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LANSING, MI The Michigan House on Wednesday passed several bills and a joint resolution to strengthen transparency and ethical standards among lawmakers, but a provision that would keep lawmakers’ financial information private until they leave would still help. State an outlier on the issue.
The bills would establish an ethics committee in each chamber and require members to disclose their financial interests. The legislation would also prohibit lawmakers from serving as lobbyists for two years after leaving office. A proposal would also allow the legislature to withhold payment to lawmakers for unethical behavior or frequent absences.
Supporters of the package say the changes are a necessary step towards greater transparency in state government, but some argue it does not go far enough.
Michigan is one of two states that does not require state lawmakers to disclose their financial interests. Neither the legislature nor the governor is subject to the Freedom of Information Act.
It is a reality that has caught the national attention of advocates of transparency. In 2015, the state was ranked dead last in judicial, legislative and executive accountability in a state integrity inquiry conducted by the Center for Public Integrity.
READ MORE: Financial Disclosure Bills Would Not Make Current Lawmakers’ Finances Public
While House Democrats and Republicans have agreed that more oversight is needed to eliminate potential conflicts of interest, critics of the current package point to the committee to which lawmakers would make their disclosures a major flaw.
Under current bills, lawmakers would be required to disclose financial interests, but records would not be available to the public until a member is in office. Instead, the records would be made available to an ethics committee made up of lawmakers. Committees would be exempt from the Open Meetings Act.
A 2019 analysis by MLive of financial disclosure policies in all 50 states found that of the 48 states that currently require some form of asset disclosure, all but 15 post responses from lawmakers in a searchable online database. Even in these states, members of the public who request disclosure reports can obtain the documents through a public registration request.
No state with a financial disclosure policy prevents members of the public from viewing the disclosure documents of sitting legislators.
The arrangement would have the potential to withhold information in secrecy, said Representative David LaGrand, D-Grand Rapids.
Who do I want to know about the activities of politicians? The voters, the public and one of the means of doing this is the media. Anything that prevents the media and the general public from gaining access to information about government activities … That’s bad, LaGrand said.
LaGrand, who earlier this year reintroduced a bipartisan package with 63 cosponsors that would release financial information in line with practices currently in use by other states, said the bills passed Wednesday are not half a step, but A step back.
LaGrand hopes his Senate colleagues will amend the bills and said he respects sincere efforts to improve ethics and transparency.
Ethics in government is not a partisan issue. It’s not a political issue, Rep. Andrew Fink, R-Hillsdale, said in a House speech. It’s pre-political. It is fundamental for us to do good political work for the state. These bills can help us show people that we can govern ethically and that we can correct our own members when they fail to meet that standard.
Fink said the legislation will dramatically improve ethics and transparency laws for government officials and provide more opportunities to expose conflicts of interest between lawmakers.
But critics of the bill are not convinced.
There is no doubt that the lack of financial transparency in our Legislature greatly contributes to the ethics reviews of the last country of Michigan and that the Legislature should address this important issue, said Lonnie Scott, Executive Director of Progress Michigan, a progressive political organization. group.
Unfortunately, the version passed in the House today is only an illusion of transparency and contains critical flaws that would allow lawmakers to escape real accountability. We urge our lawmakers to reconsider their approach to financial disclosure, to follow the lead of nearly every other state in the country, and to ensure that the public has the full truth about the financial interests of their lawmakers.
The plan is now going to the State Senate for review.
LEARN MORE ABOUT MLIVE:
Michigan House leaders propose sweeping changes to government ethics laws
50 Financial Disclosure Statements: How Michigan Stacks Up
Integrity report ranks Michigan worst in the country for government transparency and accountability
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