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1) Re: 2009 Senate Bill 277 [by OTRDriver on February 27, 2009]
As written the law would also make it illegal to license and
drive antique or classic police vehicles. It amazes me all too often the what
the legislators in this state come up with or where their ideas come from. It
must be some personal need to get their name on out on the floor of the
legislature or something. It would be much more productive if they would
concentrate on the issues facing
not on some mundane law that has no real benefit for the good of the people in
makers here in
don't start considering the state of the economy and the state of unemployment
they won't have anyone left in the state that be able to vote for them.
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sounds like another money grab to me.
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As an owner and daily driver of a former Michigan state police vehicle, I am outraged over this bill.
First off, it requires only vehicles that have been purchased from the state or local governments in Michigan to be stripped of its push bar, and "markings" that designate it as a government vehicle. There is no provision for people who buy former police cars out of state, so it only punishes only Michigan residents who buy former Michigan government vehicles and requires them to remove any "distinguishing feature". This will greatly depreciate the value of these cars and will make them harder to sell, and for less money.
This is exactly how a Michigan State Police vehicle looks like after it has been retired from service and put up for auction:
Notice that all the red/blue lights have been already stripped, as well as any decals/markings that make it look like a active service police cruiser. This bill would require me (and other car owners) to remove the push bumper from my car and potentially (open to interpretation) any spotlights or black steel wheels the vehicle has (while other vehicles, whether they are former police vehicles from another state, or vehicles such as Jeeps, SUV's and pickup trucks can still legally have push bars or spotlights or center caps on their vehicles). So far, that's a couple thousand dollars that Michigan car buyers would have to
fork out just to purchase one a former government vehicles.
It would require all owners of former Michigan State Police cars to have it repainted because of its distinctive blue color. I can see if a police vehicle has the LAPD-style black and white paint job, but the bill is too overbroad in specifying what is and isn't "distinctive" colors. There are many blue cars on the road, and while the state police blue color is distinctive to state police vehicles, it isn't fair to force this distinctive shade of blue to be taken off the cars, while I could buy, say a black police cruiser from a local police department and not be required to do so.
There is no grandfather clause for people like myself who already have purchased these vehicles, like the above one in the picture. It is not at all fair to require all the owners out there (and there are many) such as myself to make costly modifications to their vehicle, in this already troubled economy.
And most of all, making this a 90-days in jail misdemeanor is absolutely ridiculous. There is no provisions for informing any of the current former MSP car owners of these requirements.
So basically, this bill as it stands, would make me a jailable criminal, at no fault of my own. I've had MSP troopers, as well local PD officers, comment that they like my car and have never made an issue with how my car looks.
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