An important step toward making state government more transparent was taken Wednesday by the Republican-controlled Michigan House of Representatives.

By an overwhelming 100-6 vote, the lower chamber voted to make the governor’s office and the Legislature subject to the state’s public records law. Incredibly, Michigan’s 40-year-old Freedom of Information Act explicitly exempts the governor’s office from records requests. And a following 1986 opinion by the state attorney general found lawmakers also intended to exclude themselves.

And there’s more. As reported by The Associated Press, the state of Michigan is one of just two states in the union to exempt the governor’s office from public records requests. Michigan also is among a just a handful of states where lawmakers are exempt. And then, to add insult to injury, in the last year a national grading organization gave Michigan an “F” for transparency. Embarrassing, to say the least.

The lawmakers that did those dirty deeds all those years ago are all long gone so finger pointing and blame laying will be a waste of time and effort. We can and must do better and while the bills approved this week are far from perfect – together they would exempt from disclosure communications between constituents and legislators along with other certain information – the latest moves represent definite steps in the right direction.

Problems apparently loom in the state Senate, though, where AP grimly notes Majority Leader Arlan Meekoff, a Republican from Grand Haven, is unenthusiastic. We sincerely hope the senator reconsiders and throws the whole of his support behind these bills.

Because, at the end of the day, it’s the right thing to do.

Mining Journal (Marquette)