The Michigan House is considering a set of bills to expand the state’s hate crime statutes in what advocates say is a necessary update.
The legislation reforms Michigan’s existing ethnic intimidation statutes to better define acts that qualify as hate crimes, adding protections for sexual orientation and disabilities.
“While free speech, including hate speech, is a protected constitutional right, no one has a constitutional right to commit a criminal act or threatened to commit a criminal act against someone else because they don’t like how they love how they speak, how they worship or who they love,” said Rep. Noah Arbit, a sponsor of the bills.
Similar bills were passed out of the house last year but fizzled in the senate. Some Republicans and national right-wing media outlets claimed that the bills would criminalize the use of incorrect pronouns, which Arbit said was a mischaracterization.
Arbit said that the legislation has been reworked to remove any ambiguity about its scope, including an explicit protection of free speech and pre-existing legal definitions of stalking and true threats.
“Even hateful speech is protected under the First Amendment,” he said. “What is not protected under the First Amendment is hate speech that is uttered in concert with committing a violent act, such as calling someone a racial epithet, and then proceeding to physically assault them.”
The bills faced some pushback from Republicans who said the legislation may not be necessary given preexisting state laws.
“So what are we trying to - are we trying to identify specific hate crimes and then create a whole other level of penalties?” asked Rep. Bob Bezotte, R-Howell. “Is that what we’re trying to do here?”
Arbit said that current laws are out of date and don’t provide harsh enough penalties.
The legislation would increase the maximum sentence for a hate crime conviction from two to five years, with a possible sentence of up to ten years for aggravated offenses.
“This more nuanced penalty scale is consistent with other states laws, as well as other recently passed criminal statutes in Michigan, such as institutional desecration,” Arbit said. “The bill also retains robust alternative sentencing provisions from the old bills, which permitted restorative justice pathway for certain hate crimes.”
If convicted, some defendants could have the option of receiving a reduced sentence through community service.
The bills were advanced out of committee with all Democrats in support and all Republicans abstaining, meaning they could be considered by the full House in the coming weeks.
