Last week the Michigan House approved a package of bills aimed to make the offices of state lawmakers and the governor more transparent to the public.

The legislation now has moved to the Senate, where it is expected to be greeted less enthusiastically. Thus, we ask Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof to forward the bills to committee and allow them to be debated. We would hope that eventually legislation could be hammered out between the two bodies that would benefit state residents.

Today only Michigan and Massachusetts exempt the legislature and governor’s office from public record laws. Why should that continue?

Gov. Rick Snyder prided his administration on being transparent when he took office, and he forced other public bodies to do so as well. And, to his credit, his office has been fairly transparent. Even with the Flint water crisis, he did eventually release thousands of pages of emails relating to that crisis, but not until well after the crisis became a national blemish.

In a political landscape today where no one seems to trust another, the House legislation had bi-partisan support. All 10 bills of the package were approved without a dissenting vote — not a one! When can you remember that happening recently?

And, the package addressed one of the main concerns heading into debate — protecting the privacy of correspondence between a constituent and a legislator. Under the legislation correspondence between lobbyists and legislators would be available, but not the exchanges with constituents.

This legislation is good for Michigan residents.

This legislation is long overdue.

And this legislation needs considered in the Senate.

If you agree, share your thoughts with Sen. Majority Leader Meekhof at SenAMeekhof@senate.michigan.gov or by calling (517) 373-6920.