MIRS is reporting today that the smoking ban bill is probably on hold until winter.
That’s because the Senate Majority Leader said today that the next move on the legislation is up to the House.
Senate Leader Mike Bishop (R-Rochester)said he has other fish to fry before he gets to the ban, adding, “I don’t know if we’re going to do much before the end of the year on this.” Read the rest of this entry »
Governor Jennifer Granholm signed SB 1007 in to law today. The bill amends Michigan’s dairy laws and get’s
them in line with the federal 2007 Pastuerized Milk Ordinance. Following is a press release from the bill’s sponsor Senator Patty Birkholz (R-Saugatuck Township)
LANSING-The governor signed legislation Thursday sponsored by Sen. Patty Birkholz that updates Michigan’s dairy laws to improve food safety regulations.
“It’s important that we take every precaution to ensure that our food is safe,” said Birkholz, R-Saugatuck Township. “Updating the milk law will help protect consumers who drink milk and use dairy
products and the dairy farmers who produce it.” Read the rest of this entry »
I just read on MIRS News (I’m not going to link or copy their text here because it is a registration site) that there is a deal in the works for the smoking ban. Sen. Bishop has said he will consider exempting the Detroit casinos and he will NOT sit on the bill. He expects a vote after his caucus figures out what they want to do.
HB 5074 has been transmitted to the Senate and today, it was referred to the Committee on Government Operations and Reform which is the same committee HB 4163 was referred to when it was sent to the Senate.
Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop discharged HB 4163 from committee for a vote on the floor. At that time, the Senate ammended the bill to get rid of all exemptions. At the time, Senator Bishop said he did not favor a smoking ban, but let the bill be called because that’s what the people wanted. After passing the Senate, the House sat on the bill for a few days before calling a different bill, HB 5074 and using it as a vehicle bill. They amended HB 5074 which was bill written to ban smoking in college dorms. They struck all of that language and inserted the original language of HB 4163. HB 5074 passed and was sent to the Senate.
How futile is this? It took the Senate FIVE months to call HB 4163 then they changed it. There’s only four weeks left in this session. Does the House really think Sen. Bishop will allow another vote on the same bill they’ve already amended? Currently, HB 4163 sits in the house. They can still call this bill before the session ends and pass it without the exemptions. HB 5074 sits in committee and will probably die there. The Committee on Government Operations and Reform hasn’t met since November, so there won’t even be a committee vote on the issue.
The Detroit News ran a story this morning ont the debate. There was one part in particular I had a problem with.
After Ohio voters approved a ban in 2006, bars in Toledo were hammered and many patrons flocked to bars just across the state line such as M.T. Loonies in southern Monroe County. Sales rose 20 percent to 30 percent and the crush of smokers prompted general manager Craig Herbster, 26, to hire six more workers.
What about Cleveland? What about Cincinatti? What about Columbus? The paper chose to pick one metro area close to a state that doesn’t ban smoking. I’m not denying that people are doing that, but let’s look at Michigan’s case. Obviously, people are not going to flock to Ohio to smoke because they can’t. They can’t run to Canada. There will be a small stretch near the Indiana border and a small stretch of the UP along the Wisconsin border that will have to deal with this for a little while. Michigan is in a unique situation that the borders of non-smoking states are relatively small. There might be a tiny percentage of business leaving Michigan so they can smoke in a bar, but a percentage so small no one will even notice.
The House of Representatives has already ended their session today without voting on HB 4163. There was discussion of the bill when they were voting on HB 5074 which bans smoking in college dormotories. There was a discussion of why they need to pass this bill if HB 4163 would pretty much ban smoking in all workplaces.
UPDATE – The Lansing State-Journal put an article on-line saying the House DID in fact pass a smoking ban bill this afternoon. However, it was not HB 4163 which was sent back to by the Senate. I went back and looked at the text of HB 5074 as passed this afternoon and it is THAT bill that was passed with the same language as the original HB 4163.
This is why I should pay attention when I’m watching The House. I heard them talking about the the smoking ban during the discussion, but the bill title was about college dorms. If you look at the enrolled bill and the passed bill, they don’t even resemble each other other than the word smoking.
So, to make this clear, what happened was the House passed the same bill they passed originally exempting Casino’s, bingo halls, and cigar bars. The bill goes back to the Senate which will now have to vote, again, on the same bill they’ve already amended and sent back to the House. In short, things have probably hit a permanent road block.
I’ve got House TV on in the background and at 7:45 PM, they’re still in session. I’ve heard from friends in the media that phone calls to both caucuses and the Clerk have had some wierd answers. The Democrats caucused for quite a while late this afternoon and as of this writing, the House “At Ease At The Call Of The Chair.” I’ll keep the video feed up while I’m watching TV tonight to see if anything happens.
8:07 PM – The House has been called back to order.
8:20 PM – I’ve been told by that same friend that the House has “a lot of business” to deal with and they are planning on staying late into the night. Still wouldn’t answer whether HB 4163 would be called tonight or not.
8:29 PM – In another surprise move, the House in now voting on SB 776 which is the Partial Birth Abortion Ban, so it looks like they really are expecting a long night.
10:54 – They are STILL in session. They just announced there will be no further voting tonight, but the House will be back in session tomorrow (Wednesday) morning at 10 AM instead of their usual 1:30 PM start time.
Well, just like I predicted, the smoking ban is being held up in the house because the Senate version makes no exceptions for casino’s or cigar shops. Cigar shops I’m on board with, but not enough to hold it up. Casino’s shouldn’t be protected just because lawmakers are afraid the Detroit casino’s will be hurt.
