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Current Michigan law allows police to issue a ticket on a car, referenced in this file photo of a parking-violation warning, if someone leaves an unattended car idling in a private driveway.

(MLive file)

LANSING, MI - A portion of a little-known Michigan law that made it illegal to "warm up" a car in a driveway has been reversed by state representatives.

The Michigan House of Representatives approved Tuesday afternoon, May 2, a bill that will allow motorists to leave an unattended vehicle idling in a private driveway without fear of a ticket. The legislation kept in place the regulation against having an unattended vehicle idling on a private roadway or business parking lot.

House Bill 4215 moves to the state Senate for consideration before it can become law. It passed through the House's Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in March.

Michigan's law against "warming up" an unattended car in a driveway grabbed headlines when a man in Roseville received a ticket for "warming up" his car in his driveway in January. A month later, the Muskegon police chief announced that his department would be cracking down on unattended vehicles idling in city driveways to help combat the possibility of the car being stolen.

Despite concerns raised by the state representative who represents the Roseville area, the legislation passed the full House on a vote of 77-30. State Rep. Holly Hughes, R-Montague, sponsored the bill.

"I introduced this bill after a Michigan driver was issued a $128 ticket for leaving his car unattended in a driveway while warming his vehicle," Hughes said. "People across our nation were rightfully outraged when they learned people could be ticketed for warming up their cars. An officer testified in committee that $128 is not a lot of money. I'm sorry, that is someone's grocery or gas money."

While speaking on the House floor before the vote, Hughes called it a matter of personal-property rights.

Those who have voiced support for keeping the current rules in place, including some in law enforcement, have mainly pointed to the potential for unattended, running cars to be targets of auto thieves.

State Rep. John Chirkun, D-Roseville, objected to the change in law prior to the vote. A former Wayne County deputy, he voted against the measure.

During his comments on the House floor, he pointed to a couple of specific incidents where unattended, running cars were stolen, including one case in which two children were in the backseat. He said these are reasons for having it illegal.

"We lock our guns up, so why not our cars?" Chirkun said.

Hughes and Chirkun disagreed on the issue of local control as it relates to the current law or approved bill. Chirkun contends that the bill takes away a community's ability to have its own rule to not allow unattended, running cars in driveways, while Hughes counters that a community could do that but would answer to its constituents by instituting such a rule.

The legislation being considered would repeal a rule in the Michigan Administrative Code. The rule specifies that a person who has control or charge of a motor vehicle shall not allow the vehicle to stand unattended on any street or any other place without first stopping the engine, locking the ignition, and removing and taking possession of the key," based on information from the House Fiscal Agency.

Muskegon Police Department's doubling down on its enforcement of this law came as a result of a surge of stolen vehicles, which were left running in a driveway. Muskegon Public Safety Director Jeffrey Lewis said that nearly half of the 88 vehicles stolen in the city last year had a key left in the ignition and many were running.