A bill to make state records easier to find is working its way through the Michigan House of Representatives.
State agencies frequently release reports to the Legislature.
But state Representative Joseph Aragona (R-Clinton Twp) said they’re sometimes hard to find since each agency has its own system for handling them and posting them online.
“Sometimes that can almost feel like a data dump to the everyday citizen. If they want to look through things that are going on, it can get very tough because, you know, every department has its own website, there's a variety of different locations where these things can be put,” Aragona said.
His bill would create one state website to find everything. Open records advocates say that would go a long way to supporting government accountability.
Steve Delie is with the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.
“To have [the reports] all together, and especially, you know, if they become, if they're in a searchable format that really cuts down on research, time and hassle. And it makes it, you know—if I'm an ordinary citizen, it makes it far easier for me to keep tabs on what the executive agencies are doing,” Delie said.
The bill received its first hearing before the House Regulatory Reform Committee last week. Aragona, who chairs the committee, said he’s hoping to quickly vote it out within the coming weeks.
