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Whitmer limits redistricting panel's use of closed meetings

Gov. Whitmer has signed legislation to prohibit Michigan’s new redistricting commission from citing exceptions under the Open Meetings Act to hold closed sessions.

Credit: AP

FILE - People speak during Michigan's new Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission meeting on Oct. 21, 2021, in Lansing, Mich. Michigan newspapers sued the state's redistricting commission, demanding that it release a recording of a closed meeting and make public two memos that panel members discussed during the meeting. The lawsuit was filed Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2021, by The Detroit News, the Detroit Free Press, The Center for Michigan Inc./Bridge Michigan and the Michigan Press Association. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File)

LANSING, Mich. — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has signed legislation to prohibit Michigan’s new redistricting commission from citing exceptions under the Open Meetings Act to hold closed sessions.

Her signature last week came days after the state Supreme Court ruled against the panel in a test of a constitutional requirement that it conduct all of its business at open meetings.

The bill sponsor, Republican Sen. Ed McBroom of Vulcan, has said the commission — which was created by a 2018 voter-approved constitutional amendment — should not be able to justify a closed meeting by pointing to the 1976 law.

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