There is, however, a large discrepancy in how the law impacts local elected officials and those who serve at the state level.

Under the current law, the governor’s office and members of the Legislature are exempt from FOIA, meaning residents cannot demand records needed for reporting, research or just to monitor behavior and activity at the Capitol.

Currently, however, a package of bipartisan bills is awaiting a vote in a state House committee that would create the Legislative Open Records Act to open up the governor, lieutenant governor and lawmakers to public information requests.

State Rep. Sue Allor, R-Wolverine, who represents Northeast Michigan and sponsored one of the bills in the package, said she is in favor of being transparent as possible and that there needs to be more consistency in FOIA laws. She said public officials in Lansing should be held to the same standard as those in local governments.

State Sen. Jim Stamas, R-Midland

“I think if it is good enough for lower levels of government, then why doesn’t it impact the executive branch in Lansing?” she said. “I know it can be a burden on clerks, but it enables taxpayers to receive important information to see and review.”

For years, governors and lawmakers have stated their intent to strengthen FOIA laws, but, for whatever reason, little action has been taken.

State Sen. Jim Stamas, R-Midland, who also represents Northeast Michigan, has a different view than Allor. He said the governor and lieutenant governor should remain exempt because they often handle personal information from constituents and because of the mass volume of emails, texts and phone calls they make.

“I think the sunshine law has done well, overall, and it has its positives and negatives,” he said, referring to a colloquial name for FOIA. “But I think, for the most part, it is good. It is a good resource for people, but it also can be used by someone who doesn’t like you and uses it to harass you. Plus, if someone requests information from months or years passed, it can be difficult for an elected official to recount details about it. Issues can also be taken out of context fairly easily.”

Stamas, along with state Rep. Triston Cole, R-Mancelona, whose district includes Montmorency County, were honored by the the Michigan Press Association with this year’s Peter Pettalia Memorial Sunshine Award for supporting government transparency.

Both Allor and Stamas said they never had to utilize FOIA before being elected, but Allor said there were times when she was a Cheboygan County commissioner when people requested information from her.

“I thought I was going to have to do it myself, once, but, in the end, things worked themselves out,” she said. “The need for people to get public documents is important and the Legislative Open Records Act would pretty much work the same as FOIA. It just approaches it a little differently.”

The bills making up the Legislative Open Records Act proposal were introduced Jan. 9, the first day of the Legislature’s 2019 session.

Since then, however, the bills have remained stalled in the state House Government Operations Committee.

Similar proposals have cleared the state House in the past, only to stall in the state Senate. None have made it to the governor’s desk.

Michigan is one of only two states to make the governor’s office immune from public records request.

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 at sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ss_alpeanews.com.