New laws and legislative changes set to take effect in 2017
KALAMAZOO, Mich. (NEWSCHANNEL 3) - There's less than a week until the new year, and a number of new laws and changes are set to go into effect in 2017.
Tonight, Newschannel 3 takes a look at what it means for you.
Come January 1, Michiganders will be subject to some new and updated laws.
We spoke to police and a local attorney who says you may be affected depending on who you are.
New laws and changes will hit the books with the arrival of 2017.
Gas taxes will be going up by more than 7 percent.
Minimum wage will climb to $8.90 per hour, thanks to a required annual adjustment.
Another change is one aimed at broadening medical marijuana use for patients, who attorney Randall Levine says, may not want to smoke.
"Persons can obtain relief by ingesting it," he said.
While some people may cringe about the thought, Levine says it is a change that offers relief to medical marijuana users.
"Younger people with serious illness who do not smoke and have not smoked, whose parents don't want them to smoke, edible forms will be a lot like taking a prescription medication, and it will be a lot easier to obtain the relief they seek," he said.
January will also bring change to how Amber Alerts are issued.
"What's changing is they are only going to use this for people who have been abducted or there is evidence someone has been abducted," said Kalamazoo County Sheriff Richard Fuller.
It's a criteria Sheriff Fuller says improves the system already in place.
"In the past 262 have been found because of the Amber Alert system throughout the state, really good program, they are just trying to shore up the rules," he said.
Nonetheless, with the start of the new year always comes a new set of laws to obey.
Vehicle registration fees will also jump by 20 percent for cars and trucks, in an attempt to fix the crumbling roads and bridges across the state.
