FOIA
State of Michigan
Department of Insurance and Financial Services
Public Summary
The Michigan Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), MCL 15.241 et seq., gives you the right to inspect and get copies of public records in the possession of the Department of Insurance and Financial Services (DIFS). Your request must be in writing and identify by name or description the public records you are seeking so that we can locate them.
Your request can be submitted in these ways:
E-Mail: DIFS-FOIA@michigan.gov
Facsimile: 517-284-8851
U.S. Mail:
FOIA Coordinator Dept. of Insurance and Financial Services P.O. Box 30220 Lansing, MI 48909-7720
Courier or Hand Delivery:
FOIA Coordinator Dept. of Insurance and Financial Services Stevens T. Mason Building, 7th Floor 530 W. Allegan St. Lansing, MI 48933
Within 5 business days after we receive your request we will let you know if it is granted, denied, or denied in part. In some instances, we may extend the deadline for our response for up to an additional 10 days.
If we grant your request to provide public records, we will either include the records with our response or let you know in our response approximately when they will be provided.
If you only want to examine or inspect nonexempt public records, a member of DIFS’ staff who is familiar with (or responsible for) the records will arrange a time for you to do so during our usual business hours.
Some public records may be exempt from disclosure. If we deny your request in whole or in part, we will let you know the statutory basis for our denial and provide a description of the public records (or information in the public records) that were denied. You have the right to appeal any denial to the Director of DIFS (the Director) or to begin a civil action in the Michigan Court of Claims. If you are successful in your appeal in court, you may be awarded attorney fees and costs, and punitive damages if the court decides that DIFS acted arbitrarily or capriciously.
In some cases DIFS may charge a fee for public records if the cost of a search for records, the cost of deleting or separating exempt information, or the cost of providing copies is “unreasonably high.” If we charge a fee, we will provide you with an explanation of the need for the fee in our response and give you a detailed itemization of how we calculated the fee under section 4 of FOIA before we provide the records. If the fee is more than $50.00 we may ask for a deposit of not more than 50% of the fee before we process your request.
If you think our fee calculation is wrong, you can appeal to the Director. The Director may waive, reduce, or uphold the fee. You can then appeal the Director’s decision to the Michigan Court of Claims. If you prevail in the court, you may receive a reduction of the fee and punitive damages.
DIFS’ FOIA policies and procedures and our detailed fee itemization form can be found at:
View a copy of the DIFS’ FOIA Policy and Procedure
View a copy of the Detailed Itemization of Fees
Pursuant to Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s Executive Directive 2019-11, DIFS’ Transparency Liaison can be reached at:
E-Mail: DIFS-Transparency@michigan.gov
U.S. Mail:
Transparency Liaison Dept. of Insurance and Financial Services P.O. Box 30220 Lansing, MI 48909-7720
