LANSING, MI -- Gov. Rick Snyder's office voluntarily released another set of emails related to the Flint water crisis Thursday, but the discerning reader may have noticed a good number of black lines and redacted pages.

"We're redacting things that are not relevant to Flint, to the Flint water crisis. And then we in addition are redacting anything that would be redacted under FOIA," said Snyder spokesperson Ari Adler.

Under current Michigan law the governor's office and legislature are not subject to the Freedom of Information Act -- a fact that contributed to the state ranking dead last for transparency in a scorecard from the Center for Public Integrity Some lawmakers are looking to change that.

In the meantime, Snyder's office is releasing email communications between staff members on matters related to the Flint water crisis, which exposed an unknown number of children to lead.

But Melanie McElroy, executive director of transparency group Common Cause Michigan, said these emails could not replace a FOIA law. If he were subject to the FOIA law people could ask for records outside of just emails, she said.

"The governor can't be allowed to pick and choose what communications he wants the public to see," McElroy said.

Attorney Philip Ellison of Outside Legal Counsel, whose practice areas include FOIA law, said that if the governor's office were subject to FOIA redaction content on documents unrelated to the request wouldn't be permissible.

"Redacting things just because you don't want to give them, because they weren't asked? There is no exception to that," Ellison said.

He said from looking at the governor's office's previous email releases it seems that attorneys may be using an exemption in the law for frank communications like advisory notes leading up to a final decision or action.

In one instance of over-redaction, the email set blacked out a reference to a water filter donation by Meijer. The company at the time worked with its vendor, Clorox, to secure the filters and asked the state not to give Meijer any publicity about the donation.

References to Meijer were blacked out in some previous email sets and at least one time in the emails released Friday.

Adler said that particular redaction was in error and that item b. reads "Brita water filters donated by Meijer/Clorox."

Ellison said an over-redaction like that would violate FOIA if the governor's office were subject to FOIA.

He also said that when operating under the FOIA law, somebody could challenge a redaction. In that case a judge would look at the item and decide whether it was properly exempted or whether it should be released to whoever had requested the information. Since the governor's office is volunteering this information, that remedy is not available.

Adler said the governor's office is willing to look at expanding FOIA to the governor and legislature if it comes up through the normal legislative process.

Emily Lawler is a Capitol reporter on MLive's statewide Impact Team. You can reach her at elawler@mlive.com, subscribe to her on Facebook or follow her on Twitter: @emilyjanelawler.