As the Michigan Department of State works to transition its campaign finance data into another system, Michigan House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Township) is slamming the new platform, prompting the House Oversight Committee to look into how the funding for the system was being spent.
The Department launched its new personal financial disclosure system on March 14, 2025, and has faced strong criticism since its launch from reporters, campaigns and transparency advocates.
Neil Thanedar, executive director of the Michigan Campaign Finance Network, criticized the system in a social media post earlier this month saying the new portal provides less information to the public than the previous portal, making it harder for the nonprofit’s investigators to do their jobs monitoring political spending in the state.
An investigation from Bridge Michigan in March found that the upgraded system — produced through a $9.3 million contract with Texas-based Tyler Technologies — provides less information to the public than the previous system. The investigation noted lobbyist registrations no longer listed clients, and expenses could not be easily viewed, while access to the state’s prior system was locked behind a login screen.
Hall criticized Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, who is running for governor as a Democrat, saying she should “get off the campaign trail and fix her website.”
He also called the system “a $9 million boondoggle,” telling reporters his House Oversight Committee should investigate what happened with that funding.
“I mean, you spent $9 million and it’s worse,” he said.
The House Oversight Committee has authorized a subpoena against the Department of State following five months of requests from Election Integrity Committee Chair Rachelle Smit (R-Martin) for materials used to train election workers. Smit maintains the materials she requested are basic materials provided to election clerks, while members of the Department of State have warned that disclosing these materials unredacted could carry consequences for the state’s election security.
“The House Oversight Committee, after rejecting the department’s multiple attempts to provide the requested materials in a way that protects the security of our election system, instead voted to issue an unnecessary subpoena for this sensitive information,” Angela Benander, Benson’s chief communications officer said in a statement.
“This includes materials that show active screens of the Qualified Voter File; specific information that could be used to compromise the technology used by local election officials; specific procedures for securing voting equipment, ballots, and other election-related materials; information that could be used to gain improper access to secure communication channels used to report security risks; specific locations of election administrator training and templates for official election notices,” Benander said.
Hall compared the Department’s response to the Department of Technology, Management and Budget’s decision to deny a public records request from the Detroit News on the occupancy levels in state office buildings.
“This is the same thing that they said about the election manuals. So Benson, ‘I can’t give you the election manuals because of security reasons.’ Now, Whitmer administration, ‘The state workers, where are they working? We can’t give that to you for security reasons,’” Hall said.
“Are they coming in the office or not? We’re going to find out, and we are going to bring the government workers back to the office. We’re just going to do it. We’re going to force them to do it in the state budget. And we’re going to get the information, even if we had to subpoena them,” Hall said.
Benander told the Michigan Advance in an email that the state’s contract with its previous system, MERTS, expires this year, meaning the department needed to create a new system and migrate and convert massive amounts of old data, putting the department behind schedule.
Those delays dramatically impacted the department’s ability to conduct pre-launch data testing, Benander said, noting that they’d been finding errors and problems with the system’s performance as a result.
“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.
“Our priority right now is to fix the problems and get the new MiTN system fully up and running over the next several weeks,” She said.
Debates over road funding continue as Senate Dems offer education proposal
Alongside his criticisms of Benson, Hall took shots at Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks (D-Grand Rapids), who has said she has been working to meet with Hall, without success.
“That’s just false. They’re not making any effort to have meetings with me,” Hall said.
However, emails reviewed by the Michigan Advance show Brinks’ staff made multiple attempts to schedule a weekly meeting with Hall, without success.
Hall further argued Democrats had created a false narrative of funding roads versus funding education, with House Republicans passing their road funding plan in March and Senate Democrats putting forth their School Aid Budget proposal on Tuesday.
House Republicans’ plan removes the state’s 6% sales tax on gasoline and instead increases the motor fuel tax by 20 cents, designating that funding for road upkeep. However, the gas tax contributes more than $700 million a year to the state’s School Aid Fund, which Hall has suggested could be replaced with money from the state’s general fund, which House Minority Leader Ranjeev Puri said was “robbing Peter to pay Paul.”
Hall emphasized that education was among House Republicans’ funding priorities, alongside roads and public safety, challenging Brinks to put forth her own road funding plan.
“The people of Michigan don’t care if Winnie Brinks and I like each other. If she has solutions on roads, put them up for a vote, and then we’ll negotiate. Simple as that. Governor Whitmer is trying to do that, and if she can’t do it, then at least empower Governor Whitmer, because what Governor Whitmer is doing is much more effective than what Winnie Brinks is doing,” Hall said.
Brinks spokesperson Rosie Jones directed the Michigan Advance to the majority leader’s comments in a Wednesday report from Crain’s Detroit Business, where she questioned if Hall was serious about coming to an agreement on roads and said Hall should stop insulting Senate Democrats.
While Senate Democrats are considering ideas from both Hall’s proposal — which largely consists of funding from eliminating or halting economic development spending — and Whitmer’s proposal — which would draw more than half of its funding from a tax on large corporations and big tech companies — Brinks told Crain’s she did not intend to pass a deal without making a deal first, emphasizing that any road funding plan should move alongside the state budget.
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