A proposal from Rep. Ryan Berman striving to make state government more accountable to taxpayers who fund it was advanced unanimously today by the House Oversight Committee.

House Bill 5015 will require each executive branch department and divisions at the state level to publicly post salary and benefit information for the positions they employ.

“The Michigan House has been voluntarily providing this information for several years. It’s a good government practice,” said Berman, of Commerce Township. “This is a state that ranks low in terms of public access to information. I am leading efforts to change that. Bringing all state employees under this same framework will give people easy access to information on where their money is going and what it’s paying for.”

Berman noted that people currently seeking such information from certain departments must go through a burdensome Freedom of Information Act process in order to receive it.

“Having this information readily available up front removes the response time and effort needed to fulfill these individual requests and will free up government departments to serve people more efficiently,” Berman said.

HB 5015 advances to the House Ways and Means Committee for consideration.