TAMPERING WITH MONITORING DEVICE                                                  S.B. 1357 (S-1):

                                                                                                      FLOOR SUMMARY

Senate Bill 1357 (Substitute S-1 as reported)

Sponsor:  Senator Rick Jones

Committee:  Judiciary

CONTENT

The bill would amend the Code of Criminal Procedure to include in the sentencing guidelines tampering with or removing an electronic monitoring device.  A violation would be a Class G felony against the public order with a statutory maximum sentence of two years' imprisonment.

The bill is tie-barred to Senate Bill 1127.  As passed by the Senate, Senate Bill 1127 (S-2) would prohibit a person from knowingly and without authority removing, destroying, or circumventing the operation of an electronic monitoring device or knowingly interfering with a signal, impulse, or data being transmitted by or stored within such a device worn or otherwise used by an individual as a condition of work release or house arrest, bond or other pretrial release, probation, parole, postrelease supervision or postconviction bond, or work or school release.  A person also could not request or solicit another to take any of those actions.

MCL 777.17f                                                           Legislative Analyst:  Patrick Affholter

FISCAL IMPACT

The bill would add the crime of tampering with or removing an electronic monitoring device to the sentencing guidelines as a Class G felony with a maximum sentence of two years.  This means that a variety of sanctions ranging from probation to incarceration would be possible, depending on the details of the offense and the prior criminal record of the offender, but because Class G felonies are the second-lowest classification, the guidelines most often recommend intermediate sanctions such as probation.  This bill, along with the bill it is tie-barred to, Senate Bill 1127, would create this new felony, for which the State could incur the cost of incarceration and/or felony probation, and local units could incur additional incarceration costs in county jails. Any additional fine revenue would benefit public libraries.

Date Completed:  12-6-12                                                   Fiscal Analyst:  Dan O'Connor

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.