Attorney General opinions are NOT law, but they can be persuasive information to present in a court proceeding.
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STATE
OF MICHIGAN
BILL
SCHUETTE, ATTORNEY GENERAL
|
UNIFORM TRAFFIC CODE:
MICHIGAN VEHICLE CODE:
CONST 1963, ART 7, § 29
VILLAGES:
|
Soliciting on public streets and
highways.
Released July 29, 2016
|
Section 676b, MCL 257.676b, of the
Michigan Vehicle Code, MCL 257.1 et seq., prohibits a person from soliciting
contributions, including contributions on behalf of civic or charitable
organizations, from the occupants of vehicles if the person soliciting blocks,
obstructs, impedes, or otherwise interferes with the normal flow of vehicular
traffic upon a public street or highway in this State. No other statute or rule
authorizes or permits the authorization of a person to engage in this activity.
Rule 713, Mich Admin Code, R
28.1713, of the Uniform Traffic Code, prohibits a person in the improved
portion of a roadway from soliciting contributions in support of a civic or
charitable organization from the occupant of any vehicle. Mich Admin Code, R
28.1713.
Opinion No. 7291
July 29, 2016
The Honorable Phil Pavlov
State Senator
The Capitol
Lansing, MI 48909
You have asked whether charitable
and civic organizations may solicit contributions in public roadways.
Although your request did not
identify a particular organization, this office is aware that members of various
charitable and civic organizations sometimes solicit contributions from persons
occupying vehicles while in a public roadway.
Your request and information included with it note that the Village
Council for the Village of Sebewaing (Village), Huron County, decided it would
no longer permit organizations to do so.
The Village cited a number of laws to support its decision, including
Rule 28.1713 of the Uniform Traffic Code.
Mich Admin Code, R 28.1713.[1][1]
The Michigan Vehicle Code sets forth
requirements for the licensure and regulation of drivers and vehicles using
publicly maintained streets and highways and, to a lesser extent, the use of
those streets and highways by pedestrians.
“The purpose of the Vehicle Code is to protect citizens and vehicles
while on the public highways.” People
v O’Neal, 198 Mich App 118, 122 (1993)
(internal citation omitted). As
pertinent here, Chapter 6, Obedience to and Effect of Traffic Laws, MCL 257.601
through 257.750, provides that the chapter applies “uniformly throughout this
state and in all political subdivisions and municipalities in the state.” MCL 257.605(1).
Section 676b of the chapter provides
in subsection (1) that:
A person, without authority, shall not block,
obstruct, impede, or otherwise interfere with the normal flow of vehicular or
pedestrian traffic upon a public street
or highway in this state, by means of a barricade, object, or device, or with his or her person. This section shall not apply to persons
maintaining, rearranging, or constructing public utility facilities in or
adjacent to a street or highway. [MCL
257.676b(1) (emphasis added).]
A violation of this statute
constitutes a civil infraction. MCL
257.676b(2). This
section is broadly worded and prohibits a person from using his or her body in
a way that interferes with the normal flow of traffic on a public street unless
authorized to engage in the activity. A
person soliciting contributions on behalf of a charitable organization from the
occupants of vehicles on public streets or highways may fall within this
prohibition. So too may any other person
soliciting contributions, including
panhandlers or persons attempting to engage in commercial activities,
such as selling goods or offering services to vehicle occupants.
. . .
These terms share similar
meanings. For example, the terms
“obstruct” and “impede” are incorporated into the definition of “block” as
“anything that stops movement or progress; obstruction, obstacle, or hindrance;
. . . to impede the passage or progress of; obstruct.” Webster’s New World Dictionary (3rd ed,
1988). And the word “interfere” means
“[t]he act or an instance of hindering, obstructing, or impeding.” The American Heritage College Dictionary (3rd
ed, 1997).
Again, your request does not include
specific facts. But it is reasonable to
conclude based on the plain language of the statute that the presence of a
person in a street requesting
contributions from vehicle occupants would ordinarily block, obstruct, impede,
or otherwise interfere with the normal flow of traffic on that street. Similarly, a person standing near a street or
highway, for instance on a curb, requesting contributions from an occupant of a
vehicle in the street or highway could very well block, obstruct, impede, or
otherwise interfere with the normal flow of traffic upon that street or highway
by means of his or her person. MCL
257.676b(1). Id. Whether this is true
will depend upon the particular facts and circumstances. With respect to cities, villages, and
townships, it is the “duty” of local law enforcement to “enforce the street
traffic regulations . . . and all state
vehicle laws that are applicable to street traffic” in the city, village, or
township. See Mich Admin Code, R
28.1101.
