Bill Text: MI SR0051 | 2009-2010 | 95th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: A resolution to amend the Standing Rules of the Senate.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 12-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2009-05-14 - Referred To Committee On Government Operations And Reform [SR0051 Detail]
Download: Michigan-2009-SR0051-Introduced.html
Senators Whitmer, Cherry, Olshove, Anderson, Thomas, Prusi, Brater and Gleason offered the following resolution:
Senate Resolution No. 51.
A resolution to amend the Standing Rules of the Senate.
Resolved by the Senate, That Rule 1.117 and Rule 1.404 of the Standing Rules of the Senate are hereby amended to read as follows:
"1.117 SENATE ADMINISTRATION AND OFFICE BUDGETS
a) The Senate Majority Leader shall assign duties to Senate employees not specified by other rules, and shall have final approval authority for all expenses for the operation of the Senate, except as provided by law.
b) In the absence of the Senate Majority Leader, the Assistant Majority Leader shall assume the duties and responsibilities of the Senate Majority Leader.
c) The Secretary of the Senate shall create a budget with the concurrence of the Senate Majority Leader, discuss it with the Senate Minority Leader and present it to the Committee on Appropriations at the beginning of each budget year. The form of the budget shall parallel, as closely as practical, the departmental budgets presented to the Committee on Appropriations.
d) The Senate financial records shall be open for public inspection. Upon a request that describes the financial record sufficiently to enable the Senate to find the financial record, a person has a right to inspect, copy, or receive copies of that financial record of the Senate. Documents shall be available for inspection during normal business hours. The Secretary of the Senate shall keep a record of these requests. A copy of the Senate financial records shall be on file with the Secretary of the Senate, who shall have overall authority to administer the Senate financial records under the direction of the Senate Majority Leader. The Secretary of the Senate shall provide to each Senator access to information regarding the status of the Senator's staff account, office operations account, and committee operations account for any standing committee that he or she chairs. The Senate Majority Leader shall have access to the reports for the accounts of all Senators.
1) The Secretary of the Senate shall serve as the Senate Information Officer to respond to requests for Senate financial records from the public and the media on behalf of a Senator or the Senate. All requests must include the first and last name, mailing address, and phone number of the requester. When the Secretary of the Senate receives a written request for a public record, the Secretary shall immediately, but not more than 5 business days after the day the request is received unless otherwise agreed to in writing by the person making the request, respond to the request by 1 of the following:
A) Grant the request.
B) Issue a written notice to the requesting person denying the request.
C) Grant the request in part and issue a written notice to the requesting person denying the request in part.
D) Under unusual circumstances, issue a notice extending for not more than 10 business days the period during which the Senate shall respond to the request. The Senate shall not issue more than 1 notice of extension for a particular request.
If the Senate fails to respond to the written request within these guidelines, there will be a fine of $250 and all Senate copying and inspection fees shall be waived.
2) As used in this section, "financial record" means a budget, account, contract, purchase order, an expenditure authorization, voucher, check, warrant, lease, audit report, balance sheet, travel voucher, or other such summaries of financial transactions.
The following information contained in Senate financial records is exempt from disclosure under this rule:
A) Information of a personal nature contained in financial records where the public disclosure of the information would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of an individual's privacy. Such exempt information would include, but not be limited to, the following:
(i) An employee's social security account number, financial institution record, electronic transfer fund number, deferred compensation, savings bonds, W-2 and W-4 forms, and any court enforced judgment.
(ii) An employee's benefit selection.
(iii) Telephone bill detail including the telephone number and name of individual called.
(iv) Unemployment compensation and workers' disability compensation records.
B) Records and information specifically described and exempted from disclosure under statute or subject to attorney-client privilege.
C) A bid or proposal by a person to enter into a contract or agreement, until the time for the public opening of bids or proposals, or if a public opening is not to be conducted, until the time for the receipt of bids or proposals has expired.
D) Commercial or financial information or trade secrets voluntarily provided to the Senate for use in developing government policy if submitted upon a promise of confidentiality by the Senate.
E) Communications, notes, and electronic data within the Senate or between the Senate and other public bodies of an advisory nature to the extent that they cover other than purely factual materials and are preliminary to the final Senate determination of policy or action.
3) The Senate may charge a reasonable fee for providing a copy of a financial record. The fee shall be limited to actual mailing costs and to the actual incremental cost of duplication or publication including labor, the cost of search, examination, review, and the deletion of exempt information from nonexempt information.
4) The Senate may also charge a reasonable fee for providing for the inspection of financial
records. This fee may include the actual incremental cost of supervising the inspection including labor, the cost of search, examination, review, and the deletion of exempt information from nonexempt information.
The Senate may adopt any such other rules and policies as are necessary to provide for the orderly dissemination of materials to the public.
e) Each Senator shall be allotted separate
equal budget amounts for
the annual staff account and the annual office operations account, as
determined by the Senate Majority Leader, to be used on a fiscal year basis
, which will initially be the levels
the Minority offices haD at the start of the 95th Legislature. Each
standing committee chairperson shall be allotted a separate budget amount for
the annual committee operations account, as determined by the Senate
Majority Leader. The amounts allocated to these accounts may be adjusted for all
Senate offices jointly by
the Senate Majority Leader and Senate
Minority Leader. Any unused amount in a fiscal year shall not be
carried into the succeeding year. A Senator shall not exceed the annual limits
for each of these accounts without approval of the Senate Majority Leader and Senate Minority Leader.
f) The Senate Majority Leader shall establish guidelines to allow Senators to transfer a limited amount of funds between their own staff account and their office operations account.
g) Both caucus staffs shall have the same level of overall compensation, which will initially be the level the Minority CAUCUS STAFF HAD at the start of the 95th Legislature.
H) Any excess funding within the Senate shall revert to the department of state police, rather than to the Senate Majority Leader's Office.
I) All information regarding the Senate's compensation and expenses shall be made available to the public on the Senate's web site.
1.404 EMPLOYEE COMPENSATION
a) Compensation for Senate employees shall be established by each Senator within the limits of the budget guidelines in accordance with Senate rules and subject to policies issued by the Senate Majority Leader.
b) The Senate shall not provide more than
three fringe benefit packages for the staff of each minority Senator or
more than five fringe benefit packages for the staff, including committee
staff, of each majority Senator unless otherwise determined by the Senate
Majority Leader.".
