LANSING (WKZO-AM) — The lame duck Legislature has been putting in some long hours as their session is set to end Thursday.
There were a lot of minor technical matters that were approved. They also OK’d a package of bills that might just save your life one day.
The measures, sponsored by Sen. Tonya Schuitmaker, R-Lawton, require schools to train all high school students how to perform CPR before graduation. It was given overwhelming bipartisan support and has been sent to the governor’s desk. Only students who cannot physically perform CPR would be exempt.
Schuitmaker said it’s a numbers game. With only a small percentage of the current population trained, a heart attack sufferer has less of a chance of surviving if there is no one around who can start the procedure. The more who know how to respond in those “golden minutes” immediately after a heart attack, the better the odds the victim will survive.
The training will also include how to use an automated external defibrillator, a device that isn’t always available, but can make all the difference when they are.
The legislation is supported by the American Heart Association, American College of Cardiology, Michigan Association of Ambulance Services, Michigan College of Emergency Physicians, Michigan Emergency Nurses Association, Michigan Fraternal Order of Police, Michigan State Medical Society and SaveMIHeart.
They are all encouraging the governor to sign it.
The bill cleared the House during a marathon session that began yesterday and did not end until early this morning.
Also approved was legislation that was sparked over a dozen years ago when 15-year-old Michael Renner Lewis III died from prolonged physical restraint at Parchment High School. It cleared the legislature yesterday and is headed for Governor Snyder’s desk.
The bills require that teachers in Michigan schools be trained to restrain students that pose a danger to themselves or others the proper way, but only in emergency situations. Portage Sen. Margaret O’Brien, R-Portage, has been working on the legislation for some time. She finally got it passed last night, with the support of Lt. Governor Brian Calley, who has an autistic child.
The measures direct the Department of Education to develop policies on the use of seclusion and restraints following guidelines set down in the legislation.
Lawmakers in Lansing worked through the night to clear their backlog of unfinished legislation before the session ends and all those bills die.
The Energy Reform Package is still in play with one day left, but a last-ditch attempt to push an auto insurance reform bill through has fallen short because Rep. Edward Canfield says there is nothing in it for the insured.
They did approve bills that allow landlords to ban medical marijuana use on their properties, eliminate a 10 percent bond for people who have had their property seized by police, and allow retailers to ship beer, wine and liquor by mail.
Bills that died are a voter identification restriction that Democrats opposed, “dark stores” legislation from Rep. Dave Maturen, R-Vicksburg, that would have leveled out property taxation for big box stores and a proposal by Rep. Al Pscholka, R-Stevensville, restricting the use of rainy day funds.
