PUBLIC TRANSIT: ASSAULT - S.B. 275 (S-1): FLOOR ANALYSIS
Senate Bill 275 (Substitute S-1 as reported)
Sponsor: Senator Joe Young, Jr.
Committee: Judiciary
CONTENT
The bill would amend the Michigan Penal Code to add penalties for assault or battery causing physical injury to a driver of a public transit vehicle. "Public transit vehicle" would mean a publicly or privately owned vehicle used to provide transportation services to the general public without charge or for a fee.
Under the bill, it would be a felony punishable by up to four years' imprisonment, a maximum fine of $2,500, or both, for a person to assault or batter another person and cause physical injury to that person, if the victim were assaulted or battered while he or she operated a public transit vehicle or was otherwise engaged in his or her duties as the operator of a public transit vehicle.
The bill would take effect 90 days after its enactment.
(Under the Penal Code, aggravated assault (i.e, unarmed assault inflicting serious or aggravated injury) is a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year's imprisonment and/or a maximum fine of $1,000, and enhanced penalties of up to two years' imprisonment and/or a maximum fine of $2,500 apply if the violation is domestic assault and the offender has one or more previous convictions for domestic assault (MCL 750.81a).)
Proposed MCL 750.81c - Legislative Analyst: P. Affholter
FISCAL IMPACT
The bill would have an indeterminate fiscal impact on State and local government.
There are no data to indicate how many people could be convicted of assaulting a public transit worker. The offense would be a Class F felony for which the range of minimum sentences is 0-3 months to 17-30 months, so an offender could receive an intermediate sanction or a prison term.
Assuming that five offenders a year were convicted of this new offense, and that they were given the highest minimum sentence, annual costs for incarceration for this crime, based on the average yearly cost of $22,000 to incarcerate, would be $275,000.
Date Completed: 10-1-99 - Fiscal Analyst: K. FirestoneFloor\sb275 - Bill Analysis @ http://www.state.mi.us/sfa
This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.