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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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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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, 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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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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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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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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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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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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Welcome to National Sunshine Week. The Michigan Coalition for Open Government board has worked hard to get the word out about the importance of FOIA to all of the state’s citizens. Opinion columns have run in the Detroit Free Press, The
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