Overview
- Bipartisan bills introduced in mid‑July 2026 would raise fines for illegal or modified exhausts to $500 for a first offense and $1,000 for a second offense and have been recommended for committee review.
- The proposals remove the requirement that officers measure decibel levels on scene and allow documentation of modifications using body cameras or cellphone video instead of physical inspection.
- The legislation would extend enforcement to state highways such as Woodward Avenue where local noise ordinances currently cannot be applied.
- Local police departments, including the Royal Oak Police Department, backed the bills and sponsors say the measures respond to residents’ reports of near‑year‑round engine noise that disrupts sleep, scares pets and affects people with PTSD, while some drivers call the penalties too steep.
- If passed the bills include mercy provisions that could reduce fines for broken exhausts and allow a first‑time waiver when an illegal modification is removed, and the measures must still clear further votes in the Michigan House before becoming law.