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MARQUETTE -- A Michigan Senate Republican has proposed legislation that would further protect public access to government communications under the Freedom of Information Act.
Sen. Ed McBroom, R-Waucedah Township, introduced the bill after an email from a lobbyist to a senior adviser to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was found to have used Greek letters that concealed it from electronic FOIA searches, according to a news release from Michigan Senate Republicans.
"My legislation would help ensure FOIA works to help hold government officials accountable by clarifying the intent of the law and the penalties for failing to do so," McBroom said in a news release. "Whether this incident was the result of a coding glitch or an intentional effort to hide their statements from the public, we should all be able to agree that we need better protections in place to preserve communications in a way that doesn't avoid honest disclosure."
In 2021, a multi-client lobbyist who had previously worked for a Genesee County state senator was asked to consult on the state's response to a Benton Harbor lead water problem, given his experience during Flint's water crisis.
In a Sept. 29, 2021, email from the lobbyist to a Whitmer environment and energy advisor, Greek letters were used and when translated it read "Hot off the presses."
"As I warned there are some major red flags. It seems like we are back at square one having not learned from Flint," he said.
According to the news release, the email was uncovered during discovery of a class-action lawsuit by Benton Harbor residents about the Whitmer administration's reactions to the crisis.
A June court filing argued the use of Greek letters meant the email would have been excluded from any public records request for government communications that contain the word "Flint."
According to Michigan Information & Research Services Inc., a Lansing-based publication covering state government, the Greek letters were the result of a coding glitch that can occur when messages are cut and pasted from some Microsoft Word programs into an email.
McBroom's bill, Senate Bill 467, would prohibit government entities from avoiding disclosure of a record by using code words or phrases, symbols, foreign language or non-English letters. The bill also increases penalties under the state's FOIA law.
Senate Bill 467 is one of many bills McBroom has introduced to increase transparency and accountability in state government, including extending FOIA to the governor's office and a similar act to the Legislature.
"I began work on this bill more than four months ago, long before various groups and media started talking about this particular email," McBroom said. "My intention has always been to fix an apparent problem so no one in the future is inspired to try to hide information this way while also bringing attention and accountability to this situation if, in fact, it was intentionally done."