2023 Senate Bill 471 / Public Act 201

House Fiscal Agency Analysis

FIREARM POSSESSION PROHIBITION: EXPAND FELONIES AND ADD DOMESTIC VIOLENCE MISDEMEANORS Senate Bill 471 would amend the Michigan Penal Code to expand the list of crimes that now bar a person from possessing a firearm for three years after completing their sentence (or five years for specified crimes). The bill would also prohibit a person convicted of specified misdemeanors involving domestic violence from possessing a firearm for eight years after completing their sentence. (MCL 750.224f) Senate Bill 472 would make complementary changes to the sentencing guidelines provisions in the Code of Criminal Procedure. (MCL 777.16m) Senate Bill 528 would amend six sections of the Michigan Penal Code (those concerning breaking and entering or entering without breaking, vulnerable adult abuse in the fourth degree, malicious destruction of property, malicious destruction of real property, stalking, and malicious use of a telecommunications service or device). The bill would add new paragraphs to these provisions to create subset offenses whose elements include the relationships between offender and victim that define domestic violence. The bill would not change any current penalties for these offenses or any other elements of the underlying offense. Violations of the applicable sections are already misdemeanor offenses regardless of the relationship between the offender and the victim—that is, offenses involving domestic violence elements are already currently a subset of those existing crimes. The bill would simply create discrete paragraphs that prohibit committing a violation that additionally includes the domestic violence elements.