SENATE BILL NO. 145

A bill to create the Michigan public safety citizen communications system modernization program; to provide for the use of certain systems; to create the Michigan public safety citizen communications system modernization fund and provide for the distribution of money from the fund; to provide for appropriations; and to provide for the powers and duties of certain state and local governmental officers and entities.

the people of the state of michigan enact:

Sec. 1. This act may be cited as the "Michigan public safety citizen communications system modernization act".

Sec. 3. As used in this act:

(a) "Department" means the department of technology, management, and budget.

(b) "Fund" means the Michigan public safety citizen communications system modernization fund created in section 7.

(c) "Law enforcement agency" means an entity that is established and maintained in accordance with the laws of this state and is authorized by the laws of this state to appoint or employ law enforcement officers.

(d) "Law enforcement officer" means an individual licensed under the Michigan commission on law enforcement standards act, 1965 PA 203, MCL 28.601 to 28.615.

(e) "Local unit of government" means a political subdivision of this state, including school districts, community college districts, intermediate school districts, cities, villages, townships, counties, and authorities, if the political subdivision has as its primary purpose the providing of local governmental services for residents in a geographically limited area of this state and has the power to act primarily on behalf of that area.

(f) "Office" means the office of the Michigan public safety communications system established within the department.

(g) "Program" means the Michigan public safety citizen communications system modernization program created in section 5.

(h) "System" means the Michigan public safety citizen communications system created under the program.

Sec. 5. (1) The Michigan public safety citizen communications system modernization program is established to create and maintain the Michigan public safety citizen communications system for use by state or local agencies or officials, law enforcement agencies, or local units of government.

(2) The system created and maintained under subsection (1) must comply with all of the following requirements:

(a) Provide automated updates and messages to a crime victim or an individual without the requirement to download an application, create an account, or register through a website, telephone call, or other method used to receive automated updates, including, but not limited to, emails or text messages.

(b) Support messaging and survey functions in multiple languages that are appropriate for each community in which it is deployed. Messages and survey responses must roll up to an English-language dashboard for review by state or local agencies or officials, law enforcement agencies, or local units of government. A crime victim or any individual must be able to choose the language interface while that crime victim or individual uses the system.

(c) Provide all of the following information, including the information described under section 7(6)(a)(viii) to a crime victim as soon as practicable:

(i) Relevant contact information that relates to the crime victim's incident as soon as the incident has been assigned to a law enforcement officer, prosecutor, or other governmental official for further action or consideration.

(ii) Any updates or changes to the information provided under subparagraph (i).

(iii) Any updates or changes to the information previously provided to that crime victim under the system.

Sec. 7. (1) The Michigan public safety citizen communications system fund is created in the department of treasury.

(2) The office is the administrator of the fund for auditing purposes.

(3) The state treasurer may receive money from appropriations or money or other assets from any source for deposit into the fund. The state treasurer shall direct the investment of the fund. The state treasurer shall credit to the fund interest and earnings from fund investments. Money from grants or gifts received for the purposes described under this act must be deposited into the fund and used for the purposes described in this act.

(4) Money in the fund at the close of the fiscal year must remain in the fund and must not lapse to the general fund.

(5) The office shall use the money in the fund, including the interest and earnings, solely for the purposes described under this act.

(6) Money from the fund must be used for both of the following purposes:

(a) By the office to create the program by using technology to automate a citizen engagement process to save time and reduce costs. Subject to section 5(2), the technology platform created under the program must meet the following criteria:

(i) Ensure transparency, accountability, and effective communication from the beginning through the end of a citizen's interaction with the criminal justice and public safety functions of a state or local agency or official, law enforcement agency, or local unit of government.

(ii) Provide and enhance crime victim notification capabilities, including an increase in outgoing crime victim notifications from a state or local agency or official, law enforcement agency, or local unit of government.

(iii) Provide a robust survey tool that allows a state or local agency or official, law enforcement agency, or local unit of government to benchmark community perception. The data collected under this subparagraph must be used to improve services, track initiatives, and identify performance issues.

