By state Rep. Ryan Berman of Commerce Township 

It’s important to make state government accountable to the taxpayers that fund it. This is a fundamental belief I’ve held and it’s important I uphold that now that I’m a state Representative.

I’ve continued this commitment to increase government transparency through House Bill 5015 – my legislation requiring all departments at the state level to post salary information for the positions they employ. The Michigan House has been voluntarily providing this information for several years, and bringing all state employees under one framework is a good government practice that will give people easy access to information on where their money is going.

Many people are already actively seeking out this type of information, but must go through the burdensome process of the Freedom of Information Act in order to receive it. This is simply a barrier we should remove – and it will save the state money and hassle by no longer having to respond to these specific letters of inquiry and process information one request at a time. It’s a win-win for both sides.

Michigan has consistently ranked very low in public access to information and integrity within state government. Distrust in state government negatively harms our citizens and acts as a deterrent for prospective residents and businesses looking to move into Michigan. People don’t want to be around things they don’t trust. We must do better to establish a good faith relationship and I’m confident our state can improve in this area.

It starts by getting plans like HB 5015 signed into law. I was pleased to recently testify in support of the bill before the House Oversight Committee and I look forward to its progress.

It’s clear through the budget process that Michigan residents are interested in where their money is going and what it’s being used for. We need to make our government employee salary information more easily accessible, so we can be transparent to the people funding those paychecks.

State Rep. Ryan Berman, of Commerce Township, serves residents in the 39th District, which includes the city of Wixom, Commerce Township, a portion of West Bloomfield Township and the village of Wolverine Lake.