The Michigan Senate passed a bill Tuesday to require lawmakers to publicly share which spending items they’re requesting in the state budget at least 10 days before a vote. Those requests would need to go through a public hearing.
The bipartisan legislation would also ban for-profit companies from receiving legislative earmarks. Nonprofits would have to satisfy a host of conditions, including a minimum amount of time they must be in operation for.
It’s part of a transparency measure agreed to during the most recent state budget talks. But it received some pushback from lawmakers who felt it didn’t go far enough.
State Senator Lana Theis (R-Brighton) said the earmark requests should be made available much earlier than 10 days ahead of time.
“I don’t understand why we’re going to limit it to a timeframe when the public would then be unable to understand fully where the government money is going in advance of it being ordered,” Theis said during a floor speech Tuesday.
The legislation passed by a 31-5 vote in the Senate.
State Senator Jeremy Moss (D-Southfield) said it’s an important step. But he said the state needs to go further and apply open records laws to the legislature and governor’s office.
Moss said Michigan’s government transparency laws are far behind other states.
“We are not only out of the mainstream compared to what residents of other states can do and achieve and understand and disclose. We are out of the universe by being only one of two states that do not allow our residents to have that same access to the inner workings of government,” Moss said.
The budget earmark transparency bill next goes to the Republican-led state House of Representatives, which has so far refused to take up Senate-passed bills to expand open records laws.
In press releases sent out Tuesday afternoon, Republicans echoed criticisms that the Senate’s earmark transparency bill should be stronger.
“If the Senate isn’t willing to allow at least 90 days of public scrutiny for earmarks, then I’m perfectly fine not including any earmarks in the budget. We can fund important priorities without hiding pet projects in the fine print,” House Appropriations Committee Chair Ann Bollin (R-Brighton) said in a written statement.
