Michigan citizens who want to check up on their legislators are fresh out of luck when it comes to the state's open records laws.
The legislature, along with courts and the Governor's office, is not subject to the Freedom of Information act that allows citizens to shine light on the day-to-day operations of other public organizations.
Legislators are exempt not through law, but through a 1986 Attorney General's opinion. MLive ran into it in trying to gather information about now-former Reps. Todd Courser and Cindy Gamrat, and then again during an investigation into House staffers who routinely blur the lines between official and political work.
"The AG's opinion is just an opinion, it is not law. And maybe the legislature should rethink hiding behind an AG opinion," said Jane Briggs-Bunting, President of the Michigan Coalition for Open Government.
The coalition advocates for reform to FOIA. Last year the legislature moved to standardize copying fees, for instance. Other times they consider laws that exempt specific documents from FOIA. But lawmakers have never subjected themselves to the open record laws and public scrutiny expected of local governments and state departments.
Rep. Jeremy Moss, D-Southfield, is looking to change that. He's taken the charge on legislation to subject the legislature to FOIA after its original sponsor, former Rep. Brandon Dillon, left the legislature to lead the Michigan Democratic Party.
"I'm a former city councilman. We were compliant with FOIA under state statute and had no issues with it," Moss said. "Every local government is forced to keep a transparent and open operation on the local level and what we're trying to do is bring that same sense of transparency to what we do here in the legislature and to the Governor's office."
House Speaker Kevin Cotter, R-Mt. Pleasant, reacted to the legislation last week.
"You know, it's something that we could certainly look at. But I think we recently had a situation that showed, highlighted one of the concerns I've had about that change," Cotter said.
He pointed to the release of more than 800 pages of documentation in the Courser/Gamrat investigation. During that, the Social Security numbers of staffers were accidentally released. The House routinely deals with sensitive information, he said.
"When we released that report, 833 pages, we went to great lengths to try to redact sensitive constituent information, other sensitive information as well, such as some information that we missed," Cotter said. "When that report came out there were a couple social security numbers that were missed. So that's just an example of the fact that we are dealing with sensitive information ... so we just have to be cautious."
Moss said that he is proposing a FOIA officer or point person to make the process streamlined instead of burdening staff in every legislative office.
"The idea that somehow we can't comply with FOIA on the state level because we're sensitive about releasing personal info doesn't make sense to me because we ask the locals to do that," Moss aid.
Cotter pointed to financial information the House makes available online, like salaries and benefits, that goes above and beyond what's required in law.
But some other information remains cloaked in mystery.
Philip Lombard, of Ferndale, is a concerned citizen who has been trying to compare some legislative staff policies between states. He submitted a FOIA request to the Senate Business Office for its rules and policies related to things like leave time and the use of state resources. It was denied.
In Lombard's mind, the request was for pretty generic information.
"You're not getting into social security numbers of anything private, it's how they run their office," Lombard said.
Briggs-Bunting said the information citizens are seeking should all be public information.
"We pay for the legislature. We pay a lot of money to run this government in Michigan," Briggs-Bunting said.
Moss's bill was originally introduced in March and referred to the House Government Operations Committee, a committee where bills sometimes go to die. But Moss is renewing his call for its passage. The bill has seven Democratic co-sponsors but would likely need support from the committee's Republican Chair, Rep. Bradford Jacobsen, to get a hearing.
