Michigan Senate leads with transparency bills in new session

Craig Mauger, The Detroit News on Jan 8, 2025

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LANSING — The first two bills introduced by Michigan Senators to start the new legislative session Wednesday would expand the state's open records law to the Legislature and the governor's office.

Traditionally, the bill number, Senate Bill 1 or SB 1, is given to a policy priority of Senate leadership. For the 2025-26 term, Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks, D-Grand Rapids, chose long-pursued Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) proposals for the distinction.

The current FOIA law says that Michigan residents are entitled to "full and complete information regarding the affairs of government" and allows members of the public to request and obtain a wide array of records belonging to government agencies, including school districts, township boards and state departments.

However, Michigan is one of only two states nationally where open records policies specifically exempt the Legislature and governor's office.

For a decade, bills to change that fact have passed one of the two legislative chambers — either the House or Senate — but died in the other. In the 2023-24 term, the Democratic-controlled Senate approved the FOIA bills, but the Democratic-controlled House never took them up for votes.

Sen. Jeremy Moss, D-Southfield, one of the lead sponsors of the new Senate transparency measures, said he expects the bills to "move as quickly as possible" this year.

"Obviously, it was a huge disappointment, after this long effort that the Senate led last term, to not see this make it to the governor's desk just a month ago," Moss told reporters. "We are prioritizing this. We are putting our marker in the sand here today that we we want to ensure that we have an ethical, honest and transparent government here in Lansing."

Over the last two years, there has been a string of criminal investigations involving state officials in Lansing, including the announcement of 13 charges against former House Speaker Lee Chatfield in April. Chatfield, R-Levering, who held the top position in the House in 2019 and 2020, has been accused of misusing money he raised but has denied wrongdoing.

Separately, former House Speaker Rick Johnson, R-LeRoy, was sentenced to 55 months in prison in September 2023 for taking bribes as the chairman of the state's medical marijuana licensing board.

Under Moss's new bill, the FOIA exemption for the executive office would be deleted, and legislators would be added to the list of public bodies that must comply with open records requests.

Sen. Ed McBroom, R-Vulcan, has a companion bill, Senate Bill 2 or SB 2, which would provide multiple exemptions, including for communications between the governor and constituents and between lawmakers and their constituents. Records held by a legislative body for less than 30 days would also be exempt, along with records pertaining to an internal investigation.

McBroom and Moss have worked on the open records package for years, dating back to when they both served in the House.

"I think it's finally going to happen," McBroom said Wednesday.

Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has previously campaigned on expanding the open records standard to the Legislature and governor's office.

The bills are widely expected to advance out of the Democratic-controlled Senate. It will be up to new House Speaker Matt Hall, R-Richland Township, to decide whether they are voted on in the GOP-controlled House. Hall has publicly said he supports FOIA expansion.

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