Policy Agenda

We want Michigan to be a state that welcomes young families, new college graduates, and small businesses. To create welcoming communities, we need a more transparent budget process, and it’s time to hold our legislature accountable. This doesn’t just mean approving budgets on time – transparency will allow Michiganders to know WHAT is in the budget and WHY. There should be nothing to hide when it comes to taxpayer dollars. Transparency is fundamentally essential to our system of government!

House Bill 4420 (sponsored by Rep. Tom Kunse) is a great start as it addresses the least transparent aspect of the state budget – the earmarks or enhancement grants. The bill requires every line item to also include a sponsoring state representative’s name, the amount of money, and why taxpayers should even be funding the project at all. Again, this doesn’t prevent earmarks, but it allows for the necessary transparency that the citizens of Michigan deserve.

This may sound like common sense, but this is not how budgets have been done in Lansing over the past several years, regardless of which political party was the majority. Transparency in the state budgetary process should not be left up to whoever is in leadership. It is something that ought to be fundamental and in law moving forward.