Lisa McGraw

LANSING – Over the years, some Michigan legislators have made failed attempts to expand the state’s Freedom of Information and Open Meetings laws.

Lisa McGraw, the public policy manager for the Michigan Press Association, said her organization, the Michigan Coalition for Open Government, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy and the Arab-American Civil Rights League of Michigan have been working for more than a decade to make governors and the Legislature subject to the FOIA law.

The law currently covers state departments, their directors and staff, but not the governor and lawmakers.

The coalition also supports faster response times and lower fees.

“Time after time, we see long delays in production of requested records and exorbitant fees being charged,” McGraw said.

“To expand and improve the FOIA law, the press association has been discussing a ballot proposal sometime in the near future,” said McGraw, who is also the legislative chair for the Michigan Coalition for Open Government.

McGraw said results from an EPIC-MRA statewide poll asked last year showed 89% of registered voters favor expanding FOIA.

The EPIC-MRA poll found 6% of registered voters opposed expanding the FOIA law.

If the expansion of FOIA gets on the ballot, it “would win handily,” McGraw said.

State Sen. Jeremy Moss, D-Bloomfield Township, told Michigan Advance in March that if the Legislature won’t pass a statute to expand FOIA, a ballot proposal is the next option. He and Republican state Sen. Ed McBroom of Waucedah Township are co-authors of bills that have stalled in the state House.

Initiating a ballot proposal requires backers to organize petition collection across the state, as well as reviewing the proposed ballot language and verifying the signatures. The process can be costly.

While the Senate passed bills to expand FOIA in 2025, House Speaker Matt Hall, R-Richland, said he has been clear that this proposal is not a priority for the House Republican leadership.

“Backers have no hope that the proposal will get through the House in spite of it passing the Senate over a year ago,” the press association’s McGraw said.

“The association continues to press the issue and will be making it a major issue for the 2026 gubernatorial and legislative campaigns,” she said.

AnnMarie Pariseau, the director of communications for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy in Midland, said, “Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act is vital for ensuring governmental transparency and accountability, but misuse and loopholes have weakened its effectiveness.”

“Excessive fees and overly broad redactions often prevent citizens from accessing records they have a legal right to see,” she said.

“These barriers make it difficult to discover mismanagement and harder for taxpayers to uncover waste or corruption,” Pariseau said.

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This story was provided by Capital News Service at Michigan State University.