DETROIT, MI -- The state Senate on Thursday passed a bill that would ban people with a recent history of property tax delinquency or unpaid blight fines from bidding in county foreclosure auctions.

The legislation would keep property owners from allowing their property to go into foreclosure and then buying it back at auction, eliminating their tax burden.

Anyone who was subject to a foreclosure judgment within three years, or a foreclosure petition within the same year as the auction, would be barred from bidding, according to a Senate Fiscal Agency analysis, which notes that abuses of the current system are common in Detroit.

"Our tax foreclosure auctions are currently being abused by tax-dodgers, slumlords and schemers that are letting their properties fall into foreclosure rather than paying their property taxes, and this bill will go a long way toward cleaning up our neighborhoods and creating safe communities," said state Sen. (D-Detroit) Tupac Hunter, who introduced the bill last year.

Wayne County's 2014 foreclosure auctions sold more than 17,000 properties, collecting more than $60 million, according to the Treasurer's office.

And next year's auction could be much larger, with some tens of thousands of homes expected to be put up for auction under more aggressive anti-blight initiatives.

The bill, SB 295, passed the Senate by a vote of 36-1, and has moved on to the house.

Another bill related to foreclosures and pushed by Detroit leaders, HB 4882, passed the House last week and is being considered in the Senate.

That bill is meant to make it easier for homeowners to get off the tax foreclosure list, by allowing installment plans without extra interest charges currently required by state law.

More from the active lame-duck session taking place at the Capitol here.