Michigan's Castle Doctrine Update
The House "Castle Doctrine" package is awaiting concurrence by the House this week. Concurrence means that the House must agree on the Senate amendments to the original wording of the bills. The Senate amended the Castle Doctrine legislation to include these changes:
- If passed into law, the law will take effect October 1, 2006
- Sl;ight re-wording of HB 5142, 5143, 5153 and 5548
If the House concurs, the bills pass (since the Senate has approved them per the amendments).
The House version is comprised of four bills, HB 5142, HB 5143, HB 5153, and HB 5548.
The Senate "Castle Doctrine" bills are due for the second reading before the House this week. According to state law, every bill must be read three times before it can be voted on. Immediately at the conclusion of the third reading, the bill is either passed or defeated in a roll call vote. The Senate Bills are SB 1046 and and SB 1185.
All six bills are tie-barred - which means if one fails to pass, they all fail to pass.
Michigan residents - please contact your State Representative and encourage him/her to support this important legislation. Remember - phone calls and faxes carry substantially more weight than email.
Find your Representatives phone or fax number here. Don't know who your rep is? Find out here.
June 27 Breaking News: The House offered amendments to the Senate Bills - they will go back to the Senate to vote for concurrence.
JUNE 28 UPDATE: The Castle Doctrine passed in both the Michigan House and Senate by roughly 80% of the legislators. The package will be forwarded to Governor Granholm (D) for signing.
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