LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – As the sun rises on Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s sixth Sunshine Week in office, the House Republicans are calling for greater transparency for government officials.

What are some House representatives saying?

Many House Republicans are concerned about the lack of transparency within state government, including the office of the Governor, who campaigned for greater transparency for government officials.

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“If the Legislature won’t act, I will use the governor’s authority under the Michigan State Constitution to extend FOIA to the lieutenant governor and governor’s offices,” Whitmer said in her 2018 “Michigan Sunshine Plan” according to the Detroit Free Press.

A letter addressed to House Speaker Joe Tate.

In a letter to Michigan House of Representatives Speaker Joe Tate (D-Detroit), House Minority Leader Matt Hall (R-Richland Township) addressed numerous priorities for the Republican caucus on Monday, including bills addressing the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

“Michigan transparency falls short when it comes to state departments’ interpretations of statutory requirements and their responses — or lack thereof — to people who request public records,” the letter said. “The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is supposed to ensure public access to government records, and it’s worrisome that there are gaps in how information is shared and communicated with the public. We need measures to ensure that our leaders are held accountable and that everyone has access to information necessary for informed decision-making.”

According to the office of Rep. Hall, previous House sessions as recently as 2021 passed legislation strengthening FOIA rules but the bills failed in the state Senate.

Introduced in February 2024, the bill package composed of HB 5422-5427 promotes increased accountability to government officials and access to the public regarding their activities.

Creating a FOIA committee.

Under HB 5424, sponsored by Rep. Tom Kuhn (R-Troy), the state would create a commission that would oversee FOIA requests and timely responses.

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“It’s a huge priority that we have better transparency and openness in our state government,” he said in an interview with Michigan News Source, “It’s tragic that we have so little openness and so little transparency.”

Rep. Kuhn, who was elected to the Michigan Law Revision Commission, has been helping to craft the legislation and modeled it off of the Iowa Open Government Bill Package and the MLRC’s recommendation for more transparency with the creation of a FOIA Commission.

“It’s not just to facilitate requests but also to set standards and serve as a watchdog over how FOIA requests are being handled at all levels of government,” he said in the interview. “It was modeled on the Iowa open government package, and that’s worked very effectively for them to help ensure greater openness and greater transparency.”

The commission would also provide a more cost effective means for citizens to appeal if their rights are denied to get access to the records according to Rep. Kuhn.

Budget transparency and increasing FOIA scope.

Representative Donni Steele (R-Orion) shared with Michigan News Source about two of her transparency related bills, HB 4751 and 5427, one regarding transparency “on the budgeting process” and the other “what they have to report in the Freedom of Information Act.”

Under HB 5427, FOIA laws would be amended to encompass the Governor and Lieutenant Governor, their respective offices, and state legislators.

Rep. Steele shared how different working in the legislature is compared to her time on a township board, in which all actions were public knowledge and you were recognized at the grocery store.

“In Lansing, it’s so easy to get shut out from the public not in public scrutiny and it becomes dark really fast in Lansing, and people don’t know without doing FOIAs, who’s taking you out to dinner, what non-disclosures are you having with big corporations, what [Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve Fund] SOAR companies are you funding that might also give you money for your campaign,” she said in the interview.

“If you can give anybody the opportunity to dig deeper in the process of what actually goes on in Lansing, by all means, we need to expose it,” she added.

Rep. Steele shared that while the minority doesn’t control what’s brought to the floor, transparency in government is important at the state level.

“It’s a government for the people, by the people, and the people have to be engaged,” said Rep. Steele, “otherwise the government becomes this blackhole.”