Bills to apply open records laws to the Michigan Legislature and executive branch got past another hurdle Wednesday. The House Government Operations Committee advanced the bill package to the House floor.
The legislation would allow the public to use the state's Freedom of Information Act to access information like communications between officials, meeting schedules, or other records.
State Senator Jeremy Moss (D-Southfield) is a package co-sponsor. He said the state needs stronger government transparency laws to hold public officials accountable -- and those officials should be ready.
“This will be intrusive. This will be disruptive. You will be subject to FOIA. And if you served on the local unit of your government, you were subject to FOIA. You know how that can work. But at the same time, I don't think it disrupts the core functions of our government. In fact, I think it enhances the core functions of our government,” Moss told the Government Operations Committee Wednesday.
The bills passed the state Senate back in June, the first time a similar policy has made it out of that chamber. Wednesday’s vote from the House committee marks the first time the policy has ever received a committee hearing in both houses of the state Legislature after years of attempts.
Despite the fanfare, the bills would create several exceptions to open records requests of lawmakers and executive officials.
Under the bills, there would be exemptions for communications from constituents, policy recommendations, and around appointments to government positions.
Some have raised concerns that exempting constituent relations would possibly allow influential Michiganders to freely share desires with their elected leaders from the shadows.
But Sen. Ed McBroom (R-Waucedah Twp), who co-sponsors the package with Moss, said it would be hard for lawmakers to use those exceptions around constituent communications to hide important information from the public.
“They’re still going to have to go talk to their other colleagues and those communications are very likely to also then flow to ones who aren’t that constituent’s member, and so, the chances that you can mask those kinds of things are pretty low,” McBroom said.
Overall, open government advocates seem enthusiastic about the bills getting as far as they have and are encouraging the full House to take them up for a vote.
Sam Inglot is executive director of the group Progress Michigan. He said the bills are a start to fixing flaws in Michigan’s government transparency laws.
“Michigan isn’t dead last in ethics and transparency just because our FOIA law is terrible, there’s a lot of other reasons for that. So, if we’re able to pass FOIA, that’s one hole in the Swiss cheese that we’ve plugged. And I think we’re going to have to see how that plays out and look for other opportunities,” Inglot said.
If the bills succeed in getting voted out of the House, Moss’ bill in the package would head to the governor’s desk. McBroom’s bill saw some changes in committee, meaning it would come back to the state Senate for a concurrence vote first.
The bills wouldn’t take effect until January 2027. That’s after the next state Legislature and governor take office.
