LANSING, MI - Michigan parents could see more joint custody and substantially equal parenting time under a bill the House of Representatives is considering.

Rep. Jim Runestad, R-White Lake, is sponsoring the bill that would make those changes. He said custody cases currently get down to the level of proving who took a child to more activities.

"It becomes frequently a default position, whoever is working the most hours is kind of the one who's fighting the uphill battle under the current law," Runestad said.

House Bill 4691 fundamentally changes how custody is allocated in Michigan. It would make joint legal custody and equal parenting time the presumed starting point going into custody cases. With some exceptions, the change would require the court to grant joint legal custody and substantially equal parenting time.

Runestad said the idea is to focus on equal parenting, which helps kids.

But the bill has met opposition from a wide swath of groups, including the Michigan Coalition to End Domestic & Sexual Violence, the National Association of Social Workers and the Michigan Judge's Association Family Law Committee.

Rebecca Shiemke, a family law attorney with the Michigan Poverty Law Program, said the current law is working and what's being proposed would take the focus off the child.

"Establishing presumptions really removes the focus in child custody disputes from what's best for the child to a parent's right to equal time with their child," she said.

But Runestad says that "without a shed of a doubt it's broken."

The most recent data available on this issue is from 2013, when the Supreme Court Administrative Office obtained it from the then-Michigan Department of Community Health. Runestad provided it to MLive.

That year, 7 percent of divorce cases saw fathers awarded full custody. In 51 percent of divorce cases, mothers were awarded full custody. In 40 percent of cases the parents were awarded joint custody, and in 3 percent of cases children were in "other" custody.

Runestad said he's also seen a disparity between how custody is awarded county-by-county and a tendency toward every other weekend type custody arrangements.

The bill passed the House Judiciary Committee, which Runestad chairs, 6-3-1 with Democrats opposing it. That happened in June, and Runestad's been using the break to seek input on the bill. He held two townhall meetings last week, and is hoping to gather more input via email at JimRunestad@house.mi.gov.

He said the next step was talking with individual lawmakers to gather support for the bill on the floor.

"We're going to have to really go to work this fall before a vote takes place," he said.