FYI! SB-0223, As Passed Senate, March 23, 2017

Please take the time to read this Legislation that affects Michigan Law Enforcement that passed the Michigan Senate on Thursday, March 23, 2017.

We will keep you informed of the progress of this legislation.

DPLSA

SUBSTITUTE FOR SENATE BILL NO. 223

A bill to require the creation and maintenance of certain law

enforcement officer personnel records; to prescribe the information

that may be contained in the personnel records; to permit law

enforcement officers to review the personnel records; and to

provide for immunity from civil liability to law enforcement

agencies in certain circumstances.

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

Sec. 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the “law

enforcement officer separation of service record act”.

Sec. 2. As used in this act:

(a) “Commission” means the Michigan commission on law

enforcement standards created in section 3 of the Michigan

commission on law enforcement standards act, 1965 PA 203, MCL

28.603.

(b) “Former employing law enforcement agency” means a law

enforcement agency in this state that was the employer of, or that

issued an oath of office to, a law enforcement officer licensed

under the Michigan commission on law enforcement standards act,

1965 PA 203, MCL 28.601 to 28.615, and that was required to

maintain an employment history record for that law enforcement

officer under the Michigan commission on law enforcement standards

act, 1965 PA 203, MCL 28.601 to 28.615.

Sec. 3. (1) In addition to the employment history record

required to be maintained under the Michigan commission on law

enforcement standards act, 1965 PA 203, MCL 28.601 to 28.615, by a

law enforcement agency for each officer it employs or for each

officer to whom the chief of police of a village, city, or township

or county sheriff has administered an oath of office, a law

enforcement agency shall maintain a record regarding the reason or

reasons for, and circumstances surrounding, a separation of service

for each law enforcement officer for whom the law enforcement

agency is required to maintain an employment history record under

the Michigan commission on law enforcement standards act, 1965 PA

203, MCL 28.601 to 28.615, who subsequently separates from the law

enforcement agency or from his or her employment as a law

enforcement officer requiring the administration of an oath of

office under section 9c or 9d of the Michigan commission on law

enforcement standards act, 1965 PA 203, MCL 28.609c and 28.609d.

(2) The law enforcement agency shall allow a separating law

enforcement officer to review a record prepared under subsection

(1) upon the request of the separating officer.

(3) If a separating law enforcement officer disagrees with the

accuracy of the contents of the record prepared under subsection

(1), he or she may request the correction or removal of the portion

of the record he or she believes is incorrect. If the law

enforcement agency and the separating law enforcement officer

cannot reach an agreement on the contents of the record prepared

under subsection (1), the separating law enforcement officer may

submit a written statement explaining the separating law

enforcement officer’s position and the basis for his or her

disagreement. If a separating law enforcement officer submits a

written statement under this subsection, it must be kept with the

record required under subsection (1) and provided with the rest of

the contents of the record as required under section 5.

Sec. 5. (1) A law enforcement officer who is licensed or who

was previously licensed or certified under the Michigan commission

on law enforcement standards act, 1965 PA 203, MCL 28.601 to

28.615, and was previously employed as a law enforcement officer in

this state, who separates from his or her employing law enforcement

agency or from employment as a law enforcement officer to whom an

oath of office has been administered under section 9c or 9d of the

Michigan commission on law enforcement standards act, MCL 28.609c

and 28.609d, and who subsequently seeks to become reemployed as a

law enforcement officer in this state, shall provide to the

prospective employing law enforcement agency, upon offer of

employment, a signed waiver. A waiver executed under this

subsection must expressly allow the prospective employing law

enforcement agency to contact the law enforcement officer’s former

employing law enforcement agency or agencies and seek a copy of the

record regarding the reason or reasons for, and circumstances

surrounding, his or her separation of service created by his or her

former employing law enforcement agency or agencies under section

3.

(2) A waiver under subsection (1) must be executed on a form

provided by the commission to all law enforcement agencies in this

state that employ or administer oaths of office to law enforcement

officers licensed under the Michigan commission on law enforcement

standards act, 1965 PA 203, MCL 28.601 to 28.615. The prospective

employing law enforcement agency is responsible for providing the

waiver executed under subsection (1) to the former employing law

enforcement agency or agencies.

(3) Upon receipt of the waiver executed under subsection (1),

a former employing law enforcement agency shall provide, along with

other information required or allowed to be provided by law, a copy

of the record required under section 3 to the prospective employing

law enforcement agency.

(4) A prospective employing law enforcement agency shall not

hire a law enforcement officer to whom subsection (1) applies

unless the prospective employing law enforcement agency receives

the record created under section 3 from the law enforcement

officer’s former employing law enforcement agency or agencies.

(5) A former employing law enforcement agency that discloses

information under this section in good faith after receipt of a

waiver executed under subsection (1) is immune from civil liability

for the disclosure. A former employing law enforcement agency is

presumed to be acting in good faith at the time of a disclosure

under this section unless a preponderance of the evidence

establishes 1 or more of the following:

(a) That the former employing law enforcement agency knew that

the information disclosed was false or misleading.

(b) That the former employing law enforcement agency disclosed

the information with a reckless disregard for the truth.

(c) That the disclosure was specifically prohibited by a state

or federal statute.

Enacting section 1. This act takes effect 90 days after the

date it is enacted into law.