House Bill 4705 requires that audio recordings are made of state agency meetings. | CoWomen/Unsplash
House Bill 4705 requires that audio recordings are made of state agency meetings. | CoWomen/Unsplash
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-Mich.) recently signed legislation that expands the Open Meetings Act.
House Bill 4705 requires certain state departments and agencies to create and maintain audio recordings of their meetings, according to a press release from the governor’s office. This will allow the agencies to expand transparency and accountability.
“Transparency and accessibility are critical to ensuring people trust their state government,” Whitmer said in the press release. “Expanding the Open Meetings Act to require audio recordings of public meetings will help Michiganders have more confidence in their public bodies. I will work with anyone to boost accountability by instituting robust standards of transparency consistently across levels and chambers of our government.”
House Bill 4705 requires state licensing boards, commission panels, and rule-making boards to record public meetings to capture sound through audio-only recordings, video recordings with sound and pictures, or a recorded broadcast, the press release noted.
The bill was sponsored by Rep. Luke Meerman (R-Coopersville).
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