Members of the Senate took a step toward the creation of a sales and use tax exemption for enterprise data centers Thursday through a bipartisan vote on an amended bill to establish the proposed credit.
The partisan gulf over ongoing college campus protests over the Israel-Hamas conflict and university diversity, equity and inclusion programs led to a sharply worded, angry floor debate Thursday prior to Senate passage of its higher education budget.
The Senate Elections and Ethics Committee heard divided testimony Wednesday as it continued hearing from stakeholders on a bill package that would create a Michigan Voting Rights Act.
A bipartisan bill package that would allow some prisoners to earn productivity credits to reduce their sentences was introduced Tuesday in the Senate, a move the lead bill sponsor said has proven effective in other states and would improve recidivism rates if enacted into law.
Some bipartisan effort highlighted business Thursday in the Senate as it began the process of moving their slate of appropriations bills, with members of both parties acknowledging work on an amendment to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development budget.
The Senate voted Wednesday along party lines for legislation that would require renewable energy projects without state funding to pay the prevailing wage over objections from Republicans who said the changes were a slippery slope in expanding the prevailing wage beyond public projects.
Michigan's secretary of state, voting rights experts and activists told a Senate panel Wednesday that they supported legislation to enact a State Voting Rights Act.
New definitions of child neglect and abuse could prevent parents from being unnecessarily reported to Children's Protective Services, Sen. Jeff Irwin and Sen. Ed McBroom said in a Tuesday committee hearing.
The legislation needed to extend the sunset on the current funding system for trial courts is on the path to the governor's desk ahead of its May 1 sunset, but the bill that would examine a new mechanism to fund the courts is dead on the House floor, for now.
A bill to restore licensure for registered dietitian nutritionists for practicing nutrition therapy passed the Senate Wednesday with bipartisan support despite some members calling the proposal unnecessary.