By Anna Rossow
Gongwer News Service
The Senate Civil Rights, Judiciary and Public Safety Committee on Thursday reported a bill that would require the indigent defense system to include indigent youth.
SB 81 expands the Michigan Indigent Defense Commission ‘s membership to include an attorney with experience in defending youth. Additionally, the bill would alter some standards for determining indigency.
MIDC would also be required to establish further procedures for dissolving disputes with noncompliant indigent defense systems.
“These changes will ensure that the fundamental right of legal counsel is available to all of Michigan’s children,” said Sen. Sue Shink (D-Northfield Township). Shink is the sponsor of the bill and the vice chair of the committee. “I ask that you support this bipartisan bill that ensures children in Michigan will not be denied their constitutional rights. It will be guaranteed fairness, justice and a brighter future.”
This is a reintroduction of HB 4630 of 2024, who was sponsored by Rep. Sarah Lightner (R-Springport), and SB 424 of 2024. HB 4630 passed both chambers last term, but the House never concurred on the bill to send it to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
Lightner said the cost associated with the additional attorney is yet to be determined.
“This particular bill, as in regard to indigent defense, as the senator said, it expands the commission and by one member, somebody who’s actually an expert in juvenile defense,” Lightner said. “The other part is identifying new standards. So, this just makes it so the people that are actually defending our juveniles are educated in juvenile issues.”
The committee also discussed SB 71, which would designate the Mackinac Bridge as critical infrastructure. This would prohibit an individual from entering or remaining on the premises of the bridge without permission.
This would create a felony punishable by up to four years in prison, a maximum fine of $2,500 or both to an individual who trespasses onto the bridge.
It would place the Mackinac Bridge as a “key facility,” which generally are fully enclosed by a physical barrier, such as water.
Bill sponsor Sen. John Damoose (R-Harbor Springs) said some areas listed as key facilities include chemical manufacturing facilities, water intake facilities and natural gas storage facilities.
“Each item on that list is something that’s either so dangerous that an attack would inflict serious harm on our state, or it’s something so absolutely critical to the ongoing functioning of our state,” he said.
“Again, these are things that we cannot live without. The Mackinac Bridge should surely be on that list.”
Damoose also said that if something were to happen to the bridge, it would divide Michigan into two for years and put the state and national economy into “grave danger.”
The bill comes after a bomb threat to the bridge last year and an incident of a man scaling the bridge with a backpack in 2020.
Kim Nowack, director of the Mackinac Bridge Authority, said the man who climbed the bridge tower only faced misdemeanor trespassing, which holds a punishment of a $250 fine or 30 days in jail.
“We feel that the key facility bill needs to be reenacted so that the seriousness of this crime can come forward,” she said. “It was a very hard thing to go through, to have somebody breach our security in that way, and then to use it in social media for his own benefit.”
Senate Civil Rights, Judiciary and Public Safety Committee Chair Stephanie Chang (D-Detroit) said they will vote on SB 71 bill at the next committee meeting.
Gongwer News Service
The Senate Civil Rights, Judiciary and Public Safety Committee on Thursday reported a bill that would require the indigent defense system to include indigent youth.
SB 81 expands the Michigan Indigent Defense Commission ‘s membership to include an attorney with experience in defending youth. Additionally, the bill would alter some standards for determining indigency.
MIDC would also be required to establish further procedures for dissolving disputes with noncompliant indigent defense systems.
“These changes will ensure that the fundamental right of legal counsel is available to all of Michigan’s children,” said Sen. Sue Shink (D-Northfield Township). Shink is the sponsor of the bill and the vice chair of the committee. “I ask that you support this bipartisan bill that ensures children in Michigan will not be denied their constitutional rights. It will be guaranteed fairness, justice and a brighter future.”
This is a reintroduction of HB 4630 of 2024, who was sponsored by Rep. Sarah Lightner (R-Springport), and SB 424 of 2024. HB 4630 passed both chambers last term, but the House never concurred on the bill to send it to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
Lightner said the cost associated with the additional attorney is yet to be determined.
“This particular bill, as in regard to indigent defense, as the senator said, it expands the commission and by one member, somebody who’s actually an expert in juvenile defense,” Lightner said. “The other part is identifying new standards. So, this just makes it so the people that are actually defending our juveniles are educated in juvenile issues.”
The committee also discussed SB 71, which would designate the Mackinac Bridge as critical infrastructure. This would prohibit an individual from entering or remaining on the premises of the bridge without permission.
This would create a felony punishable by up to four years in prison, a maximum fine of $2,500 or both to an individual who trespasses onto the bridge.
It would place the Mackinac Bridge as a “key facility,” which generally are fully enclosed by a physical barrier, such as water.
Bill sponsor Sen. John Damoose (R-Harbor Springs) said some areas listed as key facilities include chemical manufacturing facilities, water intake facilities and natural gas storage facilities.
“Each item on that list is something that’s either so dangerous that an attack would inflict serious harm on our state, or it’s something so absolutely critical to the ongoing functioning of our state,” he said.
“Again, these are things that we cannot live without. The Mackinac Bridge should surely be on that list.”
Damoose also said that if something were to happen to the bridge, it would divide Michigan into two for years and put the state and national economy into “grave danger.”
The bill comes after a bomb threat to the bridge last year and an incident of a man scaling the bridge with a backpack in 2020.
Kim Nowack, director of the Mackinac Bridge Authority, said the man who climbed the bridge tower only faced misdemeanor trespassing, which holds a punishment of a $250 fine or 30 days in jail.
“We feel that the key facility bill needs to be reenacted so that the seriousness of this crime can come forward,” she said. “It was a very hard thing to go through, to have somebody breach our security in that way, and then to use it in social media for his own benefit.”
Senate Civil Rights, Judiciary and Public Safety Committee Chair Stephanie Chang (D-Detroit) said they will vote on SB 71 bill at the next committee meeting.
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