Bill
HB 4017
Reduces penalties for failing to timely report a death or injury on a qualifying family farm when the victim is the owner or a family member, to the federal OSHA max penalty.
Status & procedural posture
- Introduced: March 7, 2025 (House).
- As passed by the House (substitute H‑2): September 3, 2025 (given immediate effect).
- Current Senate referral: Committee on Labor (awaiting committee action).
- Statute amended: Section 35 of 1974 PA 154 (MCL 408.1035).
Purpose / intent
- To reduce the civil penalty or fine for an employer’s failure to timely report a workplace death or injury when the incident occurred on a qualifying “family farm” and the deceased/injured person was the farm owner or a defined family member. The reduction is to the maximum amount allowed under federal OSHA penalty‑adjustment factors.
Key provisions
- Reporting context: Under existing MIOSHA rules employers must report a work‑related employee death within 8 hours and certain serious injuries (inpatient hospitalization, amputation, loss of an eye) within 24 hours.
- Penalty reduction (amendment to MCL 408.1035(7)): If a death or injury occurs on a family farm to the owner or an owner’s family member and the employer fails to report within the required time, any civil penalty or fine assessed for that reporting failure must be reduced by the maximum amount permitted under federal OSHA’s penalty adjustment factors.
- Definitions (important limits):
- “Family farm” — a farming operation (sole proprietorship, partnership, or family corporation) that is wholly owned by the operator or the operator’s family members and that, during the prior 12 months: (1) had >50% of employees who were family members; (2) did not employ more than nine non‑family employees at any one time; and (3) did not operate a temporary labor camp. Excludes nonfamily corporations/cooperatives and farms with a hired (nonfamily) manager.
- “Family member” — spouse, child, stepchild, foster child, parent, stepparent, or foster parent.
- Other penalties under section 35 (unchanged): civil penalties up to $7,000 per violation (higher for willful/repeated violations), and felony exposure where willful violations cause death (statutory fines/imprisonment).
Who is affected
- Small, qualifying family farms as defined above — specifically where the death/injury involves the owner or a defined family member.
- MIOSHA enforcement and case outcomes (reduced penalty revenue for qualifying reporting failures).
- State general fund — potential (indeterminate) decrease in fine revenue.
Fiscal and policy considerations
- Fiscal impact: Indeterminate; analysts expect any revenue reduction to be minimal given the narrow population affected, but any loss of civil penalties would reduce General Fund receipts.
- Policy tradeoffs: Supporters cite compassion for grieving families and disproportionate economic impact of fines on very small farms. Opponents (including labor and justice groups) argue timely reporting is critical for investigations and that blanket reductions risk undermining enforcement and could create federal‑state consistency issues (federal OSHA alignment).
Background
- The bill is similar to prior measures (e.g., HB 4031 in 2021–22) that passed the House but faced gubernatorial veto; prior veto messages raised concerns about mandatory reductions even when employers do not cooperate with investigations.
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
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