Deepfake Porn Ban, WorkKeys Exemption For High Schoolers, More Pass Senate

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 08/13/2025) Creating pornographic or sexual deepfakes of someone will result in a $3,000, one-year misdemeanor and possibly a daily $1,000 court-issued injunction if it's not erased, under House bills the Senate moved Wednesday.

On Wednesday, the Senate passed HB 4047 and HB 4048 , respectively by Sens. Matthew Bierlein (R-Vassar) and Penelope Tsernoglou (D-East Lansing), without opposition.

Under the legislation, the penalty can become a $5,000, three-year felony if someone faces financial losses because of a pornographic deepfake, if it was distributed with intent to make money or if there's a website or cellphone app being maintained for the deepfake.

In a fall 2024 survey covered by the Education Week publication, one in eight youths from 13 to 20 – out of 1,200 individuals surveyed – said they knew someone personally who was targeted by "deepfake nude imagery." Additionally, 71 percent of respondents said they created deepfake imagery of others through technology they found on social media.

HB 4047 and HB 4048 were two of eight bills the Senate passed, having its first active, attendance-taking session since before the Fourth of July holiday. Other bills passed include:

- SB 349 and SB 350 by Senate Education Chair Dayna Polehanki (D-Livonia), allowing high school students to opt out of the ACT WorkKeys career assessment that is often used in the trades and among manufacturing employers to review job site thinking skills.

The bills passed with no opposition.

- HB 4403 by Rep. Pauline Wendzel (R-Watervliet) passed unanimously. The bill gives spirits distillers and mixed spirit manufacturers the same ability as winemakers and beer brewers to essentially make arrangements to use the same space and equipment to make their products.

- SB 435 by Senate Majority Floor Leader Sam Singh (D-East Lansing), which did not receive a committee hearing before being discharged Wednesday onto the chamber's floor, passed without opposition as it would make eligibility for Michigan's home heating tax credits based on the national consumer price index instead of the urban Detroit Consumer Price Index.