Gretchen Whitmer had a busy day on January 22nd, as she passed 19 commonsense, bipartisan bills to make Michigan schools, communities, and homes safer. She would also pass an executive order that would ensure the diverse needs of students and teachers are represented on the new School Safety and Mental Health Commission. These Bills went against things like hate crimes, making schools safer, and sextortion crimes.
Some of those 19 bills that were passed dealt with keeping Michigan schools safe like House Bills 5450 and 5451 sponsored by state Reps. Sharon MacDonell (D-Troy) and Julie Brixie (D-Okemos). These bills are to help protect children from gun violence and keep them safe. It states that information will be given to families about gun safety and keeping firearms secured and away from children. These bills aim to lower the rates of school shootings as nationally more than 70% of shootings have a firearm involved that belonged to a parent or close family member (Michigan.gov). MacDonell would say “Michigan has seen far too many school shootings. Last term, Democrats passed a number of monumental laws that help curb gun violence throughout the state. Our kids, teachers, and families deserve safety and security at home and in their classrooms.”
This Bill is super important and it being signed means that Michigan is looking to take the right direction in getting away from school shootings. The infamous Oxford School shooting in 2021 still lingers in many homes and it’s terrible to see the effect it has had on communities. With this Bill being signed though, many will have to worry less about the possibility of their children being in danger of a school shooting when they are sent to school.
Also, House Bills 4095 and 4096 also help ensure that schools are safe. Sponsored by state representatives Stephanie A. Young (D-Detroit) and Ranjeev Puri (D-Canton), these Bills help to make it so that schools are safe in case of public safety threats. The way these Bills work is to make sure that schools have a standardized response time used by schools in case of an emergency situation, thus making it so that schools can respond to emergency situations timely and efficiently ensuring that students and educators are safe in case of emergency.
Other Bills like 5400 and 5401, are meant to support public safety efforts in Michigan and protect people from hate crimes. The bills go over the sentencing of a hate crime and expand the definition of what a hate crime is and what it means. This will help keep more Michiganders of different backgrounds safer in their communities and in the state of Michigan.
When it comes to handling things around sexual assault crimes, there was a bill Governor Whitmer signed, passing the bills. One of those bills is House Bill 4485, which is a bill that would help bring justice to survivors of sexual assault. Sponsored by State Rep. Reggie Miller (D-Van Buren Township), the bill works to expand the indictment time for CSC (Criminal Sexual Conduct) charges in the second and third degree. This bill works that regardless of when the offense was committed, charges can still be pressed up until the victim’s 42nd birthday. This bill aims to reduce the danger of sexual violence against children by holding offenders accountable for their actions with an increased statute of limitations, and ensuring that offenders stay registered.
Two bills that also passed, House Bills 5887 and 5888, were to handle sextortion and expand protections from sexual assault. Sextortion is a crime in which a person uses non-physical forms such as blackmail and threats to extort sexual favors from the victim. This bill looks to make specific criminal penalties for sextortion crimes and guidelines when sentencing a person for sextortion. This helps keep people safe from sextortion, which is a growing crime in the modern world.
There were many other bills passed on January 22nd, with all of them looking to make one common goal in place, making Michigan a safer and better place to live in. These bills help to make Michigan better for many communities and schools as they aim to protect children from heinous crimes and other dangers that may linger. These bills help make a better future for Michigan and limit the dangers that many people could face in their lives. It also reshapes how we look at certain crimes and the effects they could have on the people of Michigan. Overall, all the bills Whitmer passed, they help Michiganders be safer and live with less fear.
