Michigan House Republicans on Tuesday expressed their staunch opposition to a slate of Democrat-sponsored bills that will effectively eliminate cash bail requirements for certain offenders.

In its meeting on Tuesday, the House Criminal Justice Committee discussed House Bills 4655-4656 and 4658-4661. The bills aim to revise the state’s bail laws and legally restrict judges from requiring criminal defendants to post cash bail as a prerequisite to obtain release while awaiting trial.

The proposed reforms would not only render judges’ current ability to set bail for “low-level crimes,” but as well prohibit them from weighing a defendant’s criminal record, failure to appear in court, or whether the judge and prosecutors deem them potentially dangerous to the community.

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Critics such as Committee member Rep. Mike Harris, R-Waterford, assert that the phrase “low-level crimes” can be arbitrarily applied.

“Letting more accused criminals out of jail without bail is a dangerous move that threatens public safety and undermines criminal justice,” Harris said in a statement. “Bail is a powerful financial incentive for good behavior. It encourages defendants to follow the law in our communities and then show up in court. This legislation would tie the hands of judges and release more criminals into our communities without the necessary guardrails to keep our communities safe.”

Harris served in law enforcement for 26 years, retiring as a Waterford Police sergeant. He noted that New York and California adopted similar bail reforms, which he said has led to increased rates of recidivism.  In New York City, for example, “nearly 50% of felony offenders released without bail were rearrested while awaiting trial.”

“Without strong bail requirements, repeat offenders have caused a crime surge in other states,” Harris continued. “Michigan shouldn’t repeat the mistakes of California and New York. We should keep bail options available to protect our communities while ensuring defendants and victims receive their day in court.”

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Criminal justice reform has been on the Democrats’ agenda for the past six years, and picked up a head of steam after the party won the Michigan House, Senate, and governorship in 2022. With the recently elected House Republican majority readying to take office in January 2025, the lame-duck Democratic majority has supercharged its efforts to pass lingering legislation.

The Bail Project, a left of center organization, unsurprisingly heralded the legislation and called on lawmakers to pass the bills.

“The legislation heard today in Michigan’s House Committee on Criminal Justice advances common sense pretrial reforms that center fairness and equal justice in the state’s pretrial system,” TBP’s news release states. “To the benefit of all Michiganders, the Committee should vote ‘yes’ on this package and advance meaningful criminal justice reforms that balance protecting public safety and mitigate the harms of unnecessary incarceration. The full passage of these bills is an opportunity for Michigan to lead the Midwest and the nation towards a more perfect criminal justice system.”

Rep. Graham Filler, R-Duplain Township, said the passage of the bills would limit the authority and discretion currently exercised by sitting judges.

“This represents a dangerous shift in how we handle public safety,” Filler said in a news release. “The people of Michigan deserve a criminal justice system that prioritizes their safety. These bills would force judges to let certain offenders walk free without bail, even if they pose a clear threat to public safety.”

Filler continued: “We trust our judges to make decisions that keep our communities safe. Handcuffing their ability to do so is not just short-sighted — it’s reckless. Michigan should learn from the mistakes of other states, not repeat them,” and added: “If we move forward with this radical experiment, we risk turning our neighborhoods into the next hotbeds for crime sprees,” Filler said. “Releasing dangerous people without any oversight has very real consequences, and we can’t ignore that.”