The Michigan House today approved a concurrent resolution authored by state Rep. Luke Meerman, of Coopersville, to demand transparency from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer with information related to COVID-19.

“Throughout this devastating COVID-19 crisis the governor has issued over 100 executive orders based on healthcare data and science she has gathered,” Meerman said. “Unfortunately, that data has not been shared with the Legislature, effectively leaving us and the 90,000 constituents we represent in the dark. This resolution is imperative for us, the representatives of the people, to have access to the same science and data the governor has been talking about for months but is unwilling to share.”

Meerman said thousands and thousands of families have had their lives changed forever because of the governor’s executive orders, but they don’t know why and haven’t been provided enough information, such as the daily number of COVID-19 deaths related to nursing homes.

“Not long ago when the governor was a legislator, she stood in the shadows of the Capitol building saying she was not afraid of the people and proclaimed the people run our state,” Meerman said. “Does she no longer believe in transparency? As state legislators, we have been asked to serve by our constituents. We sit in these chairs on the floor that are not ours; they belong to the people who sent us here. We answer to them. When we are not at the table, our constituents are not at the table. The people of Michigan deserve to know and see the science and data being used when the governor is issuing her executive orders.”

HCR 24 now heads to the Senate for further review.