(iv) Automatically provide 1-to-1 citizen updates and related information through email or text messages. Items under this subparagraph include dashboards to capture trends over a period of time, additional opt-in campaigns allowing citizens to participate in a 1-to-many message format to receive important information on issues important to the community and regarding law enforcement campaigns, a public-facing online web-based portal where a crime victim can opt in to receive additional emails and text messages regarding the crime victim's case, and other items determined appropriate by the office.

(v) Provide for multiagency notification to enable an agency to automatically share the status of an incident or investigation with an identified partner agency based on configurable criteria.

(vi) Provide the capability to allow citizens to leverage conversational AI to power human-like, bidirectional real-time communication with citizens through voice, text messages, and emails. The system must provide a virtual agent that responds and asks questions based on the citizen's queries and responses, resolving issues and therefore minimizing the need for human engagement.

(vii) Enable an agency to track and audit the message traffic sent to partner agencies in order to ensure that privacy and security concerns are maintained.

(viii) Provide automatic text messages and emails, including hyperlinks to resources and PDF attachments containing resources, to individuals who interact with the state or local agency or official, law enforcement agency, or local unit of government. Text messages or emails provided pursuant to this subsection may include any of the following information:

(A) The creation of an incident report.

(B) Updates on the involvement of the state or local agency or official, law enforcement agency, or local unit of government regarding an incident.

(C) Whether a report was filed and received.

(D) Notification that a case has been opened.

(E) Notification that an arrest has been made.

(F) Notification that a case is pending forensic results.

(G) Notification that a case has been sent to a prosecutor.

(H) Updates to crime victims with other relevant information.

(I) Notification that a case has been closed.

(J) Other items determined appropriate by the office.

(b) By a state or local agency or official, law enforcement agency, or local unit of government that demonstrates compliance with technology and other criteria as established by the office and is necessary to deploy and utilize the statewide community communications system created and maintained under this act.

(7) Money from the fund may be used for the maintenance of a similar system used by a state or local agency or official, law enforcement agency, or local unit of government before the effective date of this act. If a similar system already exists, money in the fund may be used to ensure that the system is updated to comply with this act. A state or local agency or official, law enforcement agency, or local unit of government is eligible to receive money from the fund for the creation and maintenance of a system under this act even if a similar system already exists before the effective date of this act.

Sec. 9. Money in the fund may be used to match funds for federal grants if those funds are used for the purposes described in this act.

Sec. 11. Within 1 year after the effective date of this act, the office shall do both of the following:

(a) Certify that the system is online and ready for use by this state.

(b) Ensure that the system is capable of providing the crime victim notifications required under section 3a of the William Van Regenmorter crime victim's rights act, 1985 PA 87, MCL 780.753a.

Sec. 13. Not later than March 15 of each year, the office shall send a report on the activities of the fund during the preceding calendar year to each member of the legislature, the governor, the clerk of the house of representatives, the secretary of the senate, and the senate and house fiscal agencies.

Sec. 15. (1) For the fiscal year ending September 30, 2023, there is appropriated and transferred from the general fund to the fund $3,500,000.00. The money transferred to the fund under this subsection is appropriated and available for allocation as authorized in section 7.

(2) Subject to appropriation, for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2024, $3,500,000.00 must be transferred from the general fund to the fund.

(3) The appropriation authorized under this section is a work project appropriation and any unencumbered or unallotted funds are carried forward into the following fiscal year. The following is in compliance with section 451a of the management and budget act, 1984 PA 431, MCL 18.1451a:

(a) The purpose of the work project is to carry out the activities and purposes described in section 7.

(b) The work project will be accomplished through the use of state employees or contracts, or both.

(c) The total estimated completion cost of the work project is $7,000,000.00.

(d) The estimated completion date of the work project is September 30, 2024.

Enacting section 1. This act takes effect 90 days after the date it is enacted into law.

Enacting section 2. This act does not take effect unless Senate Bill No. 146 of the 102nd Legislature is enacted into law.