The Lansing State-Jounral had an article yesterday that desciribes Speak of the House Leader Andy Dillon as sympathetic to the casino’s. Dillon plans to call a vote on the ban, but he plans to add the exemptions back into the bill which means it would have to go back to the Senate for another vote.
“We’ll see if the Senate would like to negotiate,” Dillon spokesman Greg Bird said.
The approach is not sitting well with Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, R-Rochester. “If the people of Michigan want a ban on smoking, it needs to be across the board,” Bishop spokesman Matt Marsden said.
I’m totally in agreement with Bishop’s camp here. Call the freakin bill as is. Give it a year and see just how it works. You can’t pick and chose which businesses are exempt. If you’re going to exempt casinos, then you really should exempt taverns (bars that don’t serve food). I mean, they’re both adult oriented businesses, right?
This is stupid. Mr. Dillon, call the bill as is and let the legislature decide.
One of the new things I had to learn upon moving to Michigan is saving cans. It’s one of those things I’m kind of shocked that every state doesn’t do, but it took me a while to get used to it. Now, I have a garbage bag hanging in my closet and everytime I finish a Pepsi, the can goes in that garbage….not the regular one.
I was more than a little surprised that the bottle return includes pop and beer, but not bottled water. For a while, my girlfriend and I used to go through at least a case a week. We finally realized all the waste and bought a Brita Water Pitcher. That cut down drastically on all the waste we contributing.
I came across a blurb in a newspaper a few weeks ago about HB 6000 which will ammend the current bottle return law to include bottled water. I contacted the bill’s sponsor Rep. Mark Meadows of East Lansing to see why change now.
…the buying public’s taste has changed from carbonated beverages to bottled water. We are now finding increased litter from the latter on roadsides etc. We need to develop a system to recycle/reuse water bottles. That is why I introduced the bill.
I think this is a great idea. There’s criticism right now because the retail industry feels like they are becoming Michigan’s trash collectors. I don’t buy that at all. We all need to take responsibility. If the citizens of Michigan are willing to collect trash in their home in order to recycle then the stores should take the responsibility to recycle. It’s win-win for everyone. I don’t see a loser here.
Well, it’s Tuesday and the House is back in session. HB 4163 is on the calendar, but as a commentor pointed out over the weekend, it’s not likely to be called. The sticking point? Casinos. The Senate version did not make an exception for casinos. The House version did. The House now has to pass the Senate’s version and from all accounts I’ve seen, that’s not probable right now. The legislators are worried that Indian casinos woudn’t enforce the ban and being soverign grounds, Michigan laws do not affect them. Everyone’s worried about the Detroit casinos. It’s definately an economic concern, but, in my opinion, not enough of one to delay a smoking ban.
The thing I keep reading over and over and even in the comment section of this blog is how can you ban something that is legal. You ever hear of dry counties or adult use bans? The Detroit Free Press had an editorial this morning that compares the smoking ban to another law that was passed in the interest of public safety.
This would hardly be the first government action taken in the name of public health and safety. Did you buckle up today?
And for those who say that bar, restaurant or casino employees who worry about secondhand smoke ought to find another job, well, such folks probably haven’t been looking for work lately in Michigan’s current economy.
Both great points. I know how hard it is to find a job right now. I’ve been told by more than one potential employer that they would like to hire me, but don’t have the money to do so. I’m lucky I’ve got a side job that pays better than my full time job used to.
The Traverse City Record-Eagle points out, this whole debate lies in the hands of Detroit.
Detroit and Detroit-area Democrats are not about to support a ban that doesn’t take care of the casinos, bingo halls and others; without their support a ban goes nowhere. For solid strategic reasons Senate Republicans aren’t going to exempt anybody.
That means a stalemate as well as a great talking point for the Republicans. If you want to ban smoking from bars, restaurants and all other businesses to protect workers from second-hand smoke — the major anti-smoking argument — then you ban it for all workers, including those unlucky enough to work in a Detroit casino.
I know I keep mentioning this, but I have plenty of experience with this exact same scenario in my old homestate. I always wanted to run for Governor just to start a succession from the City of Chicago. It sucks that one corner of the state has all the power to set the agenda for the rest of the state. This whole thing is being held up by one part of the state.
I’ll keep following the debate, but it’s looking less and less likely that we’re going to see something quickly. The Senate passed it back to the House so the House looks like the bad guys. It must be an election year or something…..
The House is schedule to convene at noon. I’m not sure how much of it I’m going to be able to watch. I need to head to Champaign, IL today for some weekend work at the University of Illinois. I’ll be adding reviews of the restaurnts in Champaign and on the way there if I stop for some reason. I do a lot of work in Big Ten towns, so I’m thinking I’ll do some travel reviews for those of you who follow MSU. While I’m gone, remember to check my Lansing area food reveiws. I’ll just keep this thread going today to update on HB 4163 if it gets called.
UPDATE – 11:08 PM – Sorry that I didn’t get a chance to update earlier. I’m now in the Land of Lincoln where I’ve been doing some catching up with friends and family before heading to Champaign. I’m looking at the HB 4163 on the Legislature’s website and it looks like the bill was NOT called today. Funny cause while I was watching the live feed, they mentioned a few Detroit TV stations were there…bet they were disappointed. The House doesn’t meet again until next Tuesday so there will be no movement until at least then.
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