City prosecutor updates ordinances on phone misuse, vaping penalties and obstructing emergency services
Summary
Livonia’s law department presented amendments to modernize the malicious‑use‑of‑telephone ordinance, align nicotine vaping penalties with state law and add a local offense criminalizing interference with emergency calls; council approved the changes on consent and asked the prosecutor to continue coordination with the court.
Livonia’s law department presented three ordinance amendments that the council approved on consent: modernizing a malicious‑use‑of‑telephone ordinance to cover contemporary telecommunication methods, aligning local penalties for nicotine vaping with state law and adding a new local ordinance criminalizing interference with emergency services.
Prosecutor Sydney Rogers said the existing malicious‑use‑of‑telephone ordinance targeted prank voice calls and did not reflect modern communications; the proposed revision updates the language to include text messages and other telecommunications devices. Rogers said the tobacco/vape ordinance will mirror state law by treating the first two offenses as civil infractions and escalating to a misdemeanor on the third offense, which allows city handling of early infractions rather than forwarding misdemeanor cases outside the city court structure.
Rogers also introduced a new obstruction ordinance to criminalize preventing someone from contacting emergency services; she said the city currently relies on state law for similar offenses but needs a local ordinance to prosecute in municipal court and handle domestic‑case scenarios in city court. Councilmembers supported the changes and moved the items on consent, and several thanked the prosecutor for the process review and collaboration with the judiciary.
