Michigan’s Progress on Bus and Train Assaults: Member Engagement NEEDED to Bring the Case to a Close!

As reported in May, SMART-TD’s Michigan State Legislative Board has been working hard to pass legislation to prevent violent attacks on our transportation and freight members in the state.

Bills 4917 and 4918 both received bipartisan support in the Lansing House thanks to the efforts of SMART-TD’s Michigan State Legislature Director Don Roach and members of his panel. However, they need member support to get the bills across the finish line in the Senate and to the governor.

Brother Roach’s two bills would add the crime of assaulting bus drivers, transit workers, or railroad workers to the state’s criminal procedure code, in an effort to curb the increasing number of violent attacks affecting SMART-TD members and others in the transportation industry.

These important bills received overwhelming support in the Michigan House of Representatives.

On June 20, however, that support stalled. When both bills reached the Senate Committee on Civil Rights, Judiciary, and Public Safety, they passed, but along party lines.

Logically, preventing and punishing serious and criminal assaults on railroad and bus drivers should transcend partisan political considerations. This was the case in the Michigan House of Representatives.

But the partisan nature of the Senate committee vote prompted our Michigan SLB to urge members to spread the word. Please follow this link to SMART-TD’s Action Center to send your Senator a pre-written message in support of these bills. YOU could be the difference between life and death for your union brothers and sisters!

The bill is currently before the Michigan Senate. It increases penalties for attacks on railroad workers or bus drivers in Michigan to maximum sentences of 93 days to eight years in prison and maximum fines of $1,000 to $8,000. Criminal history and the use of weapons in the attack will determine what level of punishment the perpetrator will receive.

These bills increase the penalties for attacks on our transit workers and also require that signs be posted on buses and trains to alert the public to the increasingly severe charges and penalties. The signs are preventive measures aimed at preventing attacks from happening in the first place.

SLD Roach said they have been working on these bills for over two years now.

“We have worked on these assault bills with our lead sponsor, Rep. Samantha Steckloft (D-19th District), for too long to let them sit on the floor in the Senate now! We have built a coalition of stakeholders, including the American Civil Liberties Union and others, to support this cause. Our members cannot afford to sit idly by when the stakes are as high as they are with these bills.”