Freedom Agenda

Leading By Example

• Full Financial Disclosure: As Governor, John James will publicly disclose all of his personal finances, using the same standard under which he disclosed his finances during his service in Congress. John will require the same standard for all senior appointed officials in the executive branch and will call upon the legislature and judiciary to adopt that same standard.
• End FOIA Exemptions: As Governor, John James will support legislation to open the records of the Governor’s office, the entire executive branch, and the state legislature to public scrutiny by ending the exemption from the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
• Ethics Clauses: As Governor, John James will require ethics clauses to be included in every employment agreement in his administration.

Rooting Out Waste, Fraud, and Abuse

• Comprehensive Audit: Conduct a comprehensive audit of all state government expenditures for the past ten years – including MEDC, MDHHS, and COVID-19 handouts – to root out fraud, waste, and abuse, such as what was recently discovered on a massive scale in Minnesota.
• Investigate Unemployment Fraud: Investigate the $8 billion unemployment fraud scandal. Demand preservation of all records.
• Fund the Auditor General: Fully fund the state auditor general’s office (in contrast to Whitmer’s attempt to cut $8.3 million from the auditor general).
• Strengthen Whistleblower Protections: Strengthen whistleblower protections for state employees – including confidentiality protections against retaliation – and increase financial rewards and upward mobility opportunity for state employees identifying and reporting waste, fraud, and abuse.
• Audit Voter Rolls: Conduct a comprehensive independent audit of Michigan’s voter rolls to eliminate non-citizens from voting and from being summoned for jury duty.
• Investigate Ghost Employees: Investigate and root out “ghost” employees.
• Benson Website Investigation: Investigate the $9 million contract for Jocelyn Benson’s botched campaign finance and lobbying disclosure website debacle.

Ending the Revolving Door & Closing Loopholes

• Ban Session Fundraising: Ban all fundraising by state officials during legislative session. Prohibit all state officials and their staff members from soliciting or receiving campaign contributions while the legislature is in session. This practice is the law in at least 15 other states, including Florida and Texas.
• Ban Taxpayer-Funded Lobbying: Ban taxpayer-funded lobbying expenditures by public entities. Every public entity in Michigan is already represented by state legislators. Stop ripping off taxpayers by spending public funds on hiring multi-client lobbyists and on dues to special interest associations.
• Limit Earmarks: Limit legislative budget earmarks to be allowed only when there is a budget surplus and increase the required advance disclosure of earmarks to a period of 90 days prior to a legislative vote.
• End the Revolving Door: Ban all state legislators and statewide elected officials from becoming lobbyists for four years after they leave office. Ban state elected officials, their staff members, and their immediate family from lobbying for any entity with interest before state government.
• Close Gift Ban Loopholes: Close loopholes in the gift ban for Michigan legislators and staff.
• Tighten Conflict-of-Interest Laws: Prohibit elected officials from directing public grants to organizations tied to personal or romantic relationships, and from destroying or concealing public records to evade oversight.
• Increase Penalties: Increase criminal penalties for use of government employees or resources for political purposes.
• Mandatory Ethics Training: Impose mandatory ethics training for all state government staff.
• Ban NDAs: Prohibit Michigan public officials from signing non-disclosure agreements in their official capacity with any private entities.

Phase 1: Review & Transparency

• Establish an independent commission to audit all COVID-era enforcement actions, including citations, fines, license suspensions, and shutdowns.
• Focus on identifying excessive penalties, inconsistent application of rules, and violations of due process.
• Open a public submission portal for individuals and businesses to report their experiences and request inclusion in the review.
• Publish a Public Accountability Report that outlines enforcement patterns, identifies double standards, and names cases where public officials broke their own rules.

Phase 2: Relief & Remedy

This phase is about justice for those who were wronged—not for defying laws, but for standing up for common sense and freedom when it mattered most.

