Michigan House OKs legislation getting tougher on campaign finance violations

BY KYLE DAVIDSON, MICHIGAN ADVANCE

MICHIGAN—In a party-line vote last week, the Democratic-controlled Michigan House voted to advance part of an ethics and transparency package, allowing the secretary of state to take action against alleged campaign finance violations.

House Bill 5583 is one of seven bills introduced as part of the Bringing Reforms in Integrity, Transparency and Ethics (BRITE) Act introduced earlier this year. The package is intended to prevent abuses of campaign finances and shed a light on Michigan’s government.

The legislation—which has won support from Attorney General Dana Nessel and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, both Democrats—would allow the Michigan secretary of state to apply for a court to intervene if a campaign finance complaint is filed, and the Secretary believes a violation has or is continuing to occur.

“Today’s passage of an important component of the BRITE Act will strengthen Michigan’s standards of good governance. With real-time campaign finance enforcement authority, the Bureau of Elections could ask the court to immediately stop criminal behavior, rather than wait for a months-long process to play out,” Benson said in a statement released after the bill’s passage on Wednesday. “I will proudly continue my work with Attorney General Nessel and our partners in the Legislature to pass the other provisions of the BRITE Act to further improve the ethics and transparency laws in our state.”

State Rep. Erin Byrnes (D-Dearborn), chair of the House Ethics and Oversight Committee and sponsor of House Bill 5583, also issued a statement saying she hopes the remainder of the package will receive a vote and promised to continue to advocate for the passage of the remaining pieces of the BRITE Act.

So far only two bills in the package have received testimony in the House Ethics and Oversight Committee. None of the bills were put to a vote within the committee with the House approving a motion to discharge House Bill 5583 back to the House Floor.

When asked about the Republican opposition to the bills, Rep. Tom Kunse (R-Clare), minority vice chair for the House Ethics and Oversight Committee, criticized Democrats arguing that the move to discharge the bill from committee was not transparent

“I don’t like things being rammed through. This is not how it should be,” Kunse said.

He also accused Democrats of trying to weaponize the secretary of state, as the bill places the Ingham County Circuit Court in charge of taking action against potential campaign finance violations.

“They pick a liberal, you know, hard-left court. They didn’t even try and be neutral. They wanted to pick a court that fits their partisan view of the world and that’s not a good thing,” Kunse said.

According to the National Association of Attorneys General, Michigan law states: “Any action at law brought by the attorney general in the name of the state or of the people of the state, for the use and benefit thereof, may be begun in the circuit court in and for the county of Ingham,” with another statute providing Ingham County is a proper county for the attorney general — which represents the state and its departments — to bring action in the name of the state or the people of the state.

House Republicans introduced their own transparency efforts in 2023, though the efforts — which include reforms to Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act — have not received a hearing in committee. A bipartisan FOIA reform package was passed by the Senate earlier this year and is currently in a House committee.

READ MORE: Senate symbolically lets the sunshine in as FOIA reform bills advance to the House

This coverage was republished from Michigan Advance pursuant to a Creative Commons license.