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Senate passes Open Meetings Act change after floor objections over remote participation
Summary
The Michigan Senate approved an amendment to the Open Meetings Act (Senate Bill 129) after floor debate. Opponents said the bill allows commissioners to attend remotely by asserting disability without clear verification; supporters did not debate on the floor. The final vote was 20-16 with one excused.
The Michigan Senate on the floor approved an amendment to the Open Meetings Act, Senate Bill 129, by a vote of 20-16 with one senator excused.
Senator Runstead, explaining his no vote, said the bill as written could let appointed commission members claim a disability and participate remotely without sufficient verification, preventing the public from confronting or questioning those officials in person. “This bill is written, sloppily as seems like all the democrat bills are, [and] is allowing a person to just simply say, I have some kind of a disability and thus can go remote and not have to face the public,” Runstead said on the floor.
The bill was presented as calendar item 1 and advanced to a vote after a brief call for discussion; no amendments were pending when it reached final passage. According to the secretary’s announcement, the roll call on final passage was 20 ayes, 16 noes and one excused, which the chair declared sufficient for passage.
Senators Bellino and Tice requested that their no-vote explanations also be included in the journal, per the record.
No additional details about specific verification procedures or statutory text were discussed on the floor during the recorded remarks. The bill text and any implementing guidance were not read into the record during the debate excerpted in the transcript.
Votes at a glance: on the final passage of Senate Bill 129 — yes: 20; no: 16; excused: 1. The secretary so announced the tally and the bill was declared passed.
The senate record shows no amendment actions on the floor for SB129; the full bill language and any committee reports were not included in the floor excerpt. For the full statutory text and committee analysis, the bill file and committee report should be consulted.