• Automatically clear non-violent, low-level, or first-time COVID citations—especially those related to mask mandates, distancing rules, or business capacity limits that were later shown to be ineffective.
• Refund or cancel fines for individuals and small businesses that acted in good faith but were caught in the web of unclear or unfair rules.
• Offer full clemency and record-clearing for unresolved enforcement actions, especially those rooted in arbitrary or unscientific mandates.
• Maintain a public portal for people to seek relief, restitution, or correction of COVID-related enforcement records.

Phase 3: Legislative Reform & Trust Restoration

The CLEAR Legislative Package will prevent future overreach, protect civil liberties, and ensure equal treatment—especially during emergencies.

• Emergency Power Limits: Require legislative approval to extend emergency orders beyond 14 days, and implement sunset clauses to prevent unchecked executive authority.
• Due Process Protections: Prohibit penalties without clear legal standards, guaranteed appeal rights, and legislative oversight.
• Enforcement Standards: Establish clear, consistent enforcement guidelines to prevent politically motivated or selective crackdowns.
• Equal Rights in Emergencies: Enshrine in law that Michiganders retain the same constitutional rights during emergencies as they do at all other times.
• CLEAR Restitution Fund: Create a fund to support small businesses and individuals financially harmed by shutdowns, unjust penalties, or prolonged loss of licenses.
• Reform MDHHS: Reform MDHHS influence over County Health Departments.

Article I: Parents Have the Right to Direct the Education of Their Children

• Parents have the primary right to direct the education, moral, and religious upbringing of their children, free from undue state interference.
• Parents shall have access to school curricula, materials, and lesson plans in advance, including any discussions on sensitive topics like sexuality, gender ideology, or race.
• Parents must be notified and have opt-IN rights for surveys, health screenings, or instruction on controversial subjects.
• Schools must be prohibited from withholding information from parents about a child’s mental, emotional, or physical health.
• Protection for parents advocating at school board meetings or public forums, including free speech rights.

Article II: Parents Have the Right to Control Their Children’s Health Care

• Parents shall be allowed/permitted to be physically in the presence of their child throughout the entirety of the visit and every time necessary procedures require any form of medication, therapy, advice or state of undress — without barrier or excuse.
• Parents shall provide informed consent for any physical or mental health treatment for minors, except in cases of imminent threat to life, limb, or eyesight.
• Parents have the right of access to all school health records, including counseling sessions, with parental notification for non-emergency interventions.
• Parents have the right to protect their children against coerced vaccinations or treatments, while respecting Michigan’s public health mandates.

Article III: Parents Have the Right to Transparency and Family Privacy

• Parents have the right to inspect and obtain copies of all educational and health records pertaining to their child.
• Schools will notify parents same day of any incident involving their child’s safety, including threats, bullying, truancy or disciplinary action.
• Data collection about family political, religious, or personal beliefs must be prohibited without parental consent.
• Safeguards will be installed against social media or tech companies sharing minor children’s data or compelling them to enter into contracts without parental approval.

Article IV: Parents Have the Right to Preserve the Integrity of Their Family

• The state must not remove a child from parental custody without clear evidence of abuse or neglect, and parents have the right to due process in child protective services investigations.
• Parents can choose alternative education options, such as homeschooling or charter schools, without excessive regulation or targeting. There must be no undue intrusion by the government into homeschooling. Religious liberty for all faith-affiliated schools and institutions, including those participating in public benefits, is already guaranteed under the Constitution of the United States and must not be infringed by the state. The government shall not compel changes to Constitutionally protected, lawful behavior.

Article V: State Government Must Guarantee Parental Rights Through Enforcement and Remedies

• The state shall impose all appropriate penalties and prosecute to the fullest extent of the law any school, organization, or individual that infringes upon these rights or is suspected of child predation, including sexual or gender-based harassment, coercion, or actions that contribute to social-emotional estrangement of children from their parents.
• Separately, parents will also retain private right of action to sue for damages if rights are violated.
• Annual public reporting by schools on compliance to promote transparency.

Guiding Principles

#1: Kids cannot consent.

#2: Parents have a right to know.

#3: If it is not okay for adults to engage with other adults about their personal medical or sexual matters at work without consent, then it is not okay for adults to engage with other people’s minor children about their personal medical or sexual matters at school without parental consent. No state-level statute overrides the fundamental liberties guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, and it is essential to reaffirm these basic principles. Restoring clarity and common sense is long overdue. There will be a higher bar for protecting the innocence of children in the State of Michigan, not a lower one.

