Open Fields Doctrine Prohibition for State Law Enforcement

Current understanding

HB6128 (103rd Legislature) would create a new Michigan act prohibiting state law enforcement officers and state agencies from relying on the federal ‘open fields doctrine’ to conduct warrantless searches of private property outside the curtilage of a home. The measure would extend search-warrant requirements to areas (fields, woods, undeveloped parcels) that federal Fourth Amendment doctrine currently treats as unprotected. Status: introduced.

Evidence log

• 2026-06-24 — State agencies (existing): generally; use of open fields doctrine by law enforcement officers and state agencies; prohibit. Creates new act.: cross-connection with immigration-enforcement-facility-access: Both are introduced measures placing statutory limits on the search or access authority of state agencies and law enforcement, framed as civil-liberties protections. (novelty: 3)

Open questions

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