DISORDERLY CONDUCT AT FUNERALS S.B. 1171: COMMITTEE SUMMARY






Senate Bill 1171 (as introduced 3-16-06)
Sponsor: Senator Raymond E. Basham
Committee: Senior Citizens and Veterans Affairs


Date Completed: 4-26-06

CONTENT The bill would amend the Michigan Penal Code to prohibit and prescribe penalties for certain conduct within 500 feet of a funeral, memorial service, viewing of a deceased person, funeral procession, or burial.

Specifically, the bill would prohibit a person from doing any of the following within 500 feet of a building or other location where a funeral, memorial service, or viewing of a deceased person was being conducted, or within 500 feet of a funeral procession or burial, in the hour immediately before, or during, or in the hour immediately after:

-- Making any statement to or gesture at a person attending or involved in the funeral, memorial service, viewing, funeral procession, or burial that would make the person, under the circumstances, reasonably feel intimidated, threatened, or harassed.
-- Engaging in any other conduct that the person knew or reasonably should know would disturb, disrupt, or adversely affect the funeral, service, viewing, procession, or burial.

A person who violated the bill would be a disorderly person and would be guilty of misdemeanor punishable by up to 90 days' imprisonment, a maximum fine of $1,000, or both. If an offender previously had been convicted of a violation of the bill, the misdemeanor would be punishable by up to 180 days' imprisonment, a maximum fine of $2,000, or both.


MCL 750.168 et al. Legislative Analyst: Patrick Affholter

FISCAL IMPACT
The bill would have an indeterminate fiscal impact on local government. There are no data to indicate how many offenders would be convicted of the proposed offense. To the extent that the bill would increase convictions of disorderly persons or require increased incarceration time for disorderly persons previously convicted of the proposed offense, local governments would incur the costs of misdemeanor probation and incarceration in local facilities, which vary by county. Additional penal fine revenue would benefit public libraries.

Fiscal Analyst: Lindsay Hollander

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. sb1171/0506