A proposed bill would establish a deadline for the state to fulfill Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. Requests would need to be fulfilled within 60 days.
In December, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette said Michigan’s FOIA law does not specify a particular timeline for when a state department must fulfill a request.
“In a rather inventive way, bureaucrats are using the flexibility that’s provided in current statute to arbitrarily delay the processing of FOIA requests indefinitely,” Rep. Beau LaFave (R-Iron Mountain), the bill’s cosponsor, said. “It’s no wonder why residents are upset with their government. I’m all in for making sure taxpayers across the state are receiving requested information in a timely manner. What we are seeing now is totally unacceptable in terms of accountability from our state agencies, and it violates the people’s right to monitor their government.”
The bill, which moves to the House Oversight Committee next for consideration, was introduced during Sunshine Week, that highlights the importance of freedom of information and open government. Read more…