S.B. 528 & 529: COMMITTEE SUMMARY - VEHICLE & LICENSE FEE EXEMPTION

Senate Bills 528 and 529 (as introduced 5-22-97)

Sponsor: Senator Leon Stille (Senate Bill 528)

Senator Loren Bennett (Senate Bill 529)

Committee: Local, Urban and State Affairs

Date Completed: 2-10-98

CONTENT

Senate Bills 528 and 529 would amend the Michigan Vehicle Code to exempt a qualified police officer from having to pay a vehicle registration fee or an operator's or chauffeur's license fee, respectively. "Qualified police officer" would mean a person employed as a police officer by the State or a municipality (county, city, village, or township) in the State who lived in a high crime area and worked as a police officer in the high crime area in which he or she lived. "High crime area" would mean an area within a municipality that was determined to be a high crime area by the municipality in conjunction with the Department of State Police based on the State Police Uniform Crime Reporting Program statistics.

MCL 257.217 (S.B. 528) - Legislative Analyst: L. Arasim

257.307 (S.B. 529)

FISCAL IMPACT

The fiscal impact of these provisions is indeterminate. Under the terms of the bills the determination of a "high crime area" would be made at the discretion of local municipalities in conjunction with the Department of State Police. Because these determinations have not yet been made it is not possible to estimate how many of the 20,000 statewide police officers currently live and work in high crime areas. Also unknown is the number of police officers who would move into neighborhoods defined as high crime areas after this program was implemented.

The average registration fee per vehicle for passenger vehicles is approximately $58 per vehicle. Exempting "qualified police officers" from the requirement to pay a registration fee would result in a loss of revenue for the Michigan Transportation Fund.

The current driver's license application fee is $12, payable every four years. Exempting qualified officers from this fee would result in a loss of revenue for the General Fund and the Transportation Economic Development Fund.

Finally, in order to verify that someone was a qualified police officer, the Secretary of State would have to maintain a list of designated high crime areas, and make that list available to its branch offices. It is difficult to estimate the costs of establishing and operating this new system.

- Fiscal Analyst: E. Limbs

- P. Alderfer

S9798\S528SA

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.