-Detroit.

SB 679: Include corrections officers in compulsory arbitration for labor contracts. Sponsor: Sen. Ken Horn, R-Frankenmuth.

SB 680: Rename the new patient programming center at Walter P. Reuther Psychiatric Hospital the “James K. Haveman Center for Activity, Rehabilitation and Therapy. Sponsor: Sen. Peter MacGregor, R-Rockford.

SB 681-683 and HB 5166-5168: Expand Michigan aquaculture development act to aquaculture facilities within the waters of the state and allow for consolidated permitting. Sponsors: Sens. Darwin Booher, R-Evart; Reps. Ed McBroom, R-Vulcan; Triston Cole, R-Mancelona.

SB 684-685: Designate the cherry as the official state fruit and blueberry as the official state berry. Sponsors: Sens. Rebekah Warren, D-Ann Arbor; Tonya Schuitmaker, R-Lawton.

Contact Kathleen Gray: 517-372-8661 or kgray99@freepress.com

Find out more

To get information and track the progress of bills, go to www.legislature.mi.gov.

To contact the governor’s office, go to www.michigan.gov/snyder.

To contact legislators, go to www.house.michigan.gov/MHRPublic and www.senate.michigan.gov/senatorinfo.html.