Michigan lawmakers are now required to file disclosure reports: How to find them
Thanks to a voter-approved ballot measure in 2022, elected officials and political candidates in Michigan are now required to publicly disclose information on their employment, assets, interests in state government and more.
Those disclosures were released for the first time April 15, and are publicly available on the Michigan Secretary of State's website. Here's how to find them.
Michigan political disclosures are available online
To see your elected official's disclosure, visit the Michigan Secretary of State's campaign finance website at michigan.gov/sos/elections/disclosure. Then, click on "Personal financial disclosure filing information" and scroll down to "Public search and viewing page." There, you can look up disclosures for an official or a candidate by their name, or just browse through listings for each office required to file.
Financial disclosures: What we learned − and didn't − from Michigan politicians' first-ever filings
What officials and candidates are required to disclose
Under Michigan law, here's what political candidates and elected officials must disclose:
Employers
Sources of earned and unearned income
Real property
Assets
Liabilities
Securities/investments
Positions in organizations
Blind trusts
Employment agreements
Interests with state contracts
Elected officials must also disclose gifts, travel payments, and payments made in exchange of honoraria provided by registered lobbyists.
There are spousal disclosure requirements, as well. Candidates and elected officials must also disclose their spouse's employer and occupation, if their spouse is a registered lobbyist, securities their spouse jointly owns with the filer and if their spouse is a state vendor or has an interest in a state contract.
Unsure who your state lawmakers are? Here's how to find out
Michigan has 110 House districts and 38 Senate districts. On each chamber's website, you can find your elected official by entering your address:
Contact Arpan Lobo: alobo@freepress.com. Follow him on X (Twitter) @arpanlobo.
Looking for more on Michigan’s elections this year? Check out our voter guide, subscribe to our elections newsletter and always feel free to share your thoughts in a letter to the editor.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan politicians file disclosures for first time: How to find them
