After two previous unsuccessful attempts, the Senate was finally able to secure immediate effort (IE) on House Bill 4158 Thursday, following an amendment to delay the measure’s effective date to September 1, 2011. The legislation, sponsored by Representative Lisa Posthumus Lyons (R-Alto) eliminates the requirement for retailers to individually mark items with price tags.
The Senate passed the legislation Tuesday, but had since been unable to secure IE as one Republican Senator voted with the Democrats, resulting in a total of 25, one-short of the required two-thirds majority. Without the eventual passage of the IE motion, the legislation would not have gone into effect until April 1st of 2012.
In an unexpected twist, the amendment delaying the effective date to September 1 resulted in five additional Democratic votes for IE, including Leader Gretchen Whitmer (D-East Lansing). The House concurred in the Senate changes later Thursday.