The Board of Commissioners will conduct an electronic vote to take a position on these bills on or after June 7, 2023. Members of the Bar who wish to submit comments on it to the Board may do so through the comment submission form, or by emailing Nathan Triplett, Director of Governmental Relations at ntriplett@michbar.org.

1. Juvenile Justice Legislation

HB 4624 (Morse) Human services: children's services; county child care fund reimbursement rate; increase. Amends sec. 117a of 1939 PA 280 (MCL 400.117a).

HB 4625 (Carter) Juveniles: criminal procedure; use of screening tool for minors eligible for a certain diversion option; require. Amends secs. 2, 3, 6 & 9 of 1988 PA 13 (MCL 722.822 et seq.).

HB 4626 (Hope) Juveniles: other; length of time youth can be placed on precourt diversion program; limit. Amends secs. 5 & 6 of 1988 PA 24 (MCL 722.825 & 722.826).

HB 4627 (Tsernoglou) Courts: family division; use of risk and needs assessment for juveniles in the juvenile justice system before disposition; require. Amends sec. 18, ch. XIIA of 1939 PA 288 (MCL 712A.18).

HB 4628 (Brabec) Courts: family division; use of screening tool for minors sought to be placed on the consent calendar; require. Amends sec. 2f, ch. XIIA of 1939 PA 288 (MCL 712A.2f).

HB 4629 (O’Neal) Juveniles: other; detention of juveniles in certain circumstances; modify. Amends sec. 15 & 16, ch. XIIA of 1939 PA 288 (MCL 712A.15 & 712A.16).

HB 4630 (Lightner) Courts: other; Michigan indigent defense commission act; expand duties to include indigent defense of youth. Amends title & secs. 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 21 & 23 of 2013 PA 93 (MCL 780.983 et seq.).

HB 4631 (Lightner) Courts: other; duties of the appellate defender; include requirement to defend youth. Amends title & secs. 2, 4, 6 & 7 of 1978 PA 620 (MCL 780.712 et seq.) & adds secs. 1a & 8a.

HB 4633 (Breen) Juveniles: other; factors in designating or waiving certain juvenile cases; require the court to consider, and place certain limits on consent calendar plans. Amends secs. 2d, 2f & 4, ch. XIIA of 1939 PA 288 (MCL 712A.2d et seq.).

HB 4634 (Hope) Juveniles: other; juvenile fines, fees, and costs; eliminate. Amends secs. 2f, 18, 28 & 29 of 1939 PA 288 (MCL 712A.2f et seq.); adds sec. 29a to ch. XIIA & repeals sec. 18m, ch. XIIA of 1939 PA 288 (MCL 712A.18m).

HB 4635 (Andrews) Juveniles: other; DNA fine for juveniles; eliminate. Amends sec. 6 of 1990 PA 250 (MCL 28.176).

HB 4636 (Dievendorf) Juveniles: other; late fee for juveniles; eliminate. Amends sec. 4803 of 1961 PA 236 (MCL 600.4803).

HB 4637 (Glanville) Juveniles: other; juvenile sentenced as adult fee; eliminate. Amends sec. 1, ch. IX of 1927 PA 175 (MCL 769.1).

2. Pretrial Incarceration Reform Legislation

HB 4655 (Young) Criminal procedure: bail; procedure for pretrial release determinations, criteria a court must consider for pretrial release determination, and reporting of data on pretrial release decisions; provide for. Amends sec. 6 & 6a, ch. V of 1927 PA 175 (MCL 765.6 & 765.6a) & adds sec. 6g, ch. V.

HB 4656 (Hope) Criminal procedure: bail; criteria a court must consider before imposing certain conditions of release and due process hearing related to pretrial detention; provide for. Amends sec. 6b, ch. V of 1927 PA 175 (MCL 765.6b) & adds sec. 6f, ch. V.

HB 4662 (VanWoerkom) Criminal procedure: other; certain definitions in the code of criminal procedure and time period required for disposition of criminal charges; provide for. Amends sec. 1, ch. I & sec. 1, ch. VIII of 1927 PA 175 (MCL 761.1 & 768.1).

3. Criminal Justice Sentencing Commission

HB 4384 (Meerman) Criminal procedure: sentencing; duties of the Michigan sentencing commission; provide for. Amends 1927 PA 175 (MCL 760.1 - 777.69) by adding sec. 34b to ch. IX.

June 9, 2023
Board of Commissioners
Public Policy Items To Be Considered

Members who wish to share comments on any of the items below may do so by filling out a Public Policy Comment form or emailing ntriplett@michbar.org before 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, June 6, 2023.

A. Court Rule Amendments

1. ADM File No. 2019-33: Proposed Rescission of Administrative Order No. 2021-7 and Proposed Adoption of the Michigan Continuing Judicial Education Rules
Pursuant to Administrative Order No. 2021-7, the Mandatory Continuing Judicial Education (MCJE) Board proposed a set of rules that would govern the MCJE program, and the Court has published them for comment. Many of the rules directly correlate with a provision in AO 2021-7, though there are some additions and differences between the AO and the proposed rules. The MCJE program is set to take effect on January 1, 2024.

2. ADM File No. 2020-31: Proposed Amendment of MRPC 1.8
The proposed amendment of MRPC 1.8 would allow attorneys to provide certain assistance to indigent clients they are serving on a pro bono basis.

