Deb Kennedy

Early life and education

Career

2008 election

Legislation introduced

• House Bill 6070 to revise the 2008 law mandating that natural gas utilities reduce the amount of energy they provide by.75 percent each year beginning in 2013. The bill would require that beginning in 2015 utilities reduce the amount of gas they provide by 1.75 percent, and by 2.0 percent beginning in 2016.
• House Resolution 251 recognizing April 20, 2010, as Equal Pay Day in the state of Michigan. Passed in the House by voice vote on April 20, 2010.
• House Bill 5812 to expand the exception for "service dogs” in the law against bringing animals into a restaurant, and allowing them to be banned from other places of public accommodation. The bill would instead make the exception for “service animals,” defined as any animal trained to perform tasks for a person with disabilities.
• House Bill 5800 to require any lawsuit alleging violation by the state of the 1978 Headlee amendment provision prohibiting the state from imposing unfunded mandates on local governments to be filed in the state Appeals Court, rather than in circuit court. Under current law either is allowed. The bill prohibits the court from requiring the allegations in a suit to be any more specific than is generally required in a civil action, and establishes court procedures for adjudicating the case “as rapidly as possible consistent with achieving justice”.
• House Bill 5699 to extend the statute of limitations for certain criminal sexual conduct offenses committed against minors.
• House Bill 5639 to prohibit the reasonable use of physical force on a public school student for purposes of maintaining order and control and providing an environment conducive to safety and learning. Instead, force would only be allowed in an emergency situation when a student's unpredictable, spontaneous behavior causes a threat of imminent, serious physical harm, and can't be immediately prevented by any less restrictive measure. Reasonable physical force would be allowed to break up a fight, take away a weapon, or to remove or hold for a brief time a student in order to prevent impulsive behavior that threatens his or her safety. The bill would explicitly allow the “brief holding by an adult in order to calm or comfort”.
• House Joint Resolution MM to place before voters in the next general election a Constitutional amendment to place in the constitution the distribution formula for the money collected under the $7.50 per ton landfill tipping fee proposed by House Bill 5558, or by similar bills. Most of the money would be distributed to local governments for recycling programs.
• House Bill 5510 to allow – but not require – a child who reaches age 5 before September 1 to enroll in a public school kindergarten. Under current law the cut-off is December 1. This bill amends that law that allows a public school to collect state funding for students from age 5 through age 19.
• House Resolution 120 to memorialize the Congress of the United States to enact the Prevention First Act to increase access to birth control to prevent unintended pregnancies and reduce the need for abortions.
• House Bill 5049 to clarify that solid waste transfer facilities that come under an exemption from state construction permit and operating license requirements because they are limited to certain quantities of waste must only accept waste that is “uncompacted”.
• House Concurrent Resolution 20 calling on Governor Granholm to divest all state money from certain hedge funds refusing to accept a settlement on the Chrysler bonds they hold and urging other states to divest their holdings in these hedge funds, should these hedge funds fail to agree on a bond settlement before today's deadline on concluding an agreement. Passed in the House on April 30, 2009.
• House Resolution 84 to profess an assertion that "women are paid only 78 cents for every dollar a man is paid," and an assertion that "according to the AFL-CIO, Michigan is ranked 45th in the United States for wage parity with Michigan women paid only 72 cents for every dollar a man is paid," and "proclaim April 28, 2009, as Equal Pay Day in the state of Michigan". Passed in the House on April 28, 2009.
• House Bill 4818 to authorize Michigan Economic Growth Act business tax breaks for “green chemistry” projects, defined as ones that “design chemical products or processes that reduce or eliminate the use or generation of hazardous substances, and develop safer bio-based chemicals and materials”. Passed in the House on May 19, 2009.
• House Bill 4772 to exempt meetings of the Michigan Employment Relations Commission from the Open Meetings Act, which requires all meetings of a public body to be open to the public. The MERC is empowered to issue authoritative rulings and orders that deem the actions of one side or the other in a labor dispute to be unfair labor practices prohibited by the state's labor law.
• House Bill 4795 to prohibit “orders of filiation” and related paternity suit court documents from containing personal identifying information other than a person's name and address, with some exceptions. “Personal identifying information” includes a person's telephone number, driver license or state personal identification card number, social security number, workplace and more.
• House Bill 4718 to revise the Michigan Economic Growth Authority Act to allow the auto industry supplier subsidies authorized by House Bill 4126.
• House Bill 4699 to prohibit the manufacture or distribution of products containing decabromodiphenyl ethers, which are a commonly used flame retardant for electronics, furniture, mattresses, etc. Passed in the House on January 27, 2010.
• House Resolution 41 to urge the state of Michigan to ensure that the economic stimulus funding in Michigan be spent on American-made materials to the greatest extent possible. Passed in the House by voice vote on March 26, 2009.
• House Bill 4544 to require a firm eligible for obsolete property rehabilitation tax breaks to be in compliance with the corporate responsibility standards proposed by House Bill 4553. Passed in the House on March 25, 2010.
• House Bill 4317 to allow retroactive lawsuits back to 1996 to be filed for three years against drug makers for drugs approved by the U.S. Food And Drug Administration that were sold in Michigan since 1996. The bill is tie-barred to House Bill 4044, which would repeal a 1996 tort reform law under which such lawsuits were prohibited over FDA approved drugs. Passed in the House on March 26, 2009.

• A substitute to 2009 House Bill 4699 to replace the previous version of the bill with one that revises details but does not change the substance of the bill as previously described. The substitute failed in the House by voice vote on January 27, 2010.
• An amendment to 2009 House Bill 4699 to require sellers or manufacturers of the banned products in Michigan to submit annual reports prior to when the total ban goes into effect detailing the amount they have made or sold nationwide during the year. The amendment passed in the House by voice vote on January 27, 2010.

  Personal life