Gov. Snyder Signs Numerous Bills In First Week Out Of Lame Duck
Energy, wrongful conviction, and ridesharing legislation among new laws the governor has signed.
The state Legislature has been out of session for a week, and already Gov. Rick Snyder has been working through the pile of bills waiting for a decision from him.
Snyder says he has over 240 bills to go through, but he is making progress.
Two of the biggest bills he has signed are legislation he helped create. In the final hours of lame duck, Snyder helped broker a deal to pass legislation that revamps Michigan’s energy policy.
“It was a great bipartisan effort,” Snyder said. “It was a great case of watching various coalitions come together and all get behind something and I’m proud.”
Michigan will also start to see changes to the criminal justice system. Gov. Snyder signed legislation that will compensate the wrongfully convicted. They will be eligible for $50,000 for every year spent in prison and reentry services.
Bill sponsor, state Sen. Steve Bieda (D-Warren), said he has been working on the legislation since 2003.
“They’re not going to get rich off this,” he said. “But they are going to have a chance to do something that is meaningful and allow them to move forward.”
Snyder also signed statewide regulations for rideshare companies like Uber and Lyft.
State Rep. Tom Barrett (R-Potterville) sponsored one of the regulation bills. He said having ridesharing regulations vary by city caused confusion if a driver went from one city to another.
“If you are essentially calling on Uber or Lyft to come pick you up and take you some place you could cross jurisdictional boundaries, things of that sort to where you would run into a whole host of different local ordinance regulations,” he said.
Still waiting for a decision from the governor are bills on seclusion and restraint and legislation that would create a veterans facility authority, among others.
