TAMPERING WITH PUBLIC SAFETY DEVICE S.B. 357 & 358: FLOOR ANALYSIS
Senate Bills 357 and 358 (as reported by the Committee of the Whole)
Sponsor: Senator Wayne Kuipers
Committee: Judiciary
CONTENT
Senate Bill 358 would amend the Michigan Penal Code to prescribe criminal penalties for a person who, without lawful authority, tampered with, took, or removed a "public safety device" owned or maintained by the State or a political subdivision of the State, knowing or having reason to know that the device was a public safety device. Except as provided below, a violation would be a misdemeanor punishable by up to 93 days' imprisonment and/or a maximum fine of $1,000.
A violation that rendered the device unavailable or unusable for rescue when needed would be a felony punishable by up to five years' imprisonment and/or a fine of not less than $1,000 or more than $5,000, if it were the proximate cause of serious impairment of a body function of another person. The violation would be punishable by up to 15 years' imprisonment and/or a fine of not less than $2,500 or more than $10,000, if it were the proximate cause of the death of another person.
"Public safety device" would mean a device to render emergency medical assistance to an individual, including a first aid kit, an oxygen supply kit, a cardiac defibrillator, or a stretcher, or a device to prevent or suppress a fire.
Senate Bill 357 would amend the Code of Criminal Procedure to include the felony violations proposed by Senate Bill 358 in the sentencing guidelines. A violation causing serious impairment of a body function would be a Class E felony against a person with a five-year statutory maximum sentence. A violation causing death would be a Class C felony against a person with a 15-year statutory maximum. The bill is tie-barred to Senate Bill 358.
Each bill would take effect 90 days after its enactment.
MCL 777.16x (S.B. 357) Legislative Analyst: Patrick Affholter
Proposed MCL 750.498c (S.B. 358)
FISCAL IMPACT
There are no data to indicate how many offenders would be convicted of the proposed offenses. An offender convicted of the Class C offense would receive a sentencing guidelines minimum sentence range of 0-11 months to 62-114 months. An offender convicted of the Class E offense would receive a sentencing guidelines minimum sentence range of 0-3 months to 24-38 months. Local governments would incur the costs of incarceration in local facilities, which vary by county. The State would incur the cost of felony probation at an annual average cost of $2,000, as well as the cost of incarceration in a State facility at an average annual cost of $30,000. Additional penal fines would benefit public libraries.
Date Completed: 5-17-07 Fiscal Analyst: Lindsay Hollander
Analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent. sb357&358/0708