The Senate agreed to the full title.
Senator Lauwers asked and was granted unanimous consent to make a statement and moved that the statement be printed in the Journal.
The motion prevailed.
Senator Lauwers’ statement is as follows:
Mr. President, I rise in support of House Bill No. 4501. Over the past year and a half, Michigan has lost thousands of small businesses and thousands of jobs along with them. Family-owned businesses that survived world wars, the Depression, and countless other challenges struggled to survive the effects of the pandemic and our Governor’s shutdown orders. As these small businesses were facing the unprecedented challenge, Governor Whitmer’s administration levied hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines for violations of her orders—hundreds of orders that changed by the day. Surely the Governor and her team knew that the businesses, local governments, and other entities were doing all they could in trying to find the resources and the time and did not have the resources and time to appeal these fines. They were struggling just to keep the doors open and their employees on the payroll. The last thing they could afford was a legal battle with an opponent with unlimited resources like the state of Michigan.
And yet, we found out just this week—in fact, we found out in my district—that at least one recipient of a fine did fight back. And when this local government challenged their penalty and deposed staff from the Governor’s agency, what did they find? That the e-mails associated with the case had been deleted and the notes and records had been burned. Burned. Was the MIOSHA shredder on the fritz or something? What else would we find out about this operation to punish small businesses and local governments while they were hanging by a thread if more of them had the resources to fight these fines?
Mr. President, it is ridiculous that this bill even is necessary. The Governor should have dropped every fine levied by her agencies during the pandemic and she should have done so months ago. But she hasn’t, so I grudgingly ask for your support of House Bill No. 4501 to forgive these penalties against Michiganders who were doing everything they could, I believe, to survive during a crisis.
The following bill was read a third time:
House Bill No. 4778, entitled
A bill to amend 1984 PA 431, entitled “The management and budget act,” (MCL 18.1101 to 18.1594) by adding section 270.
The question being on the passage of the bill,
The bill was passed, a majority of the members serving voting therefor, as follows: