"RAISE THE AGE"; APPLICABILITY                                                                  S.B. 683:

                                                                                                    SUMMARY OF BILL

                                                                                     REPORTED FROM COMMITTEE

Senate Bill 683 (as reported without amendment)

Sponsor:  Senator Michael D. MacDonald

Committee:  Judiciary and Public Safety

CONTENT

The bill would amend the juvenile code to do the following:

-- Specify that a provision requiring a criminal case to be transferred to family court if the individual was under the age of 18 at the time the offense was committed would apply only to an offense committed on or after October 1, 2021

-- For an offense occurring before October 1, 2021, require a criminal case to be transferred to the family court if the individual were under the age of 17 when the offense was committed.

MCL 712A.3                                                          Legislative Analyst:  Stephen Jackson

FISCAL IMPACT

The bill likely would have no fiscal impact on State or local government. Current law ("Raise the Age" effective October 1, 2021) created a type of "coverage gap" for those individuals who committed an offense before October 1, 2021, and were over the age of 17, but under the age of 18. The bill would eliminate the coverage gap, so each offender cohort would be treated consistently given the age of the individual and the date of the offense.

For example, if an offense occurred on September 15, 2021, by an individual who was age 17 with a birthday of March 1, given the date of this individual's offense and the individual's age, current law automatically would transfer jurisdiction to the family division of the circuit court regardless of when the offense occurred. This type of transfer could be described as a retroactive application of "Raise the Age". The bill would enact a definitive date to demarcate the application of "Raise the Age".

As the elimination of the coverage gap likely would cover only a small number of offenses under a specific set of circumstances of age and date of offense, there likely would be no fiscal impact on State or local government.

Date Completed:  10-19-21                                                 Fiscal Analyst:  John Maxwell

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.