Michigan Compiled Laws — FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (Act 442 of 1976)

Short title; public policy.

(1) This act shall be known and may be cited as the "freedom of information act". (2) It is the public policy of this state that all persons, except those persons incarcerated in state or local correctional facilities, are entitled to full and complete information regarding the affairs of government and the official ac…

Definitions.

As used in this act: (a) "Cybersecurity assessment" means an investigation undertaken by a person, governmental body, or other entity to identify vulnerabilities in cybersecurity plans. (b) "Cybersecurity incident" includes, but is not limited to, a computer network intrusion or attempted intrusion; a breach of primary…

Public records; request requirements; right to inspect, copy, or receive; subscriptions; forwarding requests; file; inspection and examination; memoranda or abstracts; rules; compilation, summary, or report of information; creation of new public record; certified copies.

(1) Except as expressly provided in section 13, upon providing a public body's FOIA coordinator with a written request that describes a public record sufficiently to enable the public body to find the public record, a person has a right to inspect, copy, or receive copies of the requested public record of the public bo…

(1) A public body may charge a fee for a public record search, for the necessary copying of a public record for inspection, or for providing a copy of a public record if it has established, makes publicly available, and follows procedures and guidelines to implement this section as described in subsection (4). Subject…

Request to inspect or receive copy of public record; response to request; failure to respond; damages; contents of notice denying request; signing notice of denial; notice extending period of response; action by requesting person; law enforcement records management system; alternate responses.

(1) Except as provided in section 3, a person desiring to inspect or receive a copy of a public record shall make a written request for the public record to the FOIA coordinator of a public body. A written request made by facsimile, electronic mail, or other electronic transmission is not received by a public body's FO…

FOIA coordinator.

(1) A public body that is a city, village, township, county, or state department, or under the control of a city, village, township, county, or state department, shall designate an individual as the public body's FOIA coordinator. The FOIA coordinator shall be responsible for accepting and processing requests for the p…

(1) If a public body makes a final determination to deny all or a portion of a request, the requesting person may do 1 of the following at his or her option: (a) Submit to the head of the public body a written appeal that specifically states the word "appeal" and identifies the reason or reasons for reversal of the den…

Fee in excess of amount permitted under procedures and guidelines or MCL 15.234.

(1) If a public body requires a fee that exceeds the amount permitted under its publicly available procedures and guidelines or section 4, the requesting person may do any of the following: (a) If the public body provides for fee appeals to the head of the public body in its publicly available procedures and guidelines…

Failure to comply with act; civil fine.

If the court determines, in an action commenced under this act, that a public body willfully and intentionally failed to comply with this act or otherwise acted in bad faith, the court shall order the public body to pay, in addition to any other award or sanction, a civil fine of not less than $2,500.00 or more than $7…

Matters required to be published and made available by state agency; form of publications; effect of matter not published and made available; exception; action to compel compliance by state agency; order; attorneys' fees, costs, and disbursements; jurisdiction; definitions.

(1) A state agency shall publish and make available to the public all of the following: (a) Final orders or decisions in contested cases and the records on which they were made. (b) Promulgated rules. (c) Other written statements that implement or interpret laws, rules, or policy, including but not limited to guideline…

Exemptions from disclosure; public body as school district, intermediate school district, or public school academy; withholding of information required by law or in possession of executive office.

(1) A public body may exempt from disclosure as a public record under this act any of the following: (a) Information of a personal nature if public disclosure of the information would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of an individual's privacy. (b) Investigating records compiled for law enforcement purposes, b…

Salary records of employee or other official of institution of higher education, school district, intermediate school district, or community college available to public on request.

Notwithstanding section 13, an institution of higher education established under section 5, 6, or 7 of article 8 of the state constitution of 1963; a school district as defined in section 6 of Act No. 451 of the Public Acts of 1976, being section 380.6 of the Michigan Compiled Laws; an intermediate school district as d…

Separation of exempt and nonexempt material; design of public record; description of material exempted.

(1) If a public record contains material which is not exempt under section 13, as well as material which is exempt from disclosure under section 13, the public body shall separate the exempt and nonexempt material and make the nonexempt material available for examination and copying. (2) When designing a public record,…

Effective date.

This act shall take effect 90 days after being signed by the governor.