March 16, 2016, Introduced by Reps. Bizon, McBroom, Moss, Chatfield, Kivela, Webber, Runestad, Plawecki, Dianda, Lane, Hoadley, Pagan, Rutledge, Irwin, Chang, Barrett, Somerville, LaVoy, Darany, Hughes, Brinks, Howrylak, LaGrand, Glenn, Cox, Lyons, Sarah Roberts, Hovey-Wright, Wittenberg, Townsend, Price, Tedder, Hooker, Howell, Phelps and Lucido and referred to the Committee on Oversight and Ethics.
A bill to amend 1976 PA 442, entitled
"Freedom of information act,"
(MCL 15.231 to 15.246) by adding section 55.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec. 55. (1) Except as provided in section 53, to inspect or
receive a copy of a public record under this part, a person shall
submit a written request for the public record to the LORA
coordinator of the public body. A written request made by
facsimile, electronic mail, or other electronic transmission under
this part is not considered to be received by a public body's LORA
coordinator until 1 business day after the electronic transmission
is made. However, if a written request is sent by electronic mail
and delivered to the public body's spam or junk mail folder, the
request is not received until 1 day after the public body first
becomes aware of the written request. The public body shall note in
its records both the time a written request is delivered to its
spam or junk-mail folder and the time the public body first becomes
aware of that request.
(2) Unless otherwise agreed to in writing by the person making
the request, a public body shall respond to a request for a public
record within 5 business days after the public body receives the
request by doing 1 of the following:
(a) Granting the request.
(b) Issuing a written notice to the requesting person denying
the request.
(c) Granting the request in part and issuing a written notice
to the requesting person denying the request in part.
(d) Issuing a notice extending for not more than 10 business
days the time by which the public body must respond to the request.
A public body shall not issue more than 1 notice of extension for
each request.
(3) Failure to respond to a request pursuant to subsection (2)
constitutes a public body's final determination to deny the request
if either of the following applies:
(a) The failure was willful and intentional.
(b) The written request included language that conveyed a
request for information within the first 250 words of the body of a
letter, facsimile, electronic mail, or electronic mail attachment,
or specifically included the words, characters, or abbreviations
for "freedom of information", "open records", "information",
"LORA", "copy", or a recognizable misspelling of such, or
appropriate legal code reference to this part, on the front of an
envelope or in the subject line of an electronic mail, letter, or
facsimile cover page.
(4) A written notice denying a request for a public record in
whole or in part is a public body's final determination to deny the
request or portion of that request. The written notice shall
contain all of the following:
(a) An explanation of the basis under this part or other
statute for the determination that the public record, or portion of
that public record, is exempt from disclosure, if that is the
reason for denying all or a portion of the request.
(b) A certificate that the public record does not exist under
the name given by the requester or by another name reasonably known
to the public body, if that is the reason for denying the request
or a portion of the request.
(c) A description of a public record or information on a
public record that is separated or deleted pursuant to section 59e,
if a separation or deletion is made.
(d) A full explanation of the requesting person's right to do
either of the following:
(i) Submit a written request for reconsideration to the public
body's LORA coordinator that specifically states the word
"reconsideration", "appeal", "redetermination", or "reverse" and
identifies the reason or reasons for reversal of the disclosure
denial.
(ii) Seek final review of the denial under section 59a.
(5) The individual designated under sections 56 to 58 as a
LORA coordinator or under section 59 as a LORA coordinator designee
shall sign the written notice of denial.
(6) If a public body issues a notice extending the period for
a response to the request, the notice shall specify the reasons for
the extension and the date by which the public body will do 1 of
the following:
(a) Grant the request.
(b) Issue a written notice to the requesting person denying
the request.
(c) Grant the request in part and issue a written notice to
the requesting person denying the request in part.
(7) If a public body makes a final determination to deny in
whole or in part a request to inspect or receive a copy of a public
record or portion of a public record, the requesting person may
seek reconsideration or appeal of the denial as provided in section
59a.
Enacting section 1. This amendatory act takes effect January
1, 2017.
Enacting section 2. This amendatory act does not take effect
unless Senate Bill No.____ or House Bill No. 5469 (request no.
05429'16) of the 98th Legislature is enacted into law.