House and Senate find common ground amid financial disclosure system frustrations

During his weekly media briefing, Michigan House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Township) continued to air grievances with Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson over the Department of State’s new financial disclosure portal. However, that frustration, and a looming disclosure deadline, proved to be the catalyst needed for the Republican-led House and the Democratic-led Senate to temporarily break a monthslong deadlock.

Since the introduction of the new financial reporting system on March 14, the system has been criticized by politicians, reporters and government officials, who have noted the information offers less information than the previous portal, which was locked behind a login screen. 

Benson’s Chief Communications Officer Angela Benander previously told the Advance that the department had been behind schedule when preparing for the launch of the new system. Switching between systems meant migrating a massive amount of data between the platforms, she said, creating delays that dramatically reduced the department’s ability to conduct pre-launch data testing, resulting in errors and problems with the system’s performance.

“We understand this is a problem. We are working to fix it as quickly as possible but have had to prioritize the parts of the system that allow filers to meet their legal requirements by the filing deadline. Once the project is complete, this system will be much more transparent and accessible than the old system and the temporary issues we’re experiencing now will be fully resolved,” Benander said. 

However, two days before public office holders were required to submit reports detailing their assets, income, any properties they own over $1,000 and any liabilities of $10,000 or greater, Hall said lawmakers were still experiencing difficulties with the website. 

“I talked to our members, and I talked to a lot of politicians, and I said, ‘How’s the website working?’ And they say, ‘Every time we go on there, it crashes, I submit my information, and it crashes. [There are] website errors, there’s poor site mapping. The platform is failing…. You get all the way to the end and it crashes, and then you got to start over. You’re in there. You’re halfway through the whole thing resets,” Hall said. 

Amid these difficulties Hall said Senate Minority Leader Winnie Brinks had reached out to make a deal to extend the timeline for 2025, with the House altering a pair of policies passed by the Senate at the end of April to extend the 2025 filing deadline from May 15 to June 13 and to prescribe the form used to file these disclosures, where the form was previously created by Department of State. Hall also called for an option to submit the forms via email, which was already included in the policies. 

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer put her pen to the bills Wednesday afternoon, approving the changes alongside additional alterations to the disclosure requirements. 

During the previous filing cycle, members of the Michigan House and Senate, the Attorney General, Governor, Lt. Governor, Secretary of State were required to disclose the name and occupation of their spouse, their spouse’s employer, whether their spouse was registered as a lobbyist agent during the reporting period and any stocks, bonds, or other securities valued at $1,000 held by the individual filing or held jointly with their spouse, with some exceptions.

Sens. Jeremy Moss (D-Southfield) and Ed McBroom’s (R-Vulcan) Senate Bills 99 and 100 alter those requirements to only require disclosure of a spouse’s occupation and employer if their annual income was more than $1,000. 

They also require public officers and candidates to list the origins and addresses for sources of unearned income and securities, as well as the names of lobbyists who make gifts, gift payments, travel payments, or payments to a charity on behalf of the public officer. 

In response to the changes, Benander told the Michigan Advance in an email that the Department of State “has been working nights and weekends to make sure the online system is ready for the personal financial disclosure deadline,” noting that the department already allowed filers to submit their reports via email, sending a message to filers on Friday informing them of the alternative.

“We will continue to support filers through the extended 2025 deadline, but we believe the additional provisions in the bills move us further away from the transparency Michigan’s voters demanded when they passed Proposal 1 in 2022. Specifically, these bills do not require officials to describe the value of their assets, investments, and liabilities,” Benander said. 

“Michigan is behind nearly every other state in requiring transparency from lawmakers and public officials. We should be doing everything we can to make our state a leader for government transparency and accountability,” Benander said. 

In an email, Brinks spokesperson Rosie Jones said there are still issues with the disclosure process that require a legislative solution. 

“There has been a standing agreement between the majorities to solve this and we are making progress on that,” Jones said.