2003 House Bill 4655 ↩

Senate Roll Call 681: Passed

To provide sentencing guidelines for the crime defined by House Bill 4656 of an intoxicated medical professional providing treatment. The bill would make this grounds for action by a medical disciplinary subcommittee. The health care provider would be subject to license limitation, suspension, revocation, or denial, probation, restitution, community service, or a fine. The bill is also being used as a "vehicle" for a change in the “Michigan Medicaid Quality Assurance Assessment” (MMQAA) “fees” on health care facilities adopted by the previous legislature (see 2001-2002 Senate Bills 589, 748 and 1323, and House Bills 4057, 5103 and 6327). The change was made necessary because of a 2003 state court ruling which determined that the "fees" were actually a non-voluntary tax, as defined by a recent state Supreme Court ruling (Bolt v. City of Lansing, see 2001 House Bill 4437), and so was not authorized by those earlier bills. (When those bills passed supporters contended that they were not a tax increase.) Losing the tax (or "fee") revenue could potentially cost the state $190 million in federal Medicaid matching funds.