Hello Neighbor,

As usual, there was a ton of mayhem on the House Floor this week…a prime example of what NOT to do when conducting legislative business:

• It wasn’t until Monday night at 6pm that my office received notification of the 30+ bills we would be voting on TuesdayWednesday. This gave all members of the legislature less than 48 hours to read, analyze, share and seek wise counsel on 30+ bills before they are voted on. Moreover, this extremely short time period makes it challenging for elected officials to conduct adequate due diligence before the vote.
• Bills that come up for vote when legislative business is conducted are considered “read” by their title only. The current House Rules don’t require the reading of bill content during session publicly before a vote.
• Members could only give a floor speech on one of the 30+ bills. This discourages adequate public debate before a vote takes place during session. I was disallowed from making the multiple speeches I worked hard to draft this week.
• Just about every single amendment to bills on the House floor is shot down within a few seconds.
Our Founding Fathers had a very different visions of what government is supposed to look like. Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Franklin and other architects of the U.S. Constitution supported a government with checks and balances with robust debate among elected representatives before bills are voted on.

As you can tell, the culture of state government is the exact opposite of what our Founding Fathers envisioned. Nevertheless, I will do my best to navigate these uncharted waters to the best of my ability, so help me God.

I’m here to serve you in complete transparency. I’m an autism clinician, not a politician. Only 2 of 110 State Representatives in Michigan reported every vote they made (and “why”) last term. All of my votes/reasons thus far can be found on www.repschriver.com. My most recent votes and reasons (thru 6/17/23) can be found below:

HB4153 and SB125: Government Grant Program w/o Funding Details
NO – The Michigan Department of Transportation is establishing a grant program that will allow municipalities to receive transportation funding to construct railroad underpasses in places with traffic backups. Some railroad crossings that struggle with a lot of congestion may need some infrastructure upgrades; however, this bill fails to put first things first.
Some vital details are missing from the bill, including:

• A ballpark figure of how much each railroad underpass will cost in construction costs
• How many grants will be administered per year
• How much this grant program will require in MDOT funding
• What metrics the Michigan Department of Transportation will use to measure the effectiveness of this program.
I cannot support this bill until I get a better idea of how much in tax dollars this will cost. They should spell this out upfront – not try to “figure it out later.”

HB4153 PASSED: 95-14; SB125 PASSED: 93-16

HB4495-4496: Unconstitutional Government Health Care & Power to Unelected Bureaucrats

NO – First, government-run health care is not Constitutional.
Also, according to the House Fiscal Agency, this bill would remove several provisions from the Healthy Michigan plan:

• Convene a symposium to examine the issues of emergency department over-utilization and improper use and issue a report with recommendations
• Contract with an independent third-party vendor to review required reports on uncompensated care to develop a methodology for tracking costs and cost reductions and their effect on health insurance rates, with recommendations for annual review.
• Repeal Section 105c, which required the DHHS director to submit recommendations regarding Medicaid eligibility to legislative leaders and the State Budget office, and section 105f, which required directors of DHHS and DIFS to establish a Michigan Health Care Cost and Quality Advisory Committee and report its recommendations.
• Provision on the Healthy Michigan Plan that eliminates the program if net costs become greater than net savings.
Also, this gives more power to unelected bureaucrats instead of the Michigan legislature. According to the Fiscal agency, “The bill also would remove provisions requiring DHHS to submit a written copy of approved waiver provisions from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to the legislature and requiring DHHS to pursue any or all necessary waivers to enroll persons eligible for both Medicaid and Medicare into the four integrated care demonstration regions.”

HB 4495 PASSED: 80-27; HB 4496 PASSED: 83-24

HB4515 – Permanent License Fees to Drive Off Road Vehicles (like ATV’s) on Public Land

NO — It seems like Lansing has a “fee” for just about everything. Does Lansing really need to force residents to pay a fee to drive a snowmobile across a lake when it is frozen? What about riding an ATV on a trail maintained by the DNR?

Did you know that Lansing even charges a $100 fine if you fail to report a deer harvest to the Department of Natural Resources within a couple of days? Where does it end?

I voted against this bill because this fee is totally unnecessary.
PASSED: 79-30

SB50/HB4457: $40 Million Taxpayer Funded Holiday (Juneteenth) for Government/Bank Workers

NO – It is estimated that a single holiday for government workers costs Michigan taxpayers between $30-$40 Million. I cannot justify giving government workers another day off funded by Michigan residents unless there is a functional reason to do so, like Election Day.

PASSED: 105-4

HB4616-4617 – Legalized Medical Malpractice

NO – This bill package would require mental health professionals throughout the State of Michigan to affirm a minor’s perceived gender identity (not the one listed on their birth certificate) and develop a plan to help them “transition” when they are considering making a life-altering change that is irreversible.

Doctors must refrain from warning patients about its negative ramifications, or they could lose their license from the state to practice medicine.

