Michigan lawmakers have less than 30 days to get signed into law legislation that would shore up the state’s sex offender registry law to prevent more than 34,000 names from being removed from the registry.

The legislation is being spurred by a recent federal district court order that found the state could not apply certain parts of the Sex Offenders Registration Act to those who committed their crimes prior to 2011 and that the way the state deals with out-of-state sex offenders who move to Michigan was unconstitutional.

The judge’s order takes effect July 21, giving the Legislature a short window to pass the laws and get them signed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

The Democratic-led state Senate voted 20-4 on Tuesday in favor of the legislation, with support from several Republicans. The bill moves next to the GOP-controlled House.

The Senate’s changes will give the state more time — less than 30 days — to seek amendments to the judge’s order and an extended compliance deadline to prevent the removal of about 34,000 names from the registry.

“There’s been a lot of back and forth legally,” Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks, D-Grand Rapids, said Tuesday of the legality of the state’s Sex Offender Registry Act. “I’m not 100% sure this will settle it. But I think we have done our part today to make sure we are in compliance with this most recent court case.”

Thirteen members were absent from the Senate when the bill passed. The legislation gained support from all Republicans and most Democrats present on the Senate floor. Four Democrats voted against it: state Sens. Rosemary Bayer of West Bloomfield Township, Mary Cavanagh of Redford, Stephanie Chang of Detroit and Jeff Irwin of Ann Arbor.

Cavanagh said she believes legislation is needed to fill in gaps in the state’s sex offender law, but she said she hesitated to rush into those changes because the courts have struck down past legislative efforts.

“I would have preferred spending time to get it right and would be supportive of legislation that I believe provides a solution to the problems more fully,” Cavanagh said.

The legislation comes after more than a decade of legal challenges filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan over the state’s Sex Offender Registration Act, which the ACLU has argued is so punitive that it makes it difficult for those on the registry to lead productive lives and avoid recidivism. The group’s legal challenges have resulted in repeated, court-ordered changes to Michigan’s registry.

The most recent legislative change to the registry went into effect in March 2021 — another effort to come into compliance with a separate court order — but was challenged by the ACLU the next year in federal court on the grounds that the changes again were unconstitutional.

“The evidence in the case included numerous other expert reports showing that Michigan’s registry is counter-productive: Because registration makes it more difficult for people to find housing, employment and family support — the key factors in preventing recidivism — the registry makes the public less safe,” the ACLU of Michigan said of the case on its website.

U.S. District Court Judge Mark Goldsmith on April 22 issued a final judgment in the case that found the state law that went into effect in March 2021 retroactively applied additional requirements for those who had committed sex-related crimes prior to 2011 and thus violated the Constitution.

The federal judge also ruled that the law’s requirement for out-of-state sex offenders to register in Michigan for offenses that were similar to Michigan crimes was unconstitutional because it left those comparisons up to Michigan State Police staff without the opportunity for judicial review.

Goldsmith ordered his April 22 judgment to take effect within 90 days, unless the state enacted new provisions to the Sex Offender Registry Act within that 90-day window. If a change in law is enacted within those 90 days, Goldsmith wrote, it would add another 30-day delay to the effective date. During those 30 days, either party could file a motion to amend the judgment and request another extension of the effective date.

By the state’s tally, Goldsmith’s April 22 order, left unaddressed, would mean roughly 34,000 people would be removed from the sex offender registry by July 21: 31,000 pre-2011 registrants and between 3,000 and 4,000 individuals with out-of-state convictions.

To stop those removals and stall the effective date of Goldsmith’s order, the Senate bills would provide those with out-of-state convictions the ability to seek a circuit court determination on whether or not they would have to register.

The legislation also would remove certain reporting requirements for pre-2011 registrants that Goldsmith ruled were retroactively applied and create a pathway to leave the registry after 25 years.