Legislative Analysis
Phone: (517) 373-8080
ELDER AND VULNERABLE ADULT ABUSE
http://www.house.mi.gov/hfa
House Bill 4472 as referred to second committee Analysis available at
Sponsor: Rep. Sarah Anthony http://www.legislature.mi.gov
House Bill 4473 (H-1) as referred
Sponsor: Rep. Douglas C. Wozniak
House Bill 4474 as referred House Bill 4477 as referred
Sponsor: Rep. Rodney Wakeman Sponsor: Rep. Jim Ellison
House Bill 4475 as referred House Bill 4478 as referred
Sponsor: Rep. Kyra Harris Bolden Sponsor: Rep. Diana Farrington
House Bill 4476 as referred House Bill 4479 as referred
Sponsor: Rep. Mark A. Tisdel Sponsor: Rep. Brenda Carter
1st Committee: Families, Children, and Seniors
2nd Committee: Judiciary
Complete to 8-18-21
SUMMARY:
House Bills 4472 to 4479 would make it a crime to assault or restrain an elder adult or
vulnerable adult, expand a prohibition against embezzlement from a vulnerable adult to include
elder adults, prescribe penalties, define terms, and amend the sentencing guidelines and other
acts to account for these changes. Each bill would take effect 90 days after its enactment.
House Bill 4473 would amend the Michigan Penal Code to prohibit a person from assaulting
another person who he or she knows or reasonably should know is an elder adult or vulnerable
adult and to prohibit a person from restraining an elder or vulnerable adult using violence,
menace, fraud, or deceit. The penalty for a conviction could include imprisonment or a fine, or
both, and would depend on the offense and the level of injury to the elder adult or vulnerable
adult, as shown in the table below.
Offense Description Offense Level Maximum Maximum
Term of Fine
Imprisonment
Assault Misdemeanor 1 year $1,000
Assault causing physical injury, pain, Felony 4 years $5,000
or mental suffering
Assault causing serious impairment Felony 15 years $10,000
of a body function
Assault causing death Felony 25 years $25,000
Restrain by use of violence, menace, Felony 4 years $5,000
fraud, or deceit
House Fiscal Agency Page 1 of 4
 Elder adult would mean a person who is 80 years old or older.
Vulnerable adult is currently defined in section 145m of the Penal Code to mean one
or more of the following:
• An individual 18 years of age or older who, because of age, developmental
disability, mental illness, or physical disability, requires supervision or personal
care or lacks the personal and social skills required to live independently.
• A person 18 years of age or older who is unable to protect himself or herself
from abuse, neglect, or exploitation because of a mental or physical impairment
or advanced age and who is suspected of being abused, neglected, or exploited.1
• A child who is placed in an adult foster care family home or an adult foster care
small group home under the child care licensing act, 1973 PA 116.
Restrain would mean to restrict a person’s movements or to confine the person so as
to interfere with that person’s liberty without his or her consent or without legal
authority. The restraint would not have to exist for any particular length of time and
could be related or incidental to the commission of other criminal acts.
Serious impairment of a body function would mean that term as defined in section
58c of the Michigan Vehicle Code.
The prohibition against restraining an elder or vulnerable adult by the use of violence, menace,
fraud, or deceit would not apply to a staff member of a health facility or agency who uses a
restraint in accordance with Michigan law and any applicable federal law or regulation.
Health facility or agency would mean any of the following:
• A hospital.
• A county medical care facility.
• A freestanding surgical outpatient facility.
• A health maintenance organization.
• A home for the aged.
• A nursing home.
• An ambulance operation, aircraft transport operation, nontransport prehospital
life support operation, or medical first response service.
• A facility or agency listed above that is located in a university, college, or other
educational institution.
• A hospice or hospice residence.
The bill would not prohibit a person from being charged with, convicted of, or punished for
any other violation of law arising out of the same transaction as a violation of assault of an
elder adult or vulnerable adult. A court could order a term of imprisonment imposed for a
violation of the bill to be served consecutively to a term of imprisonment imposed for any other
crime, including any other violation arising out of the same transaction. A local area agency
on aging that became aware of a violation of the bill’s provisions would have to promptly
report it to the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).
1
For the definitions of “abuse,” “neglect,” and “exploitation” that pertain to this provision, see MCL 400.11:
https://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/mcl/pdf/mcl-400-11.pdf
House Fiscal Agency HBs 4472 to 4479 as referred from Families Page 2 of 4
 The bill also would change the title of Chapter XXA of the Penal Code from “Vulnerable
Adults” to “Vulnerable Adults and Elder Adults.”
