For these reasons, I urge a “no” vote.
Senator McBroom asked and was granted unanimous consent to make a statement and moved that the statement be printed in the Journal.
The motion prevailed.
Senator McBroom’s statement is as follows:
I’d like to speak a word of support for doing this survey. The critical nature of understanding this information is not just to protect the department but it protects the citizens of this state from a department that might otherwise skew those numbers with its own agenda. Having solid data for us to manage the deer herd is absolutely critical. It’s critical for our farmers who depend on crop damage tags and who have difficulty accessing them if the department has decided that there aren’t enough deer in that area already. A real genuine survey is something that other states have been doing for a very long time. Wisconsin in particular has had a robust survey of deer harvest for decades which allows them better to be able to manage the herd and to manage the human-deer interactions that occur, especially on the agricultural side.
Michigan is far, far behind on this curve with the silly camp survey we’ve been doing for decades now that’s filled out by a tiny percentage of the hunters, and then by counting deer on the hoods of cars that cross the Mackinac Bridge as if that was ever a good methodology and it’s certainly become a completely worthless methodology at this point. This is a great change, I’m glad that we’re doing this survey now. I’m not happy with how it’s been rolled out and with this penalty so this is a good step in making sure that the survey is done in a fairer way to get the data we need to properly manage the deer herd.
I encourage a “yes” vote.
The following bill was read a third time:
Senate Bill No. 101, entitled
A bill to amend 1956 PA 218, entitled “The insurance code of 1956,” by amending sections 5228, 5230, and 5245 (MCL 500.5228, 500.5230, and 500.5245), as amended by 2020 PA 266.
The question being on the passage of the bill,
The bill was passed, a majority of the members serving voting therefor, as follows: