The anger rises in Amy Breza's voice as the Clarkston Community School paraeducator recounts what led her to become an unlikely player in the legal fight against the Michigan Education Association over the state's right-to-work law.

In September, Breza said she was in her classroom with an 11-year-old, non-verbal special needs student when her union president, Jackie Ellsworth, came into her class to demand she pay her $388 in annual dues.

Breza, who makes $11.83 an hour at Sashabaw Middle School, said she was so angry with what transpired she went to her desk and wrote down exactly what Ellsworth said to her in front of the student.

"I am only trying to help keep your job and not get you in trouble with the MEA," Breza quoted Ellsworth as saying.

Like many union members, Breza didn't know the MEA mandates that all teachers can only leave in August. She said it was unclear to her as to how to opt out of the union.

Breza said she told Ellsworth she was with a child and didn't want to talk in her classroom and would deal with it later. She said Ellsworth continued talking to her and gave her the paperwork Breza needed to complete to pay her dues.

"It did not matter," Breza said of Ellsworth's reaction. "She didn't take into account there was a child who couldn't communicate. It was all about the $388 bucks. She couldn't even say, 'Hey, when you are done, can you take a minute?' "

Ellsworth didn't immediately return a request for comment.

Breza said the school's administrators would never have entered her classroom unannounced.

"They have too much respect for me than to interrupt my classroom like that," she said.

That experience changed Breza's views on the union.

"I [had] thought, 'I will just shut up and pay the $388.51'," she said. "[But] this has set a fire under me like you would not believe."

Breza filed a complaint with the Michigan Employment Relations Commission against the Clarkston Paraeducators Association and the MEA saying she wasn't informed about the August window. She is one of a number of teachers from around the state that the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation is representing in cases against their local unions and the MEA.

Mackinac Center Legal Foundation Director Patrick Wright said Breza should be eligible for right-to-work because her union's contract was reopened to alter health care provisions after right-to-work became law. By reopening the contract, Wright said the right-to-work law should be triggered.

Breza is scheduled to testify today before the bipartisan state Senate panel that is investigating MEA right-to-work violations.

Breza said her father is a retired GM union member. Her brother and sister-in-law are GM workers. She says both have been supportive of her decision to opt out. Her father offered to pay her dues, but Breza said the run in in her classroom ended any chance of that.

"She tried to strong arm me," Breza said of her interaction with Ellsworth. "She didn't have the respect to call me in. I don't know who they think they are."

In another instance, Breza said a co-worker called the MEA and said she couldn't afford the union dues. Breza said the co-worker said she was told by the MEA: "Ma'am, this is a business."

"Well," Breza said, "If this is a business, I don't want to buy what they are offering."

The MEA didn't respond to a request for comment.

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A measure to prohibit overcharging for Freedom of Information Act request materials is poised to begin moving in the Michigan Legislature.

House Bill 4001 is scheduled to be taken up by the House Government Oversight Committee today. It is expected that a vote will be taken on the bill and it will be approved, possibly on a bipartisan vote. If approved, the bill would be sent to the House floor for consideration.

"This is a modernization of the FOIA law that focuses on standardization and transparency," said Rep. Mike Shirkey, R-Clarklake, the bill's sponsor. "The bill is aimed at the few local governments that have been stonewalling when they receive FOIA requests. It would force them to adopt a policy [on FOIA fees], so they could no longer just come up with costs that scare people away. It also creates the opportunity for people to appeal the charges."

The city of Westland could be an example of the "few local governments that have been stonewalling" to which Rep. Shirkey referred.

On Sept. 20, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy filed a lawsuit against Westland for its FOIA fee structure. Westland requires a $5 fee before it will provide any information and then charges $1 per page for copying and $45.61 an hour to cover the costs of the person gathering that information.  

A Wayne County Circuit Court ruled recently in a separate case that Westland was "subverting” the FOIA law by overcharging for FOIA materials.

The court ordered the Westland to bring its FOIA fees into compliance with state law. The Mackinac Center case is still pending.

Under current law, "a public body can charge a fee for a public record search, the necessary copying of public records for inspection, or for providing a copy of the record.

"The fee is limited to actual mailing costs and to the actual incremental cost of duplication or publication, including labor, the costs of search, examination, review, and the sorting of exempt from non-exempt information."

However, some public bodies have been charging what appear to be exorbitant FOIA fees with explanations to justify the amounts that are highly questionable. In another case from 2009, the Mackinac Center was billed $6.8 million by the state police for a request about homeland security grant money.

Under House Bill 4001, a public body would be prohibited from charging or estimating a FOIA fee that was:

• In excess of the portion of labor costs directly associated with searching, locating and examining.
• More than the hourly wages (excluding benefits) of its lowest paid employee capable of searching for, locating and examining the requested records, regardless of whether that person is available or who actually preforms the work.
• Based on the cost of overtime wages unless specifically approved by the requestor.
• More than 10 cents a page for copying a public record. The legislation would also specify that a public body would have to permit and would be prohibited from charging a fee for copying during an on-site inspection of public records, unless the requestor asked the public body to provide the copies or used the public body's copying equipment.

In addition, under the measure, labor costs would be "estimated and charged in increments of 15 minutes or more with all partial time increments rounded down. For non-paper materials, the fee or estimate would be based on the actual and most reasonably economical cost of the computer discs, computer tapes, or other digital or social media."

"This bill also protects local governments, by saying that, if they can direct people to where the information is available, such as online, they wouldn't need to supply the information in a FOIA request," Rep. Shirkey said.

House Bill 4001 was the first legislation introduced in the House this session and it has been in committee for nearly 11 months. Rep. Shirkey said that time was well spent.

"I think we struck a good balance with this legislation," he said. "At the end of the day when those on both sides of the issue are equally happy and equally unhappy, that means you've probably accomplished something."

The Michigan Municipal League opposed the bill during previous committee hearings. A spokesman for the MML did not respond to a request for comment.