Proposed MCL 750.145s
House Bills 4474, 4476, and 4479 would amend the acts described below to update citations
to reflect the proposed addition of section 145s to Chapter XXA of the Penal Code:
House Bill 4474: Mental Health Code (MCL 330.1134a)
House Bill 4475: Public Health Code (MCL 333.20173a and 333.21313)
House Bill 4476: Adult Foster Care Facility Licensing Act (MCL 400.713 et seq.)
House Bill 4479: Estates and Protected Individuals Code (MCL 700.2802)
These bills are each tie-barred to HB 4473, which means that they cannot take effect unless
HB 4473 is also enacted.
House Bill 4478 would amend sentencing guidelines provisions in the Code of Criminal
Procedure to add the felony penalties for elder or vulnerable adult abuse and for restraining an
elder or vulnerable adult by violence, menace, fraud, or force, as proposed by HB 4473 and
described above. The bill is tie-barred to HB 4473, which means that it cannot take effect unless
HB 4473 is also enacted.
MCL 777.16g
House Bill 4472
Section 174a of the Penal Code currently prohibits a person from obtaining or using (or
attempting to obtain or use), through fraud, deceit, misrepresentation, coercion, or unjust
enrichment, a vulnerable adult’s money or property to directly or indirectly benefit himself or
herself knowing, or having reason to know, that the vulnerable adult is a vulnerable adult.
Penalties for a violation are based on the value of the money or property involved in the crime
(along with certain prior offenses) and range from a 93-day misdemeanor to a 20-year felony.
The bill would amend section 174a to apply also to conduct against an elder adult and to include
obtaining, using, or attempting to obtain or use a vulnerable or elder adult’s money or property.
The bill also would revise a provision that currently requires the Office of Services to the Aging
to promptly report a violation of section 174a that it becomes aware of to DHHS. Instead, under
the bill, a person required to report abuse, neglect, or exploitation of an adult under section 11a
of the Social Welfare Act who became aware of a violation of section 174a would have to
promptly report that violation as required under section 11a of the Social Welfare Act.
Currently, if a person is convicted of more than one felony under section 174a, a court may
order the sentences to be served consecutively to any other sentence imposed for a violation of
the section. The bill instead would allow a court to impose a term of imprisonment for a
violation of section 174a to be served consecutively to a term of imprisonment imposed for
any other crime, including any other violation of law arising out of the same transaction as the
violation of section 174a.
MCL 750.174a
House Fiscal Agency HBs 4472 to 4479 as referred from Families Page 3 of 4
 House Bill 4477 would amend the sentencing guidelines provisions in the Code of Criminal
Procedure for embezzlement from a vulnerable adult to include embezzlement against an elder
adult, as proposed by HB 4472. The bill is tie-barred to HB 4472, which means that it cannot
take effect unless HB 4472 is also enacted.
MCL 777.16i
BACKGROUND:
The bill package is identical to House Bills 4254 to 4260 and 4265 of the 2019-20 legislative
session. Those bills were passed by the House of Representatives.
FISCAL IMPACT:
House Bills 4472 through 4476 and 4479 will 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 bills is not known. Violations could be either misdemeanors or felonies, and would
depend on amounts of money or property obtained and levels of elder abuse or vulnerable adult
assaults, if offenders had prior convictions, and if so, how many prior convictions. 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.
New felony convictions would result in increased costs related to state prisons and state
probation supervision. In fiscal year 2020, the average cost of prison incarceration in a state
facility was roughly $42,200 per prisoner, a figure that includes various fixed administrative
and operational costs. State costs for parole and felony probation supervision averaged about
$4,300 per supervised offender in the same year. Those costs are financed with state general
fund/general purpose revenue. The fiscal impact on local court systems would depend on how
provisions of the bills affected court caseloads and related administrative costs. Any increase
in penal fine revenue would increase funding for public and county law libraries, which are the
constitutionally designated recipients of those revenues.
House Bills 4477 and 4478 would not have a direct fiscal impact on the state or on local units
of government.
POSITIONS:
The following organizations indicated support for the bills (6-25-21):
• AARP Michigan
• Health Care Association of Michigan/Michigan Center for Assisted Living
Legislative Analysts: E. Best
Emily S. Smith
Susan Stutzky
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 HBs 4472 to 4479 as referred from Families Page 4 of 4


Statutes affected:
House Introduced Bill: 750.1, 750.568