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Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act is a law whose promise has been undermined by official malpractice. The law helps citizens hold their government accountable. It gives the public access to records and information created by government bodies, which in turn allows citizens to understand how government functions and hold it accountable. Unfortunately, government bodies in Michigan have applied FOIA in ways that undermine its usefulness.
The problem can be traced to a culture of non-transparency, but the practical problems with FOIA are straightforward. Public bodies circumvent FOIA in three ways: They levy excessive fees; they create excessive delays; and they redact documents excessively. Taken together, these practices often lead to FOIA responses that are late, insufficient, and sometimes totally useless. A citizen’s only option is to appeal a decision about fees or redaction to the same public body that initially made it, or to sue.
Public records belong to the public, and the public should be able to access them quickly and at minimal cost. But for that to happen in Michigan, lawmakers need to make significant amendments to FOIA law.
The Mackinac Center has proposed comprehensive amendments to the entire FOIA statute. If adopted, these amendments would close many of the law’s most common loopholes, lower costs, and help ensure that citizens receive records in a timely fashion. The amendments are also annotated, to explain why each change is necessary. We hope these recommendations can guide FOIA reforms that return power to the people.
Michigan needs more transparency. Without it, parents will be stymied in their attempts to learn what curriculum public schools teach their children. Journalists will be unable to uncover government wrongdoing. Citizens will be unable to hold politicians accountable for the policy decisions that affect the lives of every Michigander. FOIA should be reformed, and we believe that our amendments would help transform Michigan from one of the worst states in the nation for transparency into a national leader in open government.
