Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act

Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act
Michigan Legislature
Public Act 453 of 1976
Citation	Article 37.2101–37.2804, Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, Act No. 453 of 1976. Retrieved on December 8, 2014.
Territorial extent	Michigan
Enacted by	Michigan Legislature
Date signed	January 13, 1977
Signed by	Michigan Governor William Milliken
Date effective	March 31, 1977
Introduced by	Daisy Elliott and Melvin L. Larsen
Amendments
Act 162 of 1977, Act 153 of 1978, Act 446 of 1978, Act 610 of 1978, Act 91 of 1979, Act 93 of 1980, Act 170 of 1980, Act 202 of 1980, Act 45 of 1982, Act 512 of 1982, Act 11 of 1991, Act 70 of 1992, Act 124 of 1992, Act 258 of 1992, Act 216 of 1993, Act 88 of 1995, Act 202 of 1999, Act 348 of 2006, Act 190 of 2009
Summary
An Act to define civil rights; to prohibit discriminatory practices, policies, and customs in the exercise of those rights based upon religion, race, color, national origin, age, sex, height, weight, familial status, or marital status; to preserve the confidentiality of records regarding arrest, detention, or other disposition in which a conviction does not result; to prescribe the powers and duties of the civil rights commission and the department of civil rights; to provide remedies and penalties; to provide for fees; and to repeal certain acts and parts of acts.
Keywords
Civil rights, discrimination, housing, employment, public accommodations
Status: In force

The State of Michigan's Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act (also known as Public Act 453 of 1976), prohibits discrimination on the basis of "religion, race, color, national origin, age, sex, height, weight, familial status, or marital status" in employment, housing, education, and access to public accommodations.

The law is named for its two primary sponsors, Daisy Elliott, a Democrat from Detroit, and Melvin L. Larsen, a Republican from Oxford, and passed in 1976 with 25 votes in the Michigan Senate and 79 votes in the Michigan House of Representatives. It was signed into law by Michigan Governor William Milliken on January 13, 1977 and went into effect on March 31, 1977.

The law also helped strengthen the role of the Michigan Department of Civil Rights, formed in 1965 to support the work of the Michigan Civil Rights Commission of Michigan's Constitution of 1963.

The Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act was passed in 1976, signed into law by Michigan Governor William Milliken on January 13, 1977, and went into effect on March 31, 1977. It has been amended directly or indirectly nearly 20 times.

In 1885, Michigan adopted the Public Act 130 of 1885, otherwise known as the Civil Rights Act, which stated “all persons within the jurisdiction of (the state) shall be entitled to full and equal accommodations, advantages, facilities, and privileges of inns, restaurants, eating-houses, barber shops, public conveyances on land and water, theatres, and all other places of public accommodation and amusement”. In 1890, the Michigan Supreme Court in Ferguson v. Gies relied on the Civil Rights Act in holding the “separate but equal” doctrine unconstitutional under Michigan law, over 60 years before the Supreme Court of the United States case of Brown v. Board of Education. In 1927, the Civil Rights Act survived constitutional challenge in Bolden v. Grand Rapids Operating Corporation.

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