According to the American Society of Pediatricians, there is zero evidence to demonstrate the safety or efficacy of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries for transgender-believing youth.
Some issues with it:

• The best long-term research shows that individuals who do go through medical transition kill themselves at a rate 19 times greater than the general population.[1]
• Youth transition is considered to be experimental – which means parents cannot provide informed consent, and minors cannot assent to these interventions.
• World renowned Swedish psychiatrist Dr. Christopher Gillberg has said that pediatric transition is “possibly one of the greatest scandals in medical history.”[2]

Most minors are not in a position where they are mature enough to make their own medical decisions. They rely on the experience of medical professionals to guide them in the right direction.

And why is the state forcing doctors to prescribe medical treatments that are considered by many doctors to be experimental?
The #1 rule of the Hippocratic Oath: “do no harm.” When patients go to the doctor for medical treatment, they expect the professional to be upfront about the potential medical and psychological side effects of a medical procedure.
Under this bill, disclosing them will soon be illegal if the Governor signs it.
This law could force many therapists, foster care centers and adoption agencies to either close their doors – or shut down their beliefs just to practice medicine.

Also, multiple courts, including the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, have held that these “counseling censorship” laws violate fundamental freedoms guaranteed by the Free Speech Clause. The Supreme Court itself strongly hinted in a recent opinion that similar laws enacted in California and New Jersey are not Constitutional.

PASSED: 56-53

HB4159 – Designates the Black Swallowtail Butterfly as the Official State Butterfly for the State of Michigan

YES – The black swallowtail, also known as Papilio polyxenes, is a popular North American butterfly. Currently, Michigan is one of the few states without an official state insect. This bill would change that.

PASSED: 67-42

HB4695-4702; 4594; 4569 – Election Interference Bill Package

NO — According to one clerk that reached out to my office, “These bills would not only fail township clerks, who are the critical backbone to the election administration in the State of Michigan, but would also massively fail Michigan voters… it will send the Michigan election system into chaos.”
I’m sure that even some Michiganders who voted in favor of Proposal 2 did not expect to see the following provisions taken up for a vote in the legislature:

• Allowing drivers to get paid to drive voters to the polls
• Allowing teenagers to pre-register to vote once they turn 18
• Prohibiting the challenge of ballots if a voter registers to vote the same day but does not present proper identification
• Allowing printing of ballots on-demand. The recording of voted ballots, verification of chain of custody, and the ability to recount ballots are compromised by eliminating key checks and balances in the process precinct by precinct.

• Allowing voters to go to ANY early voting center within the county that they live in to cast their ballot. There is NO provision within this bill package for a real-time verification that the voter has not voted elsewhere. They will not be “caught” until later on.

According to a Gallup poll released in February of 2020, 59% of Americans say they are no longer confident in the integrity of our election systems.[3] These bills could push that number much higher in the Great Lakes State, at a time when public trust is at an all-time low.

Our election systems should have checks and balances to make our election systems bulletproof. The Constitution requires the legislature to have a zero tolerance policy for election corruption. America will NOT remain a free country if Michigan does not have secure elections.

Bills like this only legitimize election corruption and make one of America’s most corrupt state governments even worse. Michigan was recently ranked dead last among all 50 states by the Center for Public Integrity for its lack of transparency.
Didn’t think it could get any worse? Well…many of our politicians chose to stand on the side of tyranny rather than freedom and liberty by supporting bills that will make government corruption even more prevalent.

4695-4701: PASSED 56-53; 4702: PASSED 62-47

HB4191-4194 – Allow Secretary of State to Give Driver’s Licenses to Parolees Before Release

NO – This bill package allows this department to issue driver’s licenses to prisoners before they are released from custody.
When HB4191 was proposed, they tried to change the application requirements for driver’s licenses, allowing Michigan residents to list their “gender” instead of their “sex” on the application. Many concerns were raised by other lawmakers about a potential loophole that would allow Secretary of State branch offices to issue driver’s licenses with a different gender than the one listed on birth certificates.
This bill package was amended to change it back to “sex”; however, the final version was not clear on the precise legal definition of “sex.”
It’s only a matter of time before the Attorney General’s office says the legal definition of “sex” and “gender” in the Michigan legal system is “outdated” and needs to be expanded to account for “gender fluidity”, which could nullify the intent of the adopted amendment.

4191 PASSED: 73-36; 4192 PASSED: 73-36; 4193 PASSED 74-35; 4194 PASSED 73-36

HB4173 & 4384 – Creates a Criminal Justice Commission in State Government

NO –This would create a new layer of government-funded bureaucracy tasked with studying, analyzing, and making recommendations on matters that are already within the responsibilities of existing departments and commissions. This new commission would be in charge of massive areas of criminal justice policy, including bail reform and a rewriting of the criminal sentencing guidelines

Several issues with this bill:

• This bill gives a ton of power to the Executive branch. Only a handful of the appointees will be selected by the legislature. The rest will be selected by the Governor’s office.
• This bill package gives more power to unelected bureaucrats to craft criminal justice reform – at the expense of lawmakers elected by their constituents.
PASSED: 56-53
[1] The Myth About Suicide and Gender Dysphoric Children by the American Society of Pediatricians
[2] Doctors back inquiry into kids’ trans care – The Australian
[3] Faith in Elections in Relatively Short Supply in U.S. by RJ Reinhart – Gallup Poll – February 13, 2020

In Christ,
Josh Schriver
State Representative (MI-66)