As the sun sets on the 2024 legislative session, lawmakers behind public records laws specific to the governor and Legislature remain hopeful the bills “may let the sunshine in.”
In a push for more government transparency, the Michigan House Committee on Government Operations on Wednesday voted 5-0 to advance legislation that would expand FOIA rules to the Legislature and the governor’s office. Michigan is one of two states in the nation that exempt the Legislature and governor from public records requests under the Freedom of Information Act.
It’s a change that lawmakers have sought for more than a decade in Michigan. This week’s hearing before the GO Committee is the first time the bills have made it to a second chamber in the Legislature.
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In past years, under Republican control, the bills have been able to pass the House but have been denied hearings in the Senate. This year, the Senate voted in June to send Senate Bills 669 and 670 to the House.
The bipartisan legislation was co-sponsored by Sens. Jeremy Moss, D-Southfield, and Ed McBroom, R-Vulcan. They said they’re “cautiously optimistic” that the legislation will move through the full House before the end of the year.
“In an era where it feels like trust with the public is stretched thin many times with public officials, we hope that this is a way to, one, demonstrate some good faith on our part and, two, help them to have some sunshine,” McBroom said in this Detroit News report.
The lawmakers have advocated for FOIA reform for years and believe it will bring greater openness and transparency to state government.
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“The sad reality is all of the scandals that have happened in this town have probably even made a better case for producing this policy,” Moss said. “Some of these scandals that came out of the Legislature happened in the dark because they could happen in the dark.”
On Wednesday, House lawmakers closed the gallery to the public over security concerns but reopened it a few hours later, according to the Detroit News. Lawmakers attempted to pass dozens of bills during Wednesday’s late-night session.
The FOIA legislation is largely supported by a diverse coalition that includes the progressive American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, the free market think tank Mackinac Center for Public Policy, and the Michigan Press Association.
The bipartisan package would open opportunities for journalists and members of the public to better hold officials accountable, but the bills contain various exemptions for the types of records that can be requested and multiple state agencies, including the House and Senate Fiscal Agencies and the Legislative Service Bureau.
If passed through the House and signed by Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, the legislation would go into effect on Jan. 1, 2027. Whitmer previously said she would expand FOIA to the governor and the lieutenant governor if the Legislature did not act on the issue, but she has yet to do so.
FOIA requests continue to rise in Michigan as many government agencies seem to be doubling down on ways to prevent people from accessing public records. One Grand Valley State University student was hit with an $84,000 bill for records he requested related to a Title IX case with an employee, as previously reported by The Midwesterner.
A family in Freeland in a feud over permitting for a pond claims the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy wants them to pay hundreds of dollars for records to support their case.
Concerns over election integrity, political turmoil, and distrust in government seem to be driving the trend to submit Freedom of Information Act requests to government agencies. In Macomb County, FOIA requests received by the county have nearly tripled from five years ago, according to this report by The Midwesterner.
UPNorthLive recently broke news of an alleged sexual assault involving Grand Traverse County commissioner Rob Hentschel. It took nearly two months after the alleged incident to make it public.
To uncover this information, UpNorthLive sent Freedom of Information Requests to multiple agencies, including the Grand Traverse County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, Central Dispatch, Michigan State Police and the Grand Traverse Sheriff’s Office. UpNorthLive still has several unanswered Freedom of Information requests out to multiple agencies, according to this UpNorthLive report.