While citizens in the other 49 states celebrate the 13th annual national Sunshine Week from March 11-17, Michigan residents remains an outlier in transparency and accountability under its freedom of information laws. Michigan is the only state in the nation
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Government transparency groups announce database of public employee salaries
Website contains salary info of nearly 300,000 government workers for each of the past three years Today the Michigan Press Association, Mackinac Center for Public Policy and Michigan Coalition for Open Government released a new, searchable database containing the salaries of nearly 300,000
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LORA bills earn unanimous approval in State House
Michigan’s 108 state representatives sent a powerful message on Thursday, March 16 by passing the Legislative Open Records Act unanimously. To approve this legislation during National Sunshine Week reflects the commitment and interest these elected officials have in open and
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State news media push Senate to approve FOIA expansion
The drumbeat pushing the state Senate to approve the Legislative Open Records Act has begun. One of the opening salvos came from Mlive.com in an editorial headlined: “State Senate needs to heed House’s call for a more transparent government”. Michigan
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Michael Reitz elected president of MiCOG
Michael Reitz, executive vice president of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, was elected president of the Michigan Coalition for Open Government at the volunteer group’s board meeting September 22. “Good government is open government,” said Reitz. “The people of
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House passes Legislative Open Records Act
Michigan’s House of Representative on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed the Legislative Open Records Act that amends and expands the state’s FOIA to correct omissions that have made Michigan an outlier among other states across the nation. Under the proposed legislation (HB
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Expand, not limit, access to public information in Michigan
This column by Michigan Coalition for Open Government President Jane Briggs-Bunting appeared in the March 28 print edition of Crain’s Detroit Business. Flint’s water crisis might not have hit the national news until late 2015, but using the state’s Freedom of
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FOIA audit results of Michigan’s 15 public universities by CMU SPJ students
Kudos to the members of the Central Michigan University Society of Professional Journalists chapter for their public records audit of Michigan’s 15 public universities. The results were shared in a guest column in Bridge this week. The students asked for
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Michigan Senate Committee approves Student Press Rights bill
It’s a first step 28 years in the making. On Tuesday, the state senate’s Judiciary Committee unanimously voted to support SB 848 the Student Free Press and Civics Readiness Act. The bill, co-sponsored by three Republicans and one Democrat, was introduced
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House introduces 10 bills to include legislators in amended FOIA
Celebrating FOI day, 37 Republic and Democratic state house members Wednesday introduced 10 bills to amend the state’s FOI law, expanding it to include the Legislative branch. A 1988 state Attorney General’s Opinion had exempted the Legislature. HB 5469-5478 would
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