A Bad Law is Much Worse than NO Law

There are simply WAY TOO MANY laws. Period. Once a Legislature starts meeting "full time" (meaning getting paid for the whole year even if only 4 or 5 months of work gets done) there are bound to be too many laws. Each incumbent needs to show their name on a bill to get re-elected. (In Academia it is called "publish or perish.) In addition you have corporate and big money sponsors who expect a return on their investment, so there need to be laws protecting or exempting them, as necessary. Then there is the need to be "tougher on crime" than everyone else. Add to this an ongoing and ever increasing need for money and you get laws, laws and more laws.

All laws should have sunset provisions. Thus it would no longer be necessary to remember that the last Sunday each June is Log Cabin day (MCL 435.241 reads: "Log cabin day. Sec.1. The last Sunday in June of each year shall be known as 'log cabin day'. History: 1989, Act 60, Imd. Eff. June 16, 1989").
Likewise women could cut their hair without their husband's permission. (more laws) Barring that we should at least stop passing BAD laws.

There are several really bad laws we need to repeal. Laws which restrict a Judge's discretion in sentencing are really bad- that is what APPEALS are for- bad rulings by judges. Much of our law regarding drug use needs to be updated, and the laws on CSC (Criminal sexual Conduct)- once a model for the nation- has ballooned grotesquely. Right now I would like to address Michigan's Drivers Responsibility Law.

The following is from a presentation by the Honorable William C. Buhl, Van Buren County Circuit Court Judge. (Reprinted by permission.) It is quite detailed so I add a link to the full text below.

In 2003 the Legislature, in addition to passing PA 152 increasing fees for operators licenses from $13 to $25 along with all other licensing and registration fees, added PA 165 (Attachment B), promoting it as a highway safety measure. It was just a coincidence that it came along while the State of Michigan was in a fiscal crisis, and existing fees went up.
PA 165 imposed monetary sanctions upon posting of certain convictions, and/or upon the accumulation of 7 or more points in 2 years. After October 1, 2003, a yearly check is made to ascertain if a driver has 7 or more points. $100 is assessed each year plus $50 for each additional point, for each year the point total is over 7.
Specified offenses also carry assessments for 2 years in the following amounts:

$1,000 a year for 2 years for:
1. All OWI/UBAL crimes, or any drinking-driving or driving with controlled substance causing death or serious bodily injury.
2. Fail to stop and identify after P.I. or P.D. accident.
3. Manslaughter or negligent homicide with vehicle.
4. Felonious driving.
5. Fleeing and eluding cases.
6. Auto theft.
7. Due care cases causing construction worker injury or death.
8. DWLS/revoked causing serious injury or death.
9. All the above when operating ORV or snowmobiles.
10. Allowing anyone to drive when OWI/suspended causing injury/death.

$500 a year for 2 years for:
1. Driving while impaired by alcohol or drugs.
2. Minor zero tolerance alcohol driving cases.
3. Reckless driving.
4. Child endangerment.
5. DWLS/revoked or denied.
6. Driving CMV while disqualified.

$150 a year for 2 years for:
1. Driving unlicensed or not valid or without proper endorsement
2. No insurance or no proof of insurance.
3. Driving with expired license.

In 2004 PA 52 (Attachment B) made the following changes:
1. No proof of insurance was raised to $200 a year.
2. Proof of insurance shown to the court for the time period when the ticket was issued avoids the assessment.

When the Michigan Legislature enacted 2003 Public Act 165 it must have been clueless, or, in an effort to generate funds at all costs, heartless towards the residents of the state. Public Act 165 of 2003 (MCL 257.732a), known as the Driver Responsibility Fee, has so many negative ramifications that only a heartless legislature would knowingly foist this tax on the people.
This fee is an added layer of cost assessed on top of all other fines, costs, fees, and assessments accompanying findings of responsibility and guilt for traffic offenses. It is in addition to increased insurance rates that accompany drunk driving convictions, speeding tickets and the like.
To be sure, this legislation will generate some additional revenues. Those who can afford it will pay to keep their driving privilege. Well off drunk drivers will pony up the $2,000 fee and stay on the road legally, as will the many careless drivers who accumulate 7 or more points within 2 years. New Jersey, Texas and New York have all raked in large sums from this type of legislation.
So what's the down side of this money machine? Plenty.
First and foremost, these programs guarantee the creation of a large pool of uninsured, unlicensed drivers. Over time this will have a disastrous effect on many people. An excellent article was written by William L. Cataldo for the State Bar of Michigan publication The General Practitioner shortly after Act 165 was passed, entitled A New Class of Criminal. He recognized what all of us familiar with the criminal justice system immediately perceived the economically challenged citizen will pay a dear price.
Many offenses are economically based. For example, a violation of MCL 500.3101 and 500.3103, requiring insurance on motor vehicles, is punishable by a fine of at least $200 to $500 or up to 1 year in jail or both. So not having money to buy insurance is punished by a large minimum fine. Now, getting a conviction for not having insurance also requires a $1,000 driver reinstatement fee. Should the person chance to drive to work in spite of his suspension for non-payment of the fee, that driver can be arrested and convicted of driving while suspended. That will carry another $1,000 fee. In Michigan, even though driving while suspended or revoked is defined as a misdemeanor with possible jail, jail sentences have become rare. In reality we have decriminalized this offense, because chronic jail overcrowding all over Michigan makes this non-violent offense low priority. Seeing persons with 6, 7 or 8 convictions not get any jail for the latest arrest is not uncommon. So the law in unenforced. However, that person with 7 driving while suspended convictions will need to pay the State of Michigan $7,000 if a license is ever returned, plus a reinstatement fee! Taking away the privilege does not remove the driver from behind the wheel and keep that driver off the road.
These fees will hopelessly bury many of the economically challenged. One legislator actually wrote a letter to a daily publication stating that the Driver Responsibility Fee legislation was a public safety measure! It isn't about public safety, its about money.
Hopelessness is a dangerous condition. But being suspended and driving carries many more risks of serious incarceration than it once did. Being unlucky is the key. Although just driving while suspended won't get you locked up, bad luck will. For example, if a person causes death or serious impairment of a body function while driving while suspended, they commit felonies carrying up to 15 and 5 years in prison respectively. Those who knowingly permit a person to operate their vehicle, and that person causes death or serious impairment of a body function commits a 5 and 2 year felony, respectively.
The same economic hard times that caused the enactment of this tax will cause the damage to the poor driver. And as time goes on, we will all pay dearly when more and more people have no hope, no license and no insurance.
When the original act passed and inadvertently included a fee for those who had insurance but forgot to carry proof of insurance, it caused a public outcry, and the legislature quickly amended the law, removing the fee from that section, but increasing the fee on another violation. Too bad they didn't revisit the whole concept. The longer it remains on the books, the harder the fix.

(READ Judge Buhl's entire presentation)