LANSING – Michigan employers would be barred from hiring or firing an individual based on credit history, appearance, health or the legal activities they engage in outside of work under a legislative package that passed a divided House on Thursday.
While proponents of HB 4532 , HB 4887 , HB 4926 and HB 4927 said the measures would provide workers with greater protections in the workplace, Republicans who unsuccessfully tried to tie-bar the issue to banning so-called partial birth abortions and repealing the Michigan Business Tax surcharge said the votes were proof that anti-abortion House Democrats aren’t willing to ban the procedure in state law.
Democrats procedurally gaveled down tie-bar amendments as Republican members raised their hands and shouted in support of being heard on their proposals.
House Minority Leader Craig DeRoche (R-Novi) said that with Democrats holding total control of the abortion bill on the floor through procedural moves, the only move left for the minority is to try to tie-bar it to other bills. He said it was legitimate to say Democrats don’t support the partial birth bill because they said some Republicans didn’t support drug industry product liability revisions when those actions were regarding tie-bars as well.
Republicans were also unsuccessful in getting a few concurrent resolutions dealing with state leased property amended to request that the speaker and majority caucus take up SB 776 instead.
But behind the scenes negotiations on the partial birth bill (SB 776) and some other emergency contraceptive measures (HB 6048 , HB 6049 , HB 6050 ) are occurring and a House committee earlier in the day took action on the House bills.
Greg Bird, spokesperson for House Speaker Andy Dillon (D-Redford Twp.), noted those talks and said, “Its unfortunate that they continue to play those political games when they know that discussions are ongoing.”
The worker rights bills were amended on the floor, but the content of the bills were not debated. The off-duty activity bill (HB 4532) was amended only to apply to employers with 50 or more employees in a year. The credit history measure (HB 4887) was amended not to apply to casinos, banks, credit unions and other places where the work entails dealing with money. HB 4926 and HB 4927, which deal with a person’s fitness or physical attributes or a family member’s illness, were not amended before being shipped to the Senate.
HB 4532 received the most support out of any of the bills, receiving a 63-45 vote. Rep. Bob Constan (D-Dearborn Heights), Rep. Michael Lahti (D-Hancock) and Rep. Joel Sheltrown (D-West Branch) were the only Democrats to oppose the bill. The only Republicans supporting the bill were Rep. Dick Ball (R-Bennington Twp.), Rep. Jack Brandenburg (R-Harrison Twp.), Rep. Bruce Caswell (R-Hillsdale), Rep. Rick Jones (R-Grand Ledge), Rep. Tim Moore (R-Farwell), Rep. Tory Rocca (R-Sterling Heights), Rep. John Stakoe (R-Highland) and Rep. Glenn Steil Jr. (R-Cascade Twp.).
Rep. Ed Gaffney (R-Grosse Pointe Farms) and Rep. Mike Nofs (R-Battle Creek) were absent from Thursday’s session.
The other bills received less support; HB ), HB ) and HB ) was opposed by just one Democrat, Mr. Lahti, and Mr. Brandenburg only supported the last bill.
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