LANSING, Mich. — New legislation that seeks to increase government transparency in Michigan is set to be considered by the House.
Michigan has received a lot of criticism on its lack of transparency in government because of limitations on what types of public records can be requested from certain officials. The Center for Public Policy graded the Michigan government an "F" in transparency in 2015 and the Coalition for Integrity ranked Michigan 47th out of 50 for anti-corruption measures in 2020.
Michigan's "Freedom of Information Act"—which sets public record request guidelines and limitations—does not apply to state legislators or the executive office of the governor or lieutenant governor.
Now, legislation is on the move to change that.
This new legislation, Senate Bills 669 and 670, would establish FOIA request coordinators for the state House, Senate and for all other public bodies, which, under the new definition, would include the governor and lieutenant governor's offices.
The bills still have restrictions on what kinds of documents could be exempt from a FOIA request. When it comes to the governor and lieutenant governor, that includes records that were "created prepared, owned used, in the possession of or retained" by either them, their employees and/or their offices before these bills would go into effect.
The legislation was already passed by the Senate and, after being passed out of House committee this week, now moves to the full House.
The two bills received bipartisan support in the Michigan Senate where it passed with only two votes against.
