Bill Text: MI SB0688 | 2019-2020 | 100th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Crimes; surveillance; eavesdropping, surveilling, and trespassing to eavesdrop or surveil; expand to include the use of recording devices. Amends secs. 539a, 539b & 539c of 1931 PA 328 (MCL 750.539a et seq.).
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Republican 6-2)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-12-10 - Referred To Committee On Judiciary And Public Safety [SB0688 Detail]
Download: Michigan-2019-SB0688-Introduced.html
SENATE BILL NO. 688
December 10, 2019, Introduced by Senators
RUNESTAD, BARRETT, MACDONALD, VICTORY, BUMSTEAD, BIZON, IRWIN and WOJNO and
referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety.
A bill to amend 1931 PA 328, entitled
"The Michigan penal code,"
by amending sections 539a, 539b, and 539c (MCL 750.539a, 750.539b, and 750.539c).
the people of the state of michigan enact:
Sec. 539a. As used in sections 539a to 539i:
(1) "Private place"
means a place where one may reasonably expect to be safe from casual or hostile
intrusion or surveillance but does not include a place to which the public or
substantial group of the public has access.
(2) "Eavesdrop"
or "eavesdropping" means to overhear, record, remotely access, amplify, or transmit any part of the private discourse of
others without the permission of all persons engaged in the discourse. Neither
this definition or nor any other provision of this act shall modify modifies or affect affects any
law or regulation concerning interception, divulgence or recording of messages
transmitted by communications common carriers.
(3) "Surveillance"
means to secretly observe the activities of another person for the purpose of
spying upon and invading the privacy of the person observed, whether by physical or technological means, in a
present or future time, whether or not the individual is aware of the presence of
a device or the capabilities of that device to record, store a recording, or be
remotely accessed.
(4) "Person" means any individual, partnership, corporation, or association.
Sec. 539b. A person who trespasses on property, either physically or remotely through the use of
technology, that is owned or under the control of any other another person, to subject that person to
eavesdropping or surveillance is guilty of a misdemeanor.
Sec. 539c. Any A person who is present or who is not present during a private conversation and who wilfully willfully uses any device, including by accessing a device through technological means, to eavesdrop upon the conversation without the consent of all parties thereto, or who knowingly aids, employs, or procures another person to do the same in violation of this section, is guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment in a state prison for not more than 2 years or by a fine of not more than $2,000.00, or both.
