Senate Bill 882 was successfully voted out of the House Judiciary Committee this afternoon, but not without a few unexpected twists. An amendment was offered by Rep. Ellen Lipton (D-Huntington Woods) to tie-bar SB 882 to another bill that the Representative wanted passed. Rep. Tonya Schuitmaker (R-Lawton) spoke out against the amendment stating the tie-barred bill had nothing to do with SB 882 and that the tie-bar would basically kill SB 882 because it would not get Senate approval. She went on to state that SB 882 was good public policy, has been in the legislature for the past several years and needs to move forward. After a vote, the amendment to tie-bar the bill failed.

Chairman Mark Meadows (D-East Lansing) went right to a vote to move the bill out of committee due to the fact that the hearing was running very long and committee members were having to leave. The bill passed with only two "no" votes from Rep. Ellen Lipton and Rep. Bob Constan (D-Dearborn Heights) after a slight delay as the Chair made several calls to get members to return for a majority vote.

A special thanks goes out to Melissa Yutzey, our lobbyist, who worked hard to secure the votes necessary to kill the amendment and get the bill out of committee. ACEC/M Executive Director Ron Brenke, along with  MSPE President Don Heck, P.E., Ben Tiseo, AIA and Mike Lynch, HarleyEllis Devereaux attended the hearing and prepared testimony in support of the bill.

The bill has already passed the full Senate and now heads to the House floor for action.

For more information Contact: ACEC