House committee approves medical amnesty bill; ASMSU testifies in support

A bill to provide legal safeguards for students who overconsume alcohol passed almost unanimously through a Michigan House of Representatives committee today.

All but two of the House Judiciary Committee’s 15 members voted to pass House Bill 4876, which will now go to the full House floor for voting.

Sponsored by the committee’s chairperson, Rep. Mark Meadows, D-East Lansing, the bill aims to protect minors who seek medical attention for overconsumption from receiving a minor in possession, or MIP. It is commonly known as the medical amnesty bill.

Representatives from ASMSU, MSU’s undergraduate student government, testified in support of the bill before the committee and have voiced support for it in the past. East Lansing police Chief Tom Wibert, Ingham County Medical Examiner Dean Sienko and Ingham County Prosecutor Stuart Dunnings III also spoke on the bill’s behalf.

State Rep. Lisa Brown, D-West Bloomfield, abstained from voting, while Rep. Andy Coulouris, D-Saginaw, was not present to vote.

The bill also received support from the East Lansing City Council, which passed a resolution three weeks ago expressing unanimous support for the legislation.