Thus, with respect to the Village of
Sebewaing, local law enforcement officers would determine in the first instance
whether the activity violates the statute.
If the activity violates the statute under the particular facts, the activity
would be prohibited if the person was otherwise “without authority” to do
so. Because this activity is generally
prohibited by statute, the “authority” to engage in the prohibited conduct must
also be found in the law. See, e.g., Attorney General ex rel Brotherton v Common
Council of City of Detroit, 148 Mich 71, 79 (1907) (“If a prohibitory
constitutional provision, general in its character, is subject to exceptions,
those exceptions must be found in the Constitution.”).
There are certain statutes and rules
that authorize persons to engage in activity in a street or highway. For example, under the Uniform Traffic Code,
police officers and firefighters are authorized to direct traffic. See Mich Admin Code, R 28.1102 and 1103; see
also MCL 257.602. The Michigan Vehicle
Code provides that workers “performing construction, maintenance, surveying, or
utility work within a work zone may direct traffic within that work zone” if
authorized by state or local officials.
MCL 257.611a(1). Similarly,
school crossing guards may stop traffic while on duty at their assigned
crossings. MCL 257.613b. Subsection 676b(1) itself exempts persons
working on public utility facilities.
MCL 257.676b(1). And pedestrians
may walk in a highway if no sidewalks are available, MCL 257.655, or may cross
roadways in a designated place and manner, Mich Admin Code, R 28.1702 and
28.1705. But this office found no
statute or rule expressly authorizing a person to request contributions from
the occupants of vehicles while in, near, or moving upon a street or highway.
The closest statute is MCL
257.676a(1)–(2), which provides, in relevant part, that “a person” may request
a “permit” from the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) to “sell[ ] or
offer[ ] for sale, or display[ ] . . . for sale, goods, wares, produce, fruit,
vegetables, or merchandise . . . within
the right-of-way of a state trunk line highway.” (Emphasis added). MDOT “may issue” the permit “if the permitted
activities do not create an unsafe
situation and do not interfere with transportation along the state trunk
line highway.” MCL 257.676a(2) (emphasis
added). In addition, “[a]s a condition
of issuing a permit . . . [MDOT] shall require the municipality having jurisdiction
over the site to pass a resolution authorizing the activities . . . and may
require that the municipality . . . agree to enforce compliance with the
permit.” Id.
This statute provides a limited
opportunity for a person to ask MDOT for a permit to sell various goods or
merchandise “within the right-of-way”[4][4]
of a “state trunk line highway”[5][5]
so long as the activity “does not create an unsafe situation” or “interfere”
with travel, and the activity is also approved by the local municipality. In that case, this statute acts as an
exception to subsection 676b(1) by providing the person with “authority” to
engage in activity that may otherwise violate subsection 676b(1).
Accordingly, the question arises
whether soliciting contributions for charitable and civic organizations falls
within the activities for which a person may request a permit under subsection
676a(1). Again, your request did not
include facts regarding the nature of the solicitation at issue. But under a plain reading of the statute, the
solicitation and receipt of a monetary contribution for a charity would not
qualify as an offer for, or the “sale” of, “goods, wares, produce, fruit,
vegetables, or merchandise.” MCL
257.676a(1). The term “sale” is not
defined in the Motor Vehicle Code but may be understood to mean “[t]he transfer
of property or title for a price.”
Black’s Law Dictionary (7th ed); see also MCL 440.2106(1) (a “sale,” as
defined by the Uniform Commercial Code, is “the passing of title from the
seller to the buyer for a price”). The
receipt of a monetary contribution with no exchange of goods or merchandise
would not constitute a “sale” for purposes of subsection 676a(1).[6][6] This statute, therefore, does not authorize a
person to request monetary contributions from the occupants of vehicles while
in, near, or moving upon a street or highway in avoidance of subsection
676b(1).
Finally, while the Motor Vehicle
Code authorizes “local authorities”[7][7]
to regulate in certain areas with respect to streets or highways under the
jurisdiction of the locality, MCL 257.606, none of the permitted areas of
regulation include authorizing a person to request contributions from the
occupants of vehicles while standing near, in, or moving upon a street or
highway so as to avoid the application of subsection 676b(1). MCL 257.676b(1).[8][8]
It is my opinion, therefore, that
section 676b, MCL 257.676b of the Michigan Vehicle Code, prohibits a person
from soliciting contributions, including on behalf of civic or charitable
organizations, from the occupants of vehicles if the person soliciting blocks,
obstructs, impedes, or otherwise interferes with the normal flow of vehicular
traffic upon a public street or highway in this State. No other statute or rule authorizes or
permits the authorization of a person to engage in this activity.
BILL SCHUETTE
Attorney General
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