It will still be a misdemeanor in Michigan to find a dead body and not report it.
As Michigan Public Radio’s Jake Neher reports, it’s one of more than 50 bills signed by Lieutenant Governor Brian Calley this week.
The charge carries up to a year in jail and a fine up to a thousand dollars. If the intent is to hide the person’s death or its cause, it will be a felony. That means up to five years in jail and a five-thousand dollar fine.
Republican state Senator Tonya Schuitmaker says fraud cases involving dead bodies are too common in the state.
“In one case, a roommate lived with a dead body and asked the parents for money, not telling them that their daughter was dead,” she says.
Schuitmaker says that person did not technically break any state laws.
Calley also signed bills this week to revive the Michigan Civilian Conservation Corps, and to prohibit people from claiming medical marijuana under personal injury insurance policies.