June 26, 1998

Legislative & Political Week in Review

• Next week may bring Independence Day for legislators eager to wrap up the appropriations process and head back to their districts in pursuit of vacation or reelection. According to Gongwer News Service, discussions between lawmakers and the administration on target figures for the upcoming fiscal year budget will continue next week, with both chambers working toward a July 2 recess date. Gongwer notes that agreement on targets is complicated this year by the large number of term-limited lawmakers holding out for having their pet projects included in their farewell budget cycle. Meantime, the Senate, having taken two weeks off, already is looking toward its fall calendar: Following its return next week to finish action on budget bills, the upper chamber will recess, then reconvene on September 15.
• Michigan’s toughest-in-the-nation "drug lifer law" would be less so under a bill passed by the House this week. Under provisions of SB 281, persons convicted of delivering—or attempting to deliver—650 or more grams (roughly a pound and a half) of cocaine or heroin could be eligible for parole after serving 15 years of a life sentence. Passed on a 77-26 vote, the measure is hailed by those claiming that the current mandatory-life-sentence policy fills prisons with low-level drug couriers and addicts, not the kingpins that were the target. The bill’s opponents criticize it as an act of misplaced compassion that takes a too-soft approach to drug dealing. Exempt from the 15-year parole provisions of the new bill would be dealers considered drug kingpins and those selling drugs in a school zone or to anyone aged under 17.
• A more permissive concealed weapon statute shot out of the House Oversight and Ethics Committee yesterday, making it very likely that the full chamber will address the highly controversial legislation before summer recess. HB 5551, approved on a slender 9-7 majority, requires that municipal gun control boards issue permits to carry concealed weapons to virtually anyone aged over 21 who requests one and completes a 12-hour safety course and passes a drug test. Unless a potential permittee is being treated for mental illness or has been convicted of a felony within the preceding eight years, the local authority may not refuse the permit. Supporters of the measure—similar to laws in 31 other states—contend that gun boards too often restrict concealed weapon permits to police personnel and the politically connected in their communities, thereby restricting, in the words of an NRA spokesman," the right of law-abiding citizens to self-defense outside their homes." Opponents envision a proliferation of guns on streets and in homes, triggering more accidental and impulse shootings.
• Other legislation reported out of committee and likely to receive action before summer recess is designed to ground repeat drunk drivers. Under provisions of a nine-bill bipartisan package, a person convicted of a second drunk-driving offense would have his/her car immobilized by a tire "boot" for two weeks; a third such conviction would boot their vehicle for six months. The provisions, passed by the House Judiciary Committee, also would apply to third-and fourth-time convictions for driving without a license.
• In a related measure, the full House unanimously passed HB 5123, which would impose penalties of up to 15 years in prison and a $5,000 fine for drivers who cause the death of another while driving with a revoked or suspended license. The measure also would impose sanctions of two years in jail and a $1,000 fine for people found guilty of providing a vehicle to a driver with a suspended or revoked license.
• Still more related news as a major travel holiday approaches: The numbers of drunk driving arrests and deaths declined last year, according to statistics just released by the Department of State Police. Arrests were down by 454 from the 1996 total of just over 61,000; deaths from alcohol-related accidents totaled 11 fewer than the 555 people killed in 1996.