LANSING, MI - Michigan House representatives approved altered registration protocols for sex offenders during its Wednesday session, fulfilling a 4-year-old federal court mandate.
The U.S. Court of Appeals ruled in 2016 that it was unconstitutional to impose new restrictions on people convicted before the state’s Sex Offender Registration Act was updated. House Bill 5679, sponsored by Rep. James Lower, R-Greenville, addresses that problem and was approved 80-24.
The bill now heads to the state Senate, which starts its lame-duck session next week.
The proposed amendments to SORA in House Bill 5679 are:
- Giving sex offenders no more than three days to register or report status changes in person with local law enforcement.
- Requiring offenders to report all email addresses, social media names or other forms of “internet identifiers.” That would not apply retroactively to offenders prior to July 1, 2011, but anyone required to register after that date must comply.
- Requiring all telephone numbers and vehicles used by the offender to be reported. Previously, they didn’t need to report those used on a less regular basis.
- Allowing email addresses, social media usernames and other identifiers to be published on a public sex offender registry.
- Removing prohibitions for offenders from living, working or loitering near school property or “student safety zones.”
- No longer requiring an offender’s tier classification to be included on the public website. Law enforcement personnel who willfully fail to periodically report on offenders would face a penalty.
House Judiciary Chair Graham Filler, R-DeWitt, called codifying SORA changes a priority of the 2020 lame-duck session, along with COVID-19 preventative measures.
Read more: Mitigating COVID-19 surge at center of lame-duck session at Michigan Capitol
“If we don’t do anything as a Legislature, we’re afraid a federal judge could invalidate the entire Sex Offender Registration Act,” he told MLive last week. “That’s not something we want. We want to be fair and proportional, but we also want to protect the public.”
The bill was one of several proposed criminal justice reforms in the Michigan House during the lame-duck session. These include expunging traffic and misdemeanor records for minors, sealing juvenile records to most members of the public, sealing arrest records that didn’t lead to charges or a conviction, expunging lesser DUI offenses and expunging violations of laws that no longer exist.
Read more: Juvenile record expungement part of justice reform push in Michigan lame duck session
These efforts continue one of the Michigan Legislature’s notable accomplishments this year. The Michigan House and Senate passed “Clean Slate” legislation in September, designed to expand expungement options for some convicts who have gone several years without another offense, including low-level marijuana offenses.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed the bills into law in October.
Read more from MLive:
Bills expanding criminal record expungement in Michigan pass state Senate
House-passed bills would let more Michigan residents clear their criminal records
More Michigan residents could get criminal records expunged under House bills
Attorney General Dana Nessel has ‘serious concerns’ with House expungement bills, suggests changes
235K people could have their records expunged of marijuana charges under proposed bill