From: The Greenville Daily News

When The Daily News utilized the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) as part of primary election coverage this summer, Montcalm County sued this newspaper.

Now, state legislators are working on amending the law to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

District 39 State Rep. Klint Kesto, R-Commerce Township, introduced House Bill 5826 on Thursday, a bill that would amend Public Act 442 of 1976  (Michigan’s FOIA) by adding the following clarification: “A public body shall not commence a civil action relating to a request for information under this act against the person who files the request.”

The bill was discussed at the House Committee on Oversight and Ethics during a hearing Thursday at which Daily News Publisher Julie Stafford and News Editor Elisabeth Waldon testified in support of the bill (watch the hearing starting at the 7:00 minute mark here: http://www.house.mi.gov/MHRPublic/PlayVideoArchive.html?video=OVER-090816.mp4)

“FOIA is an important tool critical for ensuring taxpayers — our readers — have access to information that could affect how their tax dollars are being spent, be it a decision made by elected officials or information about candidates who will represent them in various offices,” Stafford testified. “But it’s not just newspapers that file FOIAs. The average citizen also has that avenue open to them if they need or want public information about issues affecting their tax dollars. Because Montcalm County took a drastic route to try to avoid making a decision that they ended up having to make in the end, my business was forced to dedicate not only many hours of staff time, but also a significant sum of money to help defend our case and go to bat for the principles of FOIA. I can only imagine the taxpayer dollars spent on this by the county. It was a stretch for our business and I know it would be out of reach for most of our citizens.

“I do hope you support this bill and ensure that those folks going up against public bodies in the future with FOIA requests will not get hit with a lawsuit for simply asking for information they are entitled to,” Stafford concluded.

“As a journalist, I am concerned that a public body can sue a newspaper for making a FOIA request,” Waldon testified. “As a resident and taxpayer of Montcalm County, I am even more concerned with the now very real possibility that a resident could request public information from a public body about public employees whose very salaries are funded by taxpayers, and then that resident could be dragged into court on their own dime as a result.”

Also testifying in support of the bill Thursday were Michigan Press Association attorney Joseph Richotte — who represented The Daily News in the lawsuit — and ACLU of Michigan policy counsel Kimberly Buddin.

Testifying against the bill was Michigan Association of Counties (MAC) Director of Governmental Affairs Deena Bosworth.

“I think everybody understands that the county really believed that they were in a bind,” Bosworth said. “They didn’t know quite what to do. I think it was stated earlier that this was the only case in Michigan that has actually been brought like this, so to introduce legislation and change state law to disallow local units of government from getting declaratory rulings might be a little bit presumptive.”

Oversight and Ethics Committee Chairman and District 108 Rep. Ed McBroom, R-Escanaba, called the proposed new law “common sense” and questioned why Montcalm County didn’t seek other options for advice.

“The counties are constantly faced with conundrums and questions,” McBroom noted. “I have them call me up at times and I usually tell them have you talked to MAC? I mean, did the county call MAC and ask for advice in this case?”

Bosworth said she didn’t believe so, adding, “They did hire their own legal counsel and their legal counsel told them they were in a bind and they didn’t know which legal statue to follow.”

“When the counties face other conundrums on other issues, they generally don’t go to court just to get an answer,” McBroom countered. “I don’t necessarily feel like you utilize the process of we’re just going to sue everybody and let the courts give us an answer on what we should do in these tough situations. That’s usually the last option on the table, to just sue everyone and go to court.

“I believe that this is a good policy because to allow anything in FOIA to face potential delay or emasculate FOIA this way, I just believe is very damaging to the public interest,” McBroom added.

4th District Rep. Rose Mary Robinson, D-Detroit, commended The Daily News for keeping real journalism alive.

“One of my deepest concerns is what is going on in this country is we do not have a real free press,” Robinson said. “Today you indicated and kept my hope alive that we do have journalists who are willing to investigate and be objective and look for the facts and inform the public. You are the backbone of a democracy.”

It is anticipated that the Oversight and Ethics Committee will vote on the proposed new law this week.