No More Dangerous Late-Night Solo Shifts at Gas Stations Under ‘Jessica’s Law’

A Michigan lawmaker said Monday that she plans to introduce “Jessica’s Law” requiring gas stations and convenience stores with late-night hours to take additional steps to keep their workers safe.

Rep. Collene Lamonte, D-Montague, began working on the bill in the days after Jessica Heeringa, a 26-year-old Norton Shores mother of a 3-year-old, disappeared last April 26 as she was preparing to close an Exxon gas station on Sternberg Road, The Muskegon Chronicle reports.

Heeringa was working alone and there was no video surveillance footage to assist investigators seeking answers to her disappearance, which remains unsolved.

The bill, which Lamonte hopes to introduce Tuesday, would require gas stations and convenience stores operating between 11 p.m.-5 a.m. to either schedule two employees to work or maintain video-surveillance to record attacks, robberies or other crimes that threaten workers. 

The proposed bill also establishes a civil fine of not more than $200 for each violation.