LANSING — It was a dark and stormy February night for state Rep. Darrin Camilleri and three other drivers along Pelham Road in Wayne County.
The Brownstown Township Democrat hit a pothole, obscured by the darkness and rain- covered roads, and blew a tire on his Ford Focus. In short order, three other vehicles were stranded along the side of the road.
Camilleri hopes to provide some relief from that unlucky, but all too frequent, occurrence for Michigan drivers, with a trio of bills that will make it easier to get reimbursed by the state and local governments for damages caused by potholes.
"The condition of the roads is the No. 1 thing that my constituents want to talk about," he said. "People just want to be able to drive to work and go shopping, but it's costing us as we drive around town."
The bills would require the Michigan Department of Transportation to create a publicly accessible website for people to report potholes and would increase the amount that the state could pay a driver to reimburse for pothole damage from $1,000 to $5,000. Current law requires that any damage claim higher than $1,000 would have to go to the state Court of Claims.
It also would eliminate immunity for government if officials don't fix a pothole within seven days of finding out about it. Current law gives municipalities 30 days to fix a pothole before they become liable for damages to cars.
On state roads, few claims get approved, according to statistics from the Michigan Department of Transportation. Of the 267 claims filed in 2017, only six were approved for a total amount of $1,841. In 2016, only 11 of the 224 claims were approved for $5,983. In January and February of this year, 225 car damage claims have been filed.
While the bills represent a band-aid for Michigan's crumbling roads — and Camilleri acknowledges they're unlikely to get a hearing — he's also having legislation drafted that would allow communities in a county to band together to create infrastructure funds to fix the roads in their towns.
"Before I got to the Legislature, they raised gas tax and registration fees and we haven’t seen any tangible improvements yet," he said. "So if the state isn't going to act, local mayors and township supervisors want to have some way to do it themselves.
Bills introduced last week:
House bills
HB 5810: Replace alternative mental health treatment with assisted outpatient treatment. Sponsor: Rep. Hank Vaupel, R-Fowlerville.
HB 5811: Authorize remote performance of notary public acts. Sponsor: Rep. Diana Farrington, R-Utica.
HB 5812: Prohibit counting pupils paying tuition and out-of-state students recruited to districts in annual student counts. Sponsor: Rep. Jim Runestad, R-White Lake.
HB 5813: Require the use of a standard investigation form involving the physical or financial abuse of a vulnerable or elder adult. Sponsor: Rep. Jim Runestad, R-White Lake.
HB 5814: Reduce the fee for a concealed weapons permit from $100 to $40. Sponsor: Rep. Michele Hoitenga, R-Manton.
HB 5815: Require the Michigan Department of Transportation to publish a public access website for people to report potholes. Sponsor: Rep. Leslie Love, D-Detroit.
HB 5816: Provide an exemption from governmental immunity if a pothole isn’t repaired for seven days or longer after injury or damage happens. Sponsor: Rep. Patrick Green, D-Warren.
HB 5817: Allow the state administrative board to consider claims for pothole damage of up to $5,000. Sponsor: Rep. Darrin Camilleri, D-Brownstown Township.
HB 5818-5819: Allow guardians to consent to mental health treatment for a person they’re caring for. Sponsors: Reps. Vanessa Guerra, D-Saginaw, Klint Kesto, R-Commerce Township.
HB 5820: Revise the procedure for involuntary mental health treatment. Sponsor: Rep. Klint Kesto, R-Commerce Township.
HB 5821: Allow for setting aside convictions for veterans completing probation. Sponsor: Rep. Klint Kesto, R-Commerce Township.
HB 5822: Require all state police officers to carry drugs that will counteract the effects of an opioid overdose. Sponsor: Rep. Abdullah Hammoud, D-Dearborn.
HB 5823: Clarify the application of the Michigan Occupational Health and Safety Act to unpaid workers. Sponsor: Rep. Robert Wittenberg, D-Oak Park.
HB 5824: Require health professionals to report allegations of certain crimes committed by another health professional to the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs. Sponsor: Rep. Holly Hughes, R-White River Township.
HB 5825: Create an income tax credit for military service. Sponsor: Rep. Robert Kosowski, D-Westland.
HB 5826: Require a school district to report information required by the statewide school safety information policy when a pupil transfers to a new school. Sponsor: Rep. Robert Kosowski, D-Westland.
HB 5827: Increase the per-pupil funding formula in the school aid budget. Sponsor: Rep. Robert Kosowski, D-Westland.
HB 5828-5829: Require the Michigan State Police to come up with a comprehensive school safety plan and fund and require schools to designate a school safety liaison and submit inspections to state police. Sponsors: Reps. Jason Wentworth, R-Farwell, Pamela Hornberger, R-Chesterfield Township.
