ADD CRYPTOCURRENCY TO PENAL CODE                                                H.B. 4102-4107:

                                                                                                    SUMMARY OF BILL

                                                                                     REPORTED FROM COMMITTEE

House Bills 4102 through 4107 (as reported without amendment)

Sponsor:  Representative Steve Marino (H.B. 4102)

               Representative Vanessa Guerra (H.B. 4013)

               Representative Beau Matthew LaFave (H.B. 4104)

               Representative Ryan Berman (H.B. 4105)

               Representative Robert Wittenberg (H.B. 4106)

               Representative Diana Farrington (H.B. 4107)

House Committee:  Financial Services

                             Judiciary

Senate Committee:  Judiciary and Public Safety

CONTENT

House Bill 4102 would amend the Michigan Penal Code to prohibit a person from collecting property or any other thing of value for the fighting, baiting, or shooting of an animal.

House Bill 4103 would amend the Penal Code to modify the definition of "financial transaction device" to include the use of cryptocurrency and distributed ledger technology.

House Bill 4104 would amend the Penal Code to modify the definition of "racketeering".

House Bill 4105 would amend the Penal Code to replace references to "money or personal property" with "money or other personal property", and specify that "money or other personal property" would include cryptocurrency.

House Bill 4106 would amend the Penal Code to specify that a person who altered a record made using distributed ledger technology would be guilty of a felony punishably by up to 14 years' imprisonment.

House Bill 4107 would amend the Penal Code to include cryptocurrency in the definition of "monetary instrument".

MCL 750.49 (H.B. 4102)                                          Legislative Analyst:  Stephen Jackson

       750.157m (H.B. 4103)

       750.159g (H.B. 4104)

       750.174 (H.B. 4105)

       750.248 (H.B. 4106)

       750.411j (H.B. 4107)

FISCAL IMPACT

House Bills 4102, 4104, and 4106 could have a negative fiscal impact on State and local government. New felony arrests and convictions under the bills could increase resource demands on law enforcement, court systems, community supervision, jails, and correctional facilities. However, it is unknown how many additional people would be prosecuted under the bill's provisions. The average cost to State government for felony probation supervision is approximately $3,024 per probationer per year. For any increase in prison intakes, in the short term, the marginal cost to State government is approximately $5,315 per prisoner per year. Any additional revenue from imposed fines would go to local libraries.

House Bill 4103, 4105, and 4107 would have no fiscal impact on State or local government.

Date Completed:  11-12-19                                                 Fiscal Analyst:  Joe Carrasco

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.