Senate Roll Call 465:
Motion to "blow up" the re-write of the expiring Michigan Telecommunication Act (as some press reports described it), by adopting <i>en masse</i> all the Senate floor amendments described on the <a href="http://www.michiganvotes.org/2005-SB-754">main page of this bill</a>. Allowing the unchecked alteration of the bill undermined the extensive negotiations and committee work that had resulted in the bill described on that main page as the "substitute offered in the Senate." Sen. Sikkema, who is the Senate Majority Leader, told reporters that many of the amendments sponsored by Democrats were intended to generate roll call votes that would cast Republican opponents as “anti-consumer.” Consequently, he was sending the "blown up" bill to the House in hopes that it "makes decisions based on policy as opposed to politics.” The final version of the legislation is likely to crafted by a House-Senate conference committee after the House passes its version of a new telecom law. This “conference report” would then be subject to an up-or-down vote without amendment. If no bill is passed before Dec. 31, 2005, then all phone service would become unregulated in Michigan beginning Jan. 1, 2006
