While much of the world runs on digital transactions, it takes an actual paper checkbook and a lot of travel to unlock open records in many small agencies and police departments. A Michigan editor, who is leading a reporting project into police responses at a music festival at which four people died, found herself driving […]
Tag: Michigan Freedom of Information Act
News site examines dozens of transparency proposals swirling in Michigan
Dozens of government transparency and ethics bills are circulating in Michigan, the state that received an “F” grade and ranked 50th in the nation in a 2015 integrity investigation. Steve Delie, executive director of the Michigan Coalition for Open Government, told Michigan Advance that the state is stuck in “a culture of non-transparency.” In a […]
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Far from perfect, but ‘better than nothing,’ says Michigan coalition director of bill touted as a transparency measure
Unlike lawmakers in most states, Michigan legislators aren’t required to disclose their financial interests. A bipartisan bill would change that — kind of. The bill would require lawmakers to disclose their financial information to a legislative committee, which would be exempt from the state’s Open Meetings and Freedom of Information acts. Only if the committee […]
Michigan Supreme Court splits on whether records held by university library are public
The Michigan Supreme Court deadlocked April 9, 2021, on whether records possessed by a University of Michigan library are considered public, The Detroit News reported. The 3-3 ruling allows an immigration lawyer to move forward with a public records request for documents donated to the university by an anti-immigration activist. In 2010, Dr. John Tanton […]
Michigan: Fighting for our right to FOIA
Here’s one of those truths that ought to be self-evident: In this democracy, governments — federal, state, and local — are our governments. They belong to “We the people,” after all. We elect those who run them, and fund their salaries and everything they do. That means, or should mean, that we have a right to see […]
FOIA expansion among things to watch during Michigan’s lame-duck session
The House passed laws in September that would expand the state's Freedom of Information Act, which allows citizens to access records, to the governor's office. The bills would also subject the legislature to a separate Legislative Open Records Act. Currently neither the governor or legislature are subject to FOIA.
While the bills passed the House easily, there seems to be less appetite in the Senate, where they've been referred to the Government Operations Committee. That committee has a reputation around the capitol for being where bills go to die.
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House votes to expand Michigan FOIA law
The state House passed a package of bills Wednesday that for the first time in Michigan would subject the governor's office and the Legislature to state open records laws.
The Free Press reported in 2014 that Michigan was one of only two states in which both the governor and the Legislature have blanket exemptions from public records disclosure laws.
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MI: Lawmakers push for greater transparency with FOIA requests
The Freedom of Information Act could be changing in Michigan.
A House committee approved a bill Thursday that would prevent public bodies like the government from suing someone that requests information through a FOIA request. The bill is part of a larger attempt by lawmakers to make FOIA more transparent.
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How one paper filed a FOIA request in Michigan—and got sued by the county
Michigan’s primary elections, taking place today, may offer few competitive races. But one of them has offered a look at an unusual type of legal action—one in which a government entity sues a local media outlet in response to a public-records request.
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Michigan bipartisan bill to make governor, lawmakers subject to open records law in doubt
Backers of a measure to open the executive branch and Legislature to greater public disclosure had to be heartened by its unanimous approval last week by a House committee.
But whether the 10-bill package to extend Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act to the governor’s office and Lansing legislators has a shot at becoming law this year seems less than a sure bet. Continue…
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