On Monday August 24th 2015 it was brought to our attention from the State of Michigan that all vehicles manufactured as off-road vehicles would no longer be allowed to be modified to be road legal. Any applications that had not already been through the approval process and have the new VIN label attached to the unit would be denied in process for the “street legal” phase. This means that if you have not already been given your green title and an inspector has come to inspect your unit then you WILL NOT be allowed to have your machine “legal” for the road. The government has simply taken the text of which was proposed to be amended, the carbon copy verbage, and through underhanded politics used a committee to create a "regulation" which applies to MCL 257.219. The bill remains stalled in the legislative process. Some of the offices of the House Representatives have been contacted and they are unclear as to how this has happened either. There has been no clear indication of an unavoidable danger proposed to the public by these machines being on the road of which could constitute an immediate action, in the form of a regulation. The state police website has a field update specifically citing side by sides which CAN be made street legal through modification and filling out a TR-54 form. This regulation is contradictory to existing laws and therefore should be nullified. We are very upset with this decision on behalf of the state and can only speculate the reasons that this bulletin was put into place. We feel as a dealer we were blind sighted by this decision and were not given proper advanced notice, therefore, we weren't able to properly protect our customers from this decision. We have had conversations with not only our home office of the Secretary of State but also with the Department of Regulatory Affairs in Lansing on what this Law/Bulletin holds for the future. We are being told two different stories from each department. As of right now we are being told if you already have a plated ORV then you may renew or transfer and your machine will not be affected. If you have a temporary plate issued by the state, then when that temporary is expired you will not be able to get a replacement and your unit is denied for the “street legal” process.
We are asking our customers to contact Steve McConnell, the supervisor of the Michigan Department of State Regulatory & Monitoring Division. Explain your displeasure with the decision, politely and firmly. Voice your opinion on the states move to create a "regulation" from the exact text of a bill which has NOT been passed into law, and the perception of their intention to circumvent the legislative process! We have laws and processes for doing things here in this country and this is NOT how we do them! Below you will find the contact information:
Steve McConnell
Michigan Department of State Regulatory & Monitoring Divison
517-335-1410
P.O. Box 30708
Lansing MI 48909

Along with contacting your representative over this issue, you can also direct questions to:

Office of Investigative Services
Richard H Austin Building – 3rd Floor
430 W. Allegan
Lansing, MI 48918
(517) 241-8322

Department of State Hotline

(517) 335-1410

Your Friends at Grace Performance