This is Senate Bill No. 1, the first vote of the new legislative term, and this chamber is prioritizing a more transparent state government. Residents in Michigan have been able to utilize the nearly-50-year-old Freedom of Information Act to request the behind-the-scenes documents from their city or township hall, from their school district, from county officials, from state departments, to better understand how the government decisions that impact them are made. These are e-mails, memos, schedules, agendas, who did your mayor meet with? What did your school board members send to each other during a meeting? Did the county actually follow through on the issue you brought up to them? Residents can find all of that out through a FOIA request. But this act excludes the Governor and state lawmakers from being subject to those same record requests. The public is blocked from seeing the inner workings of the Executive Office and the State Legislature. This is outrageous enough, but we are one of the only states in the country with these exemptions in the State Capitol. This contributes to the reasons why Michigan ranks the worst in the country in ethics and accountability and why scandals in this building are able to persist in the dark.
As you all know, the Senator from the Upper Peninsula and I have introduced these bills year after year to include the Governor and Legislature in FOIA. During the 2015-2016 session—a decade ago—our ten bills passed in the House when we served in the House, most with a 100-6 and some with a 99-7 vote. The next session, my second term in the House, those ten bills passed in the House unanimously, with a 108-0 vote. The next session, unanimously in the House with a 107-0 vote. The next session, unanimously in the House with a 109-0 vote. But each session, these bills were blocked by the then-Senate Republican leaders. Last term, our Senate Democratic majority for the very first time put these bills up for a vote in our chamber. We crafted the strongest version of this legislation yet and put it into two bills that passed 36-2, but then the House didn’t take it up. If you’re keeping score, there have been 4,310 votes in the last ten years in support of this legislation and 66 votes against, yet it is still not the law, the public is still left behind, and the opportunity for scandal is still ripe.
Today, we in the Senate will do our part to give residents the tools to shine light on state government and these bills will be sent over to the House. I compel the House to act on it. I don’t have another floor speech to give on these bills. This is the last time that my colleague and I will be able to be a part of this journey and it’s long past time to get it done. It should not take another ten years or another 4,000 votes for the Legislature to do the right thing for our constituents. I urge a “yes” vote on these two bills.
The following bill was read a third time:
Senate Bill No. 2, entitled
A bill to amend 1976 PA 442, entitled “Freedom of information act,” by amending sections 6, 10, and 13 (MCL 15.236, 15.240, and 15.243), section 6 as amended by 1996 PA 553, section 10 as amended by 2014 PA 563, and section 13 as amended by 2023 PA 64, and by adding section 14a.
The question being on the passage of the bill,
Senator Lindsey offered the following substitute:
Substitute (S-1).
The substitute was not adopted, a majority of the members serving not voting therefor.
The question being on the passage of the bill,
The bill was passed, a majority of the members serving voting therefor, as follows: