Article courtesy MIRS News for SBAM’s Lansing Watchdog newsletter
The Senate October 21 passed SB 596, legislation requiring lawmakers’ special spending requests to be detailed and uploaded online for the public to review at least 10 days before budget agreements are voted on by both chambers.
SB 596 will be tie-barred to HB 4420 by Rep. Tom Kunse (R-Clare), making it dependent on the other’s passage to be implemented.
Under the legislation, for-profit entities are prohibited from receiving special grant funding requested by legislators, and eligible nonprofits must have operated in the state for the last three years. A grant request – or legislative directed spending item – must be presented in front of the appropriations committee or subcommittee in the chamber it’s coming from.
However, while discussing the bills, House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Township) called the legislation’s provision that requests be submitted at least 10 days before bills are voted on in both chambers “a joke.” Hall has spent this year’s lengthy budget-making process advocating for earmark disclosure, arguing that Senate Democrats’ hesitancy toward publicly disclosing their spending requests is what delayed negotiations.
“I told (Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks (D-Grand Rapids)) you want a long disclosure period because there are a lot of things that your members are trying to do that are very sneaky, that you’re going to find out about in the press . . . and in 10 days you’re not going to find out anything,” Hall said. “Under a normal budget cycle, 10 days is after they made the deal.”
Instead, Hall said the rule should be 90 days instead of 10.
Technically, SB 596 does allow the Senate or House to adopt a rule requiring an earlier deadline for submitting requests.
“I can work with them on a rolling date . . . trust me, they want to do a secret supplemental after the election where they shove millions of dollars of pork into the budget. Well, then they can disclose 90 days before that,” Hall said. “I never should have trusted Brinks, though, because this is not what she said. This is fake HEAT.”
“HEAT” refers to Hall’s Ethics, Accountability and Transparency agenda.
During the October 21 Senate session, Sen. Jeremy Moss (D-Bloomfield Twp.) told folks not to forget that the “infamous coffee maker” – or the $4,500 coffee maker purchased with a $20 million grant to a Democratic donor in Oakland County – “was part of a Republican-controlled Legislature’s budget, sponsored by House Republican leadership.”
The Michigan Economic Development Corporation’s distribution of the $20 million grant – originally intended to develop a nonprofit attracting Middle Eastern businesses to Michigan – is right now under investigation by the Attorney General. The money was set aside during the 2021-22 legislative term.
He said budget transparency is incredibly important, and lawmakers should expand further into the entire institution and the Governor’s office. Moss has been a long-time advocate for subjecting legislative and the Governor’s offices to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), making it a legal obligation to respond to information requests.
“We are one of two states that do not allow our residents to have that same access to their inner workers of government. This should not be a controversial move to pass this into law,” Moss said, talking about SB 1 and SB 2 that are sitting motionless in the House. “And of course, because it wasn’t his bills, he (has) pooh-poohed the bills altogether. It’s absolutely ridiculous.”
Hall said nobody cares about FOIA but one or two people.
“What they care about is all the spending,” Hall said.
SB 596 was opposed by Sens. Kevin Daley (R-Lum), Jeff Irwin (D-Ann Arbor), Dan Lauwers (R-Brockway), Jonathan Lindsey (R-Coldwater) and Lana Theis (R-Brighton).
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