LANSING — Long-sought legislation to heighten government transparency in Michigan was among the casualties when the state House abruptly adjourned its lame-duck session Thursday.
Among the dozens of bills that died on the order paper were Senate Bills 669 and 670, which would have expanded the Michigan Freedom of Information Act to include records from the governor’s office and the Legislature. Michigan is a national outlier by excluding both the governor and Legislature from its public records laws.
The bills had passed the Senate with bipartisan support and, on Dec. 11, were advanced to the House floor in a unanimous vote by a House committee.
The Michigan Press Association is “extremely disappointed” the bills did not become law in the 2024 legislative session, said spokeswoman Lisa McGraw.
“These bills have had bipartisan support and are good public policy that would improve transparency for Michiganders,” McGraw said in a Thursday email. “Unfortunately they were put off by the House until the final days and became collateral damage of the circumstances that led to an early departure of the members. Hopefully they will be a priority in the next session.”
The legislation reached a significant milestone in June when the bills, in 36-2 votes, passed the state Senate, which historically had been the main obstacle to passing such 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.
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.
Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Latest effort to expand Michigan FOIA laws dies with House adjournment