Spring is just over a month away…as is Sunshine Week. The Michigan Press Association (MPA) is starting to promote transparency early this year because we believe “Sunshine is the best disinfectant” all year long.
For a decade, MPA and our allies have tried to pass legislation that would remove exemptions to FOIA currently held by the legislature and governors’ office. During that time versions of bills that would accomplish this seemingly simple task have passed the House and Senate by overwhelming majority votes. Sadly, never in the same session.
This year, the Michigan State Senate has made this issue a priority and SB 1 and SB 2 were the first pieces of legislation to pass through their chamber this year. These bills remove the exemptions and subject both arms of government to FOIA.
Unfortunately, the state house is not as inclined to make this a priority. Current Speaker of the House Matt Hall was quoted as saying “don’t hold your breath” when asked by a Capitol press corps reporter when the House would take up the bills.
Considering this, MPA took part in a poll conducted by EPIC/MRA last week. We had the pollster ask the following question: Michigan’s Governor and State Legislature are not currently subject to the state’s open records law which provides transparency to taxpayers. This law is called the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). In fact, Michigan is only one of two states in the country that specifically exempts both the governor and the legislature from the law that requires transparency. Would you support or oppose a change to Michigan law that would require Michigan’s Governor and Legislature to be subject to the Freedom of Information Act? Seventy-six percent of Michiganders STRONGLY supported a change with another 13% supporting. That is a total support ranking of 89%.
In today’s climate getting 89% of our citizens to agree on anything is impressive. We encourage members of the House of Representatives to take note and act accordingly to pass SB 1 and SB 2 quickly.
It seems to the members of MPA there are no good excuses not to…that leaves us with one question: “What have you got to hide?”
Let’s improve the ethics, accountability and transparency in our state government.
For more information contact lisa@michiganpress. org or call 313-247-9859.
