The beginning of 2018 will bring some new laws in Michigan. They impact everyone from children and parents to police.
If you take a look at legislation that will soon go into effect, you will see several bills that made big headlines in 2017.
House bill 4716 goes into effect come March. It came after federal prosecutors charged Livonia doctors in connection to the female genital mutilation of young girls. Under the new law parents who allow this to be done to their children would risk losing their parental rights.
Another is Senate Bill 223. It was inspired by a video that showed a deputy apparently assaulting a person. The deputy then lied about what happened in a police report.
“And then was allowed to resign. He wasn’t fired. Two weeks later he is getting a job at another department. Now he is being sued for assaults at that department. I said this has got to stop,” said Sen. Rick Jones (R- Grand Ledge).
Starting January 15th, law enforcement agencies will have to keep and share a record of why an officer left a job.
(“Ninety-nine-percent of all police officers are the best people in the world. You would love to have them as a neighbor, but every once in a while you get a bad apple. We can’t have them hopping form department to department to department,” said Jones.
Senate Bill 352 becomes law in January. It aims to protect young athletes. It will put in place a new level of training for high school coaches. They now will have to undergo a concussion awareness training program every three years. The program will be updated by the state as doctors learn better ways to identify and handle concussions.
You can see a full list of bills passed by lawmakers in 2017 here.
