Just remember that this dumbassed state also willingly poisoned their own constituents in Flint and trired to cover it up. While that wasn't on Gretchen DIMWITmer's watch, she signed a bill that will destroy just as many human lives.
Millions of dollars will be wasted once again as the lawsuits will increase.
Whitmer bill signings include tightened sex offender registration protocols, boosts in medical staffing
Updated Dec 30, 2020; Posted Dec 30, 2020
By Samuel Dodge | sdodge@mlive.com
LANSING, MI - Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s major signing Tuesday was the partial approval of a COVID-19 relief supplemental equaling $106 million. Later on Dec. 29, though, she inked a series of other bills.
The governor ratified more than 80 bits of legislation to immediate effect, notably the tightening of registration protocols for sex offenders and the loosening of license restrictions to boost medical staffing to fight COVID-19 surges.
The approval of changes to the state’s Sex Offender Registration Act fulfills a 4-year-old mandate from the U.S. Court of Appeals, which ruled that it was unconstitutional to impose new restrictions on people convicted before the Act was updated.
House Bill 5679, sponsored by Rep. James Lower, R-Greenville, addresses that problem and was approved in the Senate by a 21-17 vote during the Dec. 16 session. The Michigan House approved the bill 80-24 on Dec. 2.
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.
The state’s ACLU chapter urged Whitmer to veto the changes, calling them unconstitutional and ineffective at stopping offenders.
“This legislation ignores the judicial rulings, rejects the science and makes Michigan communities and families less safe,” said Miriam Aukerman, senior staff attorney for ACLU Michigan, on Dec. 20. “The research is clear: registries don’t work. As the courts have pointed out, registries are counterproductive and may increase offending because they make it extremely difficult for registrants to obtain a job, find housing, and rejoin their families, sabotaging their efforts to become productive members of the community.”
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 prior to the start of the lame duck. “That’s not something we want. We want to be fair and proportional, but we also want to protect the public.”
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