Empower Parents with More Choices in Education

John will opt Michigan into the new Federal Scholarship Tax Credit that he fought to pass in Congress. This new law empowers parents to choose the best school or educational option for their children. John believes that giving parents access to the broadest array of educational options for their children enforces greater accountability in all our schools.

Protect Parents’ Rights to Know

John believes that schools must be fully transparent and accountable for policies, academic performance, and curricula. School boards and administrators must be prohibited from blocking, unreasonably delaying, or unnecessarily encumbering (e.g., by imposing unreasonable document costs) parents’ access to information about their children’s learning and well-being.

Expand FOIA Access for Parents

As Governor, John will protect parents’ rights to know what their children are being taught and will work to expand Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) access for parents. All K-12 school curricula shall be required to be posted publicly prior to the beginning of each academic year, and any deviation from that curricula by any entity or individual shall be subject to public disclosure via FOIA.

Uphold Biological Truth and Eliminate Activism from the Classroom

Michigan is #45 out of 50 in education among all states. This is no time, and government classrooms are no place, for teachers to proselytize their personal political beliefs during core instruction periods. Teachers have a right to their own opinions, not their own facts. Teachers will be required to pass basic biology, civics, and economics exams to maintain teaching credentials in the state of Michigan. John believes we need to promote ideas over ideology and prioritize academics over activism.

Defend Title IX

Protect girls’ sports and sensitive places (restrooms, locker rooms, etc.) to promote excellence, protect opportunity and guarantee safety for our girls. Sports are critical for the physical, mental, emotional and civic development of ALL of Michigan’s children! In order to maintain an inclusive, fun, fair and safe competitive athletic environment for ALL children, biological males will only be permitted to compete with and against other biological males (reasonable exceptions may include females competing in male leagues where there are limited options for females according to existing Title IX rules, prepubescent recreational leagues and clearly established and mutually agreed co-ed leagues).

Restore Parents’ Rights to be Informed about their Children’s Health Care

Some school bureaucrats and self-appointed “medical experts” are pushing to further restrict parents’ authority over their own children’s medical decisions and parents’ access to their children’s medical records. John strongly opposes allowing school and medical staff to hide children’s medical treatments and records from their parents. As Governor, John will veto any legislation that endangers children’s health and violates parents’ rights to access their children’s medical records. He will push to restore parents’ rights to full access to information about their children’s health care and to require parental consent for medical treatments for all minor children.

Give Michigan Parents the Power to Ensure Their Children’s Online Safety

In May 2025 John introduced the App Store Accountability Act, a landmark bill designed to increase safeguards within app stores to empower parents and protect children. The bill ensures that children are not accessing age-restricted material through online app stores and provides parents with more control over what their children can access. A national poll commissioned by Digital Childhood Alliance found that 88% of parents want app stores to require parental approval before minors can download a new app.

As Governor, John will work with the Legislature to enact similar laws in Michigan. Just as how brick-and-mortar stores are held responsible for selling age-restricted materials like tobacco or alcohol to minors, a Michigan App Store Accountability Act will hold digital app stores accountable for providing adult or age-restricted material to minors.

Protect Parents’ Rights to Stop Indoctrination of their Children

In late 2025, Michigan’s state board of education adopted new “standards” to push students to be indoctrinated with left-wing ideology about “gender identity,” “gender expression,” and sexual orientation. This action comes from the same board presiding over a state school system that ranks 45th among all states in 4th grade reading proficiency.

John strongly opposes the state board of education’s gender insanity agenda and supports legislation to reverse the state board’s attempt to force this agenda on students. John strongly agrees with the US Supreme Court’s 2025 decision in Mahmoud v. Taylor to protect parents’ rights to stop left-wing ideology from being imposed on their children and supports legislation to codify parents’ rights in Michigan on this issue.

Parents retaining control of their children’s education should be the default position. Science and common sense should be the default position.