Michigan lawmakers to propose FOIA reform this year

Some Republicans and Democrats agree Michigan's Freedom of Information Act should be reformed and will propose legislation later this year.

Sen. Jeremy Moss, a Southfield Democrat, called FOIA reform a “good government” issue. A 2015 report gave Michigan an ‘F’ grade for government transparency and accountability.

Michigan is one of two states that exempts the governor or legislature from FOIA, although local governments such as police and fire departments are subject to the accountability measure.

“FOIA is journalists’ lifeblood to get information out of government, to make sure the public knows fully what’s going on,” Moss said in a phone interview. “It’s stunning how far behind Michigan is.”

Enacting FOIA reform will be “institution-changing,” said Moss, who added will hopefully help root out longstanding corruption in Michigan politics.

“If you want to request something from the [Michigan] Legislature, there’s no one to even request it from,” Moss said. “Our staff doesn’t provide this information because they are untrained to go into our records and search it.”

Other state governments have FOIA coordinators, processes, systems, record retention laws and more in place.

House Oversight and Ethics Committee Chair Erin Byrnes, D-Dearborn, said she was subject to FOIA during her five years on the Dearborn City Council.

“For me, being at the state level and not having that transparency feels uncomfortable, to be honest,” Byrnes said in a phone interview. “To me, it feels natural for that to be in place.”

Byrnes hopes to propose the FOIA reform “as soon as humanly possible.”

In previous years, FOIA reform would pass the Republican-controlled House but not the Republican-controlled Senate. In 2023, voters chose a Democrat political trifecta for the first time in 40 years that has enacted, so far, tax reform, gun safety, civil rights and education changes.

Democrats are still working on bill language.

“This is something that we certainly have to be very thoughtful and meticulous about because we are building a system from the ground up,” Moss said, adding stakeholders include the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, the American Civil Liberties Union and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s office.

Moss is working with Sen. Ed McBroom, R-Waucedah Township, among other stakeholders. Rep. Tom Kunse, R-Clare, vice chair of the House Ethics and Oversight Committee, said it's “morally necessary” to reform FOIA.

“A government should be small, responsive and transparent, and we are none of those things,” Kunse said in a phone interview.