SEAL OR EXPUNGE EVICTION RECORDS S.B. 801:
SUMMARY OF BILL
REPORTED FROM COMMITTEE
Senate Bill 801 (as reported without amendment)
Sponsor: Senator Rosemary Bayer
Committee: Civil Rights, Judiciary, and Public Safety
CONTENT
The bill would amend Chapter 57 (Summary Proceedings to Recover Possession of Premises)
of the Revised Judicature Act to do the following:
-- Allow a court to seal eviction records under certain conditions.
-- Require a court to automatically expunge eviction records two years after a judgement
entered into summary proceedings was final.
-- Allow a court to release sealed records for certain purposes if personally identifying
information were redacted, unless the court granted the disclosure of the information
under specific circumstances.
-- Allow a prospective tenant to bring a civil action against a housing provider that based an
adverse action on a sealed court record.
Proposed MCL 600.5755
BRIEF RATIONALE
According to testimony before the Senate Committee on Civil Rights, Judiciary, and Public
Safety, evictions are difficult experiences that often have compounding consequences for
individuals and families facing them. Past eviction records can cause prospective tenants to
be denied housing and can be based on instances in which the tenant was not at fault for the
eviction or the issue that prompted the eviction was resolved. It has been suggested that
certain eviction records be sealed to reduce this barrier to housing access.
Legislative Analyst: Eleni Lionas
FISCAL IMPACT
The bill would add administrative costs for district courts to implement a process for the
sealing of summary proceedings records. Summary proceedings are expedited civil
proceedings initiated to terminate possessory interests in property for nonpayment of rent or
land contract payments. The number of summary proceedings filings for district courts can
vary, often dependent upon the number of rental properties within a district court's
jurisdiction. For example, in 2019, there were over 30,000 summary proceedings filings in
Detroit's 36th District Court, but only 60 for that same year in Houghton County's 96th District
Court. There were nearly 200,000 dispositions in summary proceedings cases statewide in
2023.
Although the sealing of records for any particular civil dispute would not create any great
expense for a district court, the review of cases and/or records requests under the proposed
language of the bill would be likely to take time, particularly for those district courts with a
large volume of summary proceedings dispositions. No appropriations are included in the bill
to accommodate these new administrative procedures, and any related costs would likely be
absorbed by district courts.
Page 1 of 2 sb801/2324
The bill also would create a cause of action for prospective tenants for adverse actions taken
against them by housing providers who based such actions on sealed court records. Any such
filings would likely be few because they would be hard to prove; however, such civil filings
would create a nominal amount of court fee revenue for district courts.
Date Completed: 5-20-24 Fiscal Analyst: Michael Siracuse
floor\sb801 Bill Analysis @ www.senate.michigan.gov/sfa
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.
Page 2 of 2 sb801/2324


Statutes affected:
Senate Introduced Bill: 600.101, 600.9947