2003 House Bill 5025

Close FOIA loophole

Introduced in the House

Aug. 13, 2003

Introduced by Rep. Ruth Johnson (R-46)

To prohibit a public body from charging a fee under the Freedom of Information Act to separate exempt information (such as employee social security numbers, etc.) from nonexempt information in a document, if it had been possible to keep the information separated when the document was created or modified. The bill’s sponsor chairs a subcommittee which has been granted legislative subpoena power over the Oakland Intermediate School district, and has discovered that many of the district’s records included such exempt information when there was no apparent need for its presence, making it prohibitively expensive for individuals to acquire the records under the Freedom of Information Act. This is one of a number of bills that have been introduced to reform ISDs.

Referred to the Committee on Government Operations