HB 5830: Provide for the adoption of safety protocol procedures and building code standards for schools. Sponsor: Rep. Robert Kosowski, D-Westland.
HB 5831-5833: Revise the allocations of economic development transportation fund projects. Sponsor: Rep. Darrin Camilleri, D-Brownstown Township.
HB 5834: Exclude disability mobility vehicles from driver's license requirement. Sponsor: Rep. Beau LaFave, R-Iron Mountain.
HB 5835: Reduce the number of county commissioner districts in counties with a population of more than 10,000 people to no more than 15, down from 21. Sponsor: Rep. Martin Howrylak, R-Troy.
HB 5836: Allow for the electronic verificiation of boater safety certificates. Sponsor: Rep. Steve Marino, R-Mt. Clemens.
HB 5837: Expand the membership in a joint electric utility agency to another state or Canadian province. Sponsor: Rep. Aaron Miller, R-Sturgis.
HB 5838-5840: Repeal the Michigan financial review commission act that’s included in the emergency manager laws. Sponsor: Rep. Sylvia Santana, D-Detroit.
HB 5841-5842: Remove the population thresholds in the law that allows opting out for public employee contributions to employer-provider health care benefits and modify the requirements for a retirement system to be the subject of state pension oversight. Sponsor: Rep. Sylvia Santana, D-Detroit.
HB 5843-5845: Prohibit the chemical extraction of resin from marijuana unless a facility is licensed. Sponsors: Reps. Trison Cole, R-Mancelona, Joseph Bellino, R-Monroe, Steve Marino, R-Mt. Clemens.
HB 5846-5847: Repeal the law that makes it a crime to possess a trailer that is designed for defense or attack. Sponsors: Reps. Steven Johnson, R-Wayland Township, Aaron Miller, R-Sturgis.
HB 5848: Create an active shooter egress training program in schools. Sponsor: Rep. Tom Barrett, R-Charlotte.
HB 5849: Expand the definition of a peace officer for the purpose of carrying and administering drugs to counteract opioid overdoses to include corrections officers. Sponsor: Rep. Patrick Green, D-Warren.
HB 5850-5851 and SB 957-958: Eliminate the sunset on the student safety act and require schools to report attempted acts of violence. Sponsors: Reps. Brandt Iden, R-Kalamazoo, Beau LaFave, R-Iron Mountain, Sens. Darwin Booher, R-Evart, Kenneth Horn, R-Frankenmuth.
HB 5852 and SB 959: Modify the Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards to include active shooter training for law enforcement officers. Sponsors: Reps. Joseph Bellino, R-Monroe, Sen. Dale Zorn, R-Ida.
Senate bills
SB 943: Increase fees to dispose of waste in landfills and deposit the revenue in the Clean Michigan Fund to be used to deal with contaminated sites. Sponsor: Sen. Mike Nofs, R-Battle Creek.
SB 944-945: Modify the way the Department of Transportation calculates the mileage of the state’s highways, roads and streets and allocate increased vehicle registration fees to the county where the driver lives. Sponsor: Sen. Steven Bieda, D-Warren.
SB 946: Create the skilled trades training fund in the Michigan Strategic Fund. Sponsor: Sen. Kenneth Horn, R-Frankenmuth.
SB 947: Extend the sunset on the law that allows a retired school employee to be employed at the school without forfeiting retirement benefits or health care coverage. Sponsor: Sen. Phillip Pavlov, R-St. Clair.
SB 948: Designate the monarch butterfly as the official state insect. Sponsor: Sen. James Marleau, R-Lake Orion.
SB 949: Allow an elected or appointed official’s name and title to be on absentee ballot related materials sent to voters as long as the official's picture is not included on the envelope or contents. Sponsor: Sen. James Marleau, R-Lake Orion.
SB 950: Modify the requirements that insurance companies provide privacy policies to customers. Sponsor: Sen. Jim Stamas, R-Midland.
SB 951-952: Modify the jurisdiction for prosecution for delivery of a controlled substance causing death. Sponsor: Sen. Vincent Gregory, D-Southfield, Dale Zorn, R-Ida.
SB 953: Require certified mail notification of a pending cancellation of a life insurance policy. Sponsor: Sen. James Marleau, R-Lake Orion.
SB 954-956: Allow for victims of certain crimes to request confidentiality for their driver’s licenses and state identification card addresses. Sponsor: Sen. Rick Jones, R-Grand Ledge.
For more information or to track the progress of bills, go to www.legislature.mi.gov
