House members and senators introduced more than 100 new bills this week, but most of them were congratulatory or memorials. Among key bills introduced:
IN THE SENATE
Partisan primaries. S. 351 (Bright) seeks to bar voters from casting ballots if they have not registered as a member of the party, with several provisions.
No more native American groups. S. 356 (Rankin) seeks to allow current native American Indian groups to continue to be recognized, but for the state to stop recognizing additional native American Indian
IN THE HOUSE
Voucher-type credit. H. 3339 (Rivers) seeks a $5,000 home school tax credit and a similar one for parents who have kids in private schools.
Human trafficking. H. 3342 (Hardwick) seeks a “Safe Harbor for Exploited Minors Act” to protect minors charged with crimes related to trafficking, with several provisions.
School grades. H. 3344 (Hayes) seeks a 10-point grading scale at schools, with other provisions.
GED camps. H. 3353 (Bradley) seeks a two-year pilot program in five counties to test camps to help people get their GED certificates.
Underground power lines. H. 3357 (Hart) seeks to require all power lines installed after 2016 in municipalities to be buried and that all lines must be buried by 2023, with several provisions.
Property amendment. H. 3362 (Hart) seeks a constitutional amendment to change a 15 percent limit on increases in value of real property, with several provisions.
No cell phones while driving. H. 3365 (Hart) seeks to make it unlawful to use a cell phone while driving unless there is a hands-free mechanism.
Local government fund. H. 3374 (Merrill) seeks to make significant changes to the Local Government Fund, including changing the name and a requirement of 4.5 percent of general revenues going to the fund, with several provisions.
Paid sick leave. H. 3396 (M.S. McLeod) seeks to require private employers to offer paid sick leave, with several provisions.
Resignation from office. H. 3407 (Whipper) would require an elected official elected as a member of a party to resign before changing parties.
Uber bill. H. 3414 (Stavrinakis) seeks to exclude companies like Uber from taxi regulations, with many provisions.
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