Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

Legislative Analysis
                                                                                       Phone: (517) 373-8080
PENALTIES FOR REPEATED BLIGHT VIOLATIONS
                                                                                       http://www.house.mi.gov/hfa
House Bill 4332 (S-1) as passed by the Senate                  Analysis available at
Sponsor: Rep. Karen Whitsett                                   http://www.legislature.mi.gov
House Committee: Local Government and Municipal Finance
Senate Committee: Housing and Human Services
Complete to 6-25-24
                                                       (Enacted as Public Act 83 of 2024)
SUMMARY:
        House Bill 4332 would amend the Home Rule City Act to increase the penalties that local
        officials may impose on property owners when blighted property violations are ignored.
        The Home Rule City Act allows cities that meet certain population criteria to designate
        particular infractions as blight violations and establish an administrative hearings bureau to
        adjudicate the violations and impose sanctions. 1 A hearing officer can impose reasonable and
        proportionate sanctions consistent with applicable ordinance provisions and can assess certain
        costs against a person who is found responsible for a violation.
                 Person means an individual, partnership, corporation, limited liability company,
                 association, or other legal entity, including the partners or members of a firm,
                 partnership, or association and the officers of a corporation.
        If the civil fine and costs imposed are $1,000 or more and the person does not pay within 30
        days after a final decision and order of the hearing officer or, upon appeal, the circuit court, the
        person is subject to the following:
             • For a first violation, the person is responsible for a state civil infraction and can be
                 ordered to pay a maximum civil fine of $500.
             • For a second violation, the person is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by
                 imprisonment for up to 93 days or a maximum fine of $500, or both.
             • For a third or subsequent violation, the person is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable
                 by imprisonment for up to one year and a mandatory fine of $500.
        The sanctions do not apply to any of the following that becomes the owner of a property after
        foreclosure or after taking a deed in lieu of foreclosure:
            • The Michigan State Housing Development Authority or a government-sponsored
                enterprise. 2
            • A financial institution.
            • A mortgage servicer that is subject to the Mortgage Brokers, Lenders, and Servicers
                Licensing Act.
            • A credit union service organization organized under Michigan or United States law.
1
  Cities with a population of 7,500 or more in any county, and cities with a population of 3,300 or more in a county
with a population of 1.5 million or more, are authorized to establish an administrative hearings bureau to adjudicate
and impose sanctions for a blight violation.
2
  “Government-sponsored enterprise” is defined in 2 USC 622: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-
2021-title2/pdf/USCODE-2021-title2-chap17A-sec622.pdf#page=2.
House Fiscal Agency                                                                                      Page 1 of 3
        The sanctions also do not apply to a property owner who has filed a principal residence
        exemption affidavit at the time the fine and costs are imposed.
        House Bill 4332 would provide that if a hearing officer or circuit court finds a person in
        violation of a blight ordinance and the person fails to correct the violation within 30 days of
        the decision and order, that person would also be guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by
        imprisonment for up to 90 days or a maximum fine of $500, or both.
        This provision would not apply to any of the currently exempted entities listed above.
        MCL 117.4q
BACKGROUND:
        2013 PA 188 increased the penalties for blight violations as described above. The bill was
        enacted in response to concerns that people continued to commit blight violations and failed to
        pay the imposed fines. 3
        However, concerns remain that some property owners choose to keep paying the fines instead
        of addressing the violations.
SENATE FLOOR ACTION:
        The S-1 substitute passed by the Senate amended House Bill 4332 to provide that the
        misdemeanor charge and proposed penalties would apply to all blight violations not corrected
        within 30 days, while the introduced version of the bill provided that those penalties would
        apply for a repeated violation and that a third or subsequent violation would be punishable by
        up to one year’s imprisonment. The Senate substitute also removed a proposed requirement
        that a city make a good-faith effort to personally serve a notice of a blight violation proceeding
        on the alleged violator or, if it is unable to do so, serve the notice by first-class mail or email
        and then post the notice on its website.
FISCAL IMPACT:
        House Bill 4332 would have an indeterminate fiscal impact on the state and on local units of
        government. The number of convictions that would result under provisions of the bill is not
        known. New misdemeanor convictions would increase costs related to county jails and/or local
        misdemeanor probation supervision. Costs of local incarceration in county jails and local
        misdemeanor probation supervision, and how those costs are financed, vary by jurisdiction.
        The fiscal impact on local court systems would depend on how provisions of the bill affected
        court caseloads and related administrative costs. It is difficult to project the actual fiscal impact
        to courts due to variables such as law enforcement practices, prosecutorial practices, judicial
        discretion, case types, and complexity of cases. Any increase in penal fine revenue would
        increase funding for public and county law libraries, which are the constitutionally designated
        recipients of those revenues.
3
 A summary of Senate Bill 0035 from the 2013-2014 legislative session, which was enacted as part of a package of
bills addressing blight violations, can be found here: http://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/2013-
2014/billanalysis/House/pdf/2013-HLA-0035-0C717101.pdf.
House Fiscal Agency                                          HB 4332 (S-1) as passed by the Senate    Page 2 of 3
POSITIONS:
       Representatives of the City of Detroit testified in support of the bill. (9-6-23)
       The City of Jackson indicated support for the bill. (9-6-23)
                                                           Legislative Analyst: Holly Kuhn
                                                                Fiscal Analyst: Robin Risko
■ This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan House Fiscal Agency staff for use by House members in their
deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.
House Fiscal Agency                                      HB 4332 (S-1) as passed by the Senate   Page 3 of 3
Statutes affected: 
Substitute (S-1): 117.4
House Introduced Bill: 117.4
As Passed by the House: 117.4
As Passed by the Senate: 117.4
House Concurred Bill: 117.4
Public Act: 117.4
House Enrolled Bill: 117.4