Bill
HB 4917
Adds specific assault offenses against transit operators to Michigan's sentencing guidelines, with harsher penalties for repeats.
Status and context
- HB 4917 is the companion bill to HB 4918. It amends the Code of Criminal Procedure (MCL 777.16d) to add the new assault offenses created in HB 4918 into Michigan’s sentencing guidelines.
- Tie‑bar: HB 4917 cannot take effect unless HB 4918 is also enacted.
- Effective date (both bills): 90 days after enactment.
- Key legislative actions: Introduced July 18, 2023 (Rep. Samantha Steckloff); House passed Nov. 8, 2023; Senate substitute passed Dec. 11, 2024; returned to House. Most recent procedural note: laid over one day under the rules (Dec. 12, 2024).
Purpose / intent
- To create specific criminal penalties (and corresponding guideline entries) for assaults against public transit operators and other transit employees, and to provide for enhanced penalties for repeat offenders — responding to testimony and data reporting increased assaults on transit workers.
Key substantive provisions (from HB 4918; HB 4917 adds these to the sentencing guidelines)
- New criminal prohibitions (examples of penalties described in committee analyses):
- Simple assault of a public transit operator (while performing duties or because of status as transit employee/contractor): misdemeanor — up to 93 days imprisonment and up to $1,000 fine. A prior conviction under the statute raises the penalty (e.g., up to 180 days / $2,000).
- Aggravated assault (no weapon) causing serious/aggravated injury (without intent to murder): misdemeanor — up to 1 year / $2,000; with a prior statutory conviction this can be elevated to a felony (up to 2 years / $4,000).
- Assault with a deadly weapon (without intent to murder): felony — up to 4 years / $4,000. With a prior statutory conviction the felony maximum can increase (committee reports identify up to 8 years / $8,000).
- Definitions (examples from bill text and reports): “bus” (motor vehicle, excluding school buses, designed to carry 15–16+ passengers depending on version), “street railway vehicle” (streetcar/trolley/tram), “train” (engine or motor operated on railroad tracks), and definitions of “bus service,” “street railway service,” and “railroad.”
- HB 4917 places the new felony offenses into the sentencing guidelines with offense classes assigned in substitute versions (Class F, G or E for various subsections depending on the substitute/version). Because Michigan’s Supreme Court has made guidelines advisory (People v. Lockridge), these guideline entries are not mandatory.
Who is affected
- Primary: operators and employees/contractors of bus services, street railway services, and railroads (victim class protected by the statute).
- Secondary: offenders who assault these workers; public transit owners/operators (some versions included a signage requirement warning of prosecutions/enhanced penalties); law enforcement, prosecutors, courts, corrections, and probation systems.
Fiscal impact / implementation considerations
- State and local fiscal impact is indeterminate. Adding distinct offenses and enhanced penalties could increase arrests, prosecutions, convictions, jail/prison intakes, and probation supervision.
- Representative cost figures cited in analyses: average annual state cost per prisoner ~ $47,900–$48,700; felony probation supervision ~$4,600–$5,000 per supervised person; local jail/probation costs vary by county.
- Because the sentencing guidelines are advisory, the fiscal effect depends on prosecutorial charging and judicial sentencing practices.
Notes and variations
- Multiple substitute versions altered offense classes, statutory cross‑references, and some definitions (e.g., passenger counts for “bus”). The summary above reflects the core policy and typical penalty structure reported in committee analyses and the substitute texts.
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
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