MIDLAND, Mich. – Michigan Rising Action and the Mackinac Center for Public Policy have successfully compelled the Michigan Economic Development Corporation to release nearly 150 pages of unredacted records, the two groups announced today.

The Mackinac Center represented Michigan Rising Action in a lawsuit to obtain the documents, which shed light on the MEDC’s close relationship with the blacklisted Chinese technology company, Hesai. The company does business as “American Lidar” in Michigan, the Wall Street Journal reported in May. A full report on the newly released documents can be found here.

Michigan taxpayers have a right to know how their money is spent and should be able to access that information via a simple Freedom of Information Act request. However, the MEDC has a history of resisting transparency efforts. Michigan Rising Action tried for months to find out whether the MEDC had helped the Chinese company gain its foothold in Michigan. The development corporation responded with unlawful delays and unresponsive communication. Michigan Rising retained the Mackinac Center and filed suit September 12.

“Who the government collaborates with should not be a secret, and it is shameful that this agency in particular sees itself as especially entitled to move in secret and flout the law,” said Abby Mitch, executive director of Michigan Rising Action. “The truth is, this important information — that MEDC actively collaborated with a blacklisted company — would not have been revealed without the legal aid of the Mackinac Center.”

Michigan Rising initially submitted a FOIA request in May, seeking emails, correspondence and other records related to the relationship between MEDC and American Lidar. After sending an initial response estimating the time and expense necessary to fulfill the request, MEDC went silent for weeks despite follow-up attempts by Michigan Rising. It was only after the Mackinac Center filed a lawsuit on behalf of Michigan Rising that MEDC promptly provided hundreds of pages of unredacted records. It produced those records a little over a week after the suit was filed.

“It shouldn’t take a lawsuit to obtain public records,” said Steve Delie, director of transparency and open government. “We hope this victory will prompt government agencies like MEDC to take their transparency responsibilities more seriously and to fulfill FOIA requests in a reasonable and timely manner.”

While Michigan’s FOIA laws allow government bodies to provide a flexible, good-faith estimate for fulfilling requests, that discretion is not without limits. The Mackinac Center argued that MEDC’s prolonged delays and lack of communication did not meet this basic standard.