LANSING — After years of inaction on increasing government transparency, the Michigan Senate made a significant move toward directing more sunshine inside the offices of governor and state lawmakers Wednesday, by voting overwhelmingly to make them subject to Michigan's open records law for the first time.
The bills now move to the House, which left for a summer break before taking them up. Still, passage of Michigan Freedom of Information Act changes in the Senate is significant, because that chamber has historically been the obstacle to expanding the reach of the open records law. Bills to extend FOIA to the governor and the Legislature have previously passed the House, only to languish in the Senate.
Senate Bills 669 and 670 passed the Senate by votes of 36-2 , with only Sens. Jon Bumstead, R-North Muskegon, and Jonathan Lindsey, R-Coldwater, voting no.
A 2014 survey by the Free Press found that Michigan was one of only two states where both the governor and the Legislature were exempt from open records laws.
Sens. Jeremy Moss, D-Southfield, and Ed McBroom, R-Vulcan, put aside their partisan differences and worked for close to 10 years to advance the legislation. They worked with a diverse group of outside supporters, from the liberal ACLU of Michigan to the conservative Mackinac Center for Public Policy and the nonpartisan Michigan Press Association.
"It's very surreal to be here," Moss said in the Senate just ahead of the vote. "We've endured many naysayers" and "people who worked to make sure this day would never arrive."
Said McBroom: "I'm very proud ... to speak in support of this legislation."
The bills would expand Michigan FOIA to cover the governor, the lieutenant governor and the Legislature. All had been exempt since the original law passed in the 1970s.
The expansions come with new exemptions, such as records created before the bills took effect, records of the governor deemed subject to "executive privilege" or that were in the possession of the governor's office for fewer than 30 days, and records of lawmakers' or the governor's communications with constituents, or those that relate to internal investigations.
Charles Blackwell, a 31-year-old Farmington Hills resident who is a frequent user of the Michigan FOIA as a local government watchdog in his spare time , said Wednesday he welcomes the breakthrough in Lansing and looks forward to approval of the bills by the state House.
"Michiganders have begged and waited for this moment long enough," Blackwell said in an email.
"Transparency about government officials is vital to holding public officials accountable, exposing corruption, and preventing injustice."
Many lawmakers said they voted in favor of the bills despite lingering concerns and said they hope to improve the new law in the future.
"We will finally deliver the transparency that our citizenry does deserve," said Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt, R-Porter Township.
"We need a little more sunshine."
Earlier this year, Michigan lawmakers for the first time became subject to a law requiring personal financial disclosures . But that change was due to a constitutional amendment approved by Michigan voters in 2022 , not an action lawmakers took on their own.
Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com. Follow him on X, @paulegan4.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan Senate votes overwhelmingly to extend FOIA law to governor and lawmakers
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