3. ADM File No. 2021-10: Proposed Amendment of the Michigan Rules of Evidence
The proposed amendments of the Michigan Rules of Evidence (MRE) reflect the work of the Michigan Rules of Evidence Committee established by Administrative Order No. 2021-8. The Committee was tasked with restyling the MREs in an effort to remain as consistent as possible with the 2011 restyling of the Federal Rules of Evidence. Major reorganization of the rules appears in MRE 803 and MRE 804 where the residual exceptions found in both rules are moved into a new MRE 807, and in MRE 804 where the exception regarding deposition testimony is moved up from subrule (b)(5) to proposed subrule (b)(2).

4. ADM File No. 2023-06: Amendments of MCR 6.001 and 8.119 and Addition of MCR 6.451 with concurrent comment period
The amendment of MCR 8.119 requires courts to restrict access to case records involving set aside convictions similar to how MCL 780.623 restricts access to records maintained by the Michigan State Police. The amendment further requires the court to redact information regarding any conviction that has been set aside before that record is made available. The addition of MCR 6.451 requires the court to provide notice and an opportunity to be heard before reinstating a conviction for failure to make a good faith effort to pay restitution under MCL 780.621h(3) and to order the reinstatement on an SCAO-approved form. The amendment of MCR 6.001 clarifies that MCR 6.451 applies to cases cognizable in the district courts.

5. ADM File No. 2023-06: Proposed Amendments of MCR 6.110 and 8.119
The proposed amendment of MCR 8.119 would require all case records maintained by the district court to become nonpublic immediately after bindover to the circuit court. This proposal would also amend MCR 6.110(G) to expand the types of documents that must be transmitted to the circuit court to ensure appropriate public access in the circuit court. The proposal would consolidate public access in the circuit court case file and would also uniformly ensure that information regarding set aside criminal offenses in the circuit court cannot be separately accessed in the district court case file.

B. Legislation

1. HB 4421 (Young) Civil procedure: other; certain public video recordings of court proceedings; allow the victims' faces to be blurred. Amends secs. 8, 38 & 68 of 1985 PA 87 (MCL 780.758 et seq.).

2. SB 0248 (Lauwers) Courts: other; age requirement for the use of a courtroom support dog; modify. Amends sec. 2163a of 1961 PA 236 (MCL 600.2163a).

3. SB 0257 (Runestad) Civil procedure: other; video recordings of court proceedings; provide for availability and review. Amends 1961 PA 236 (MCL 600.101 - 600.9947) by adding sec. 1429.

4. Resentencing Upon Petition
SB 0321 (Chang) Criminal procedure: sentencing; resentencing upon petition of certain prisoners; provide process for. Amends secs. 12 & 25, ch. IX of 1927 PA 175 (MCL 769.12 & 769.25) & adds secs. 27a, 27b, 27c, 27d, 27e, 27f, 27g & 27h to ch. IX.

HB 4556 (Hope) Criminal procedure: sentencing; resentencing upon petition of certain prisoners; provide process for. Amends secs. 12 & 25, ch. IX of 1927 PA 175 (MCL 769.12 & 769.25) & adds secs. 27a, 27b, 27c, 27d, 27e, 27f, 27g & 27h to ch. IX.

SB 0322 (Wojno) Corrections: prisoners; corrections code of 1953; amend to reflect requirement for department of corrections to provide certain notification to prisoners. Amends secs. 33e & 34 of 1953 PA 232 (MCL 791.233e & 791.234) & adds sec. 34e.

HB 4557 (Neeley) Corrections: prisoners; corrections code of 1953; amend to reflect requirement for department of corrections to provide certain notification to prisoners. Amends secs. 33e & 34 of 1953 PA 232 (MCL 791.233e & 791.234) & adds sec. 34e.

SB 0323 (Polehanki) Crime victims: notices; crime victim's rights act; amend to reference rights of crime victims in certain prisoner resentencing. Amends secs. 13 & 41 of 1985 PA 87 (MCL 780.763 & 780.791).

HB 4558 (Wilson) Crime victims: notices; crime victim's rights act; amend to reference rights of crime victims in certain prisoner resentencing. Amends secs. 13 & 41 of 1985 PA 87 (MCL 780.763 & 780.791).

SB 0324 (Bayer) Criminal procedure: sentencing; penalties for certain crimes of imprisonment for life without parole eligibility; amend public health code to reflect potential resentencing. Amends sec. 17764 of 1978 PA 368 (MCL 333.17764).

HB 4559 (McKinney) Criminal procedure: sentencing; penalties for certain crimes of imprisonment for life without parole eligibility; amend public health code to reflect potential resentencing. Amends sec. 17764 of 1978 PA 368 (MCL 333.17764).

SB 0325 (Irwin) Crimes: penalties; penalties for certain crimes of imprisonment for life without parole eligibility; amend Michigan penal code to reflect potential resentencing. Amends secs. 16, 18, 200i, 204, 207, 209, 210, 211a, 227b, 316, 436, 520b & 543f of 1931 PA 328 (MCL 750.16 et seq.).

HB 4560 (Aiyash) Crimes: penalties; penalties for certain crimes of imprisonment for life without parole eligibility; amend Michigan penal code to reflect potential resentencing. Amends secs. 16, 18, 200i, 204, 207, 209, 210, 211a, 227b, 316, 436, 520b & 543f of 1931 PA 328 (MCL 750.16 et seq.).

C. Model Criminal Jury Instructions

M Crim JI 37.1c
The Committee proposes a new jury instruction, M Crim JI 37.1c (Using False Documents to Deceive Principal or Employer), for the crime found at MCL 750.125(3). The instruction is entirely new.

M Crim JI 40.4
The Committee proposes a new jury instruction, M Crim JI 40.4 (Furnishing Alcohol to a Minor), for the crime found at MCL 436.1701. The instruction is entirely new.