State Rep. Ann Bollin on Thursday urged a House committee to advance a plan aimed at improving transparency and public access to state government information.

Bollin, R-Brighton Township, said residents deserve easy access to reports and records produced by state departments so they can better understand how taxpayer dollars are being spent and how state government is operating.

“People should not have to dig through layers of bureaucracy to find public information,” Bollin said. “When information is accessible, searchable, and available at no cost, citizens are in a better position to understand and engage with their government.”

The legislation Bollin supports, House Bill 5755, would require all departmental reports produced for the Legislature to also be made publicly available through a single state website.

Through state law and the annual budget process, the Legislature requires state departments to submit numerous reports for legislative review. These reports include information on out-of-state travel expenses incurred by department employees, usage of state-owned aircraft, economic development funding programs, workers’ compensation and unemployment claims data, fraud detection efforts, processing times, environmental reports such as the State of the Great Lakes report, and more.

Many of these reports are not currently available online, and others are scattered across different websites, making them difficult for the public to locate. House Bill 5755 would create a more consistent and centralized system for publishing the reports so residents can more easily access them.

The idea for the legislation was first brought forward by a reporter who covers state government, and Bollin quickly offered her support.

“I know firsthand how important it is not only to have records or reports available, but also easy to retrieve,” Bollin said during her testimony. “Frankly, if they are not easily understood or retrievable, it can render our efforts ineffective. They are only as good as our ability to retrieve them.”

Since first taking office, Bollin has routinely pushed for stronger transparency measures. She was the first to sponsor the House Ethics, Accountability and Transparency (HEAT) plan, a reform that is now permanently in place to shed light on grants awarded through the state budget process. She also has advocated for enhanced reporting requirements through the state budget process, including provisions that require departments to post and archive reports, and other reforms to improve ethics and accountability.

House Bill 5755 remains under consideration by the House Regulatory Reform Committee.