The Senate agreed to the title of the bill.
Senator Lindsey asked and was granted unanimous consent to make a statement and moved that the statement be printed in the Journal.
The motion prevailed.
Senator Lindsey’s statement is as follows:
The bills we are about to consider would clarify and strengthen Michigan’s laws about animal cruelty. I think this is a noble thing for us to be thinking about and considering in this chamber. But, once again, we stand in this chamber passing legislation with which very few people will disagree but raise the question: Are we doing enough for the people of Michigan?
My amendment would tie-bar the passage of this legislation to legislation one of my colleagues introduced that would strengthen our approach to handling fentanyl in the state of Michigan, specifically what dealers are doing with it, the damage they’re doing to our communities. We see thousands of deaths happening annually from this. We know this is something that often is being produced in China, being brought over our border illegally, and it’s having massive impacts on our community.
Again, my point is there’s nothing wrong with standing here and taking steps to help protect animals in the state of Michigan but if we’re going to do that, couldn’t we also take steps to protect our communities from the blight of fentanyl. I ask for a “yes” vote.
The following bill was read a third time:
Senate Bill No. 658, entitled
A bill to amend 1931 PA 328, entitled “The Michigan penal code,” by amending section 50b (MCL 750.50b), as amended by 2018 PA 452.
The question being on the passage of the bill,
The bill was passed, a majority of the members serving voting therefor, as follows: