Michigan Votes Forum

Introduced in the House on December 12, 2007, to authorize an enhanced penalty of up to four additional years in prison and a $2,000 fine for assault and battery committed against a mass transit employee or passenger

The vote was 93 in favor, 13 opposed and 4 not voting

(House Roll Call 129 at House Journal 22)

Click here to view bill details.

It's already against the law.

legislators wasting our time by writing new laws that won't be enforced any better than the old laws? why aren't our legislators insisting that the laws already on the books be enforced? because liberals are only in office to 'legislate us to perfection'.

I don't think that the guy that gets assaulted on a bus is any worse off than the guy that gets assaulted on the street. It amazes me that you folks keep on making the point of why we need a part time legislature. Go home and quit trying to "help" us, we can't afford any more help.

Rep. Agema, having reserved the right to explain his protest against the passage of the bill, made the following statement: “Mr. Speaker and members of the House: By making it a special crime against one group of people we have thereby excluded others. This bill also creates a type of hate crime and leaves no room for judge decisions. It fills our jails with a mandated sentence of 4 years at a cost of $38,000. Must the state mandate every crime sentence?”

Rep. Palmer, having reserved the right to explain his protest against the passage of the bill, made the following statement: “Mr. Speaker and members of the House: I am voting no on this bill because I believe that creating different classes of victims of the same crime is a poor way to construct an effective and meaningful penal code. I am not indifferent to the potential dangers of operating a public transit vehicle, as my father drove a bus in the City of Detroit. We already have penalties for assault and battery on the books, penalties that are less severe than what these bills call for. I cannot support legislation that would degrade one class of victims at the expense of another.”