2019 House Bill 4336 ↩

Senate Roll Call 336: Passed

To expand the authority of the legislative Auditor General to "access" agency records (not just "examine" them), including electronic data and confidential records, while authorizing criminal sanctions for unauthorized releases of information. The Auditor General is authorized by the constitution and employed by the legislature through a non-partisan Legislative Council, and is tasked with doing financial audits of all state departments, agencies, authorities and other institutions. The House Fiscal Agency reports that more than 100 current laws restrict access to "sensitive" information to specified persons and purposes.<br> Note: In 2018 then-Governor Rick Snyder vetoed a similar bill (House Bill 4259 of 2017) as an "unconstitutional overreach that would blur the separation between the legislative and other branches".