Senate: Extend lapsed licenses, plates; keep walk-in option
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The Michigan Senate voted Thursday to give drivers more time to renew an expired license and vehicle registration during the coronavirus pandemic and to pressure Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson to restore people’s ability to visit branches without an appointment.
The bills won approval from all 19 Republicans in the majority and six of 16 Democrats. The voting came days after Benson, who opposes a return to a “broken” take-a-number system but is facing legislative criticism, said greeters have been stationed outside busier offices to help motorists book an appointment if they did not make one online or by phone.
The legislation headed to the House would extend the expiration date of plates, driver’s licenses and state ID cards that expired after March 1, 2020, to Sept. 30. A 13-month grace period ended March 31, leading to a backlog as residents seek to conduct transactions.
Benson, a Democrat, is adding 350,000 appointment slots. But lawmakers, particularly Republicans, say there should again be a walk-in option for people with no appointment.
The bills would require Benson to submit a report detailing a plan to reopen all branches for in-person services without an appointment. The Department of State could not charge late renewal fees for driver’s licenses and ID cards until walk-in business is offered at least eight hours each day an office is open.
“The decision to end same-day services and go to an appointment-only system does not work when people still can’t get an appointment for months in many areas,” said Sen. Ruth Johnson, a Holly Republican and sponsor of one bill.
Benson has said reinstating the walk-in option would not work because staff would be diverted, reducing appointment slots and leaving people “standing in line, waiting for hours.”
Ex-assistant state AG enters plea in misconduct case
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. (AP) — A former assistant state attorney general has pleaded no contest to two misdemeanor counts of willful neglect of duty by a public officer.
Brian Kolodziej also agreed Wednesday to a 5-year suspension of his law license, according to the Kent County prosecutor’s office.
Two felony charges of misconduct in office were dismissed. A no-contest plea isn’t an admission of guilt but is treated as such at sentencing.
Kolodziej was charged in December, more than a year after he was forced to resign when authorities learned he had an intimate relationship with a woman while handling her allegations of sexual assault.
Kolodziej was prosecuting a former Central Michigan University student who insisted he had consensual sex with the woman in 2016 after meeting her at a Mount Pleasant bar. The former student pleaded no contest to third-degree criminal sexual conduct and was sent to prison.
Attorney General Dana Nessel agreed the former student could withdraw his plea after Kolodziej’s relationship was uncovered in 2019. He subsequently pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor and was moved to a county jail for the remainder of his one-year sentence.
Kolodziej’s sentencing is scheduled for July 16. The misdemeanor charge carries up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.
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