Gongwer News Service has launched an enhanced document comparison feature that allows subscribers to easily see all differences between versions of the same legislation and different bills.

The new feature, found on the Legislation page, also allows subscribers to upload versions of legislation, such as bill drafts, that may not yet be publicly available to compare potential changes.

Under the new system, subscribers can select the bills they want to compare by searching by bill number, subject or keyword. Bills can also be selected by choosing from a complete list of pending legislation. (Sample)

The new version also allows subscribers to easily compare versions of legislation from different sessions.

With these enhancements, Gongwer now provides subscribers with a Bill Comparison tool offering more options for comparison than any other available.

Gongwer added its initial document comparison feature on individual bill pages earlier this year. (Sample).

Additional service enhancements are under development and will be announced in the near future.

Zach Gorchow, a long-time leader at Gongwer News Service, has been named president of the company's Michigan operations.

He most recently held the title of executive editor and publisher. In the new role, he will have greater involvement in business operations, management and more.

Gorchow has been with Gongwer for 22 years, rising from his initial role as a journalist covering the Capitol to managing editor for 10 years to directing the company's operations in Lansing for the last four-plus years. He also completed a stint at the Detroit Free Press, where he was a part of the team that won a Pulitzer prize for its coverage of former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's text message scandal.

Gorchow is a graduate of Michigan State University's James Madison College and lives in East Lansing with his wife, Jen, and daughters Isabel and Mia.

Gongwer News Service also operates an office in Ohio and is a part of the State Affairs network, which operates state government news and information services in 10 other states, including Arizona, California, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Tennessee and Wisconsin.

– By Alethia Kasben

Gongwer News Service subscribers can now review primary election results and the general election matchups at the Gongwer Elections page.

Primary results can be found here.

With primary results loaded, the general election fields are now populated. Review candidates or for a deeper look, the candidate biographical page.

Or to review general election matchups for a specific office, use the drop-down menus that can be found on the Elections page under "November 5 General Elections."

Gongwer's Michigan Elections app also has been updated with primary election results, and the general election fields there are now populated as well.

Download the app for iOS devices at the App Store.

Android users can download the app at the Play Store.

Gongwer News Service subscribers again have access to Michigan's most comprehensive resources for monitoring elections.

Here are six resources Gongwer provides with ways to access them:

1. Biographical information on all candidates for state and federal office. There are 366 candidates for Congress and Michigan House on the August 6 ballot. Find biographical information, links to social media accounts, access to campaign finance reports, district maps and candidate websites for candidates for U.S. Senate, U.S. House and the Michigan House.

2. Endorsement tracker. An exclusive service for Gongwer subscribers. Review all endorsements a PAC has issued for the election cycle, or use the links above to review any candidate's endorsements. Export tools available. Check out a few examples: Detroit Regional Chamber, ABC of Michigan, We the People Action Fund, Rep. Carrie Rheingans (D-Ann Arbor), Rep. Sarah Lightner (R-Springport). Don't see your group's PAC? Let us know! We'll add it once you have endorsements for this cycle.

3. A database with information back to the 2002 election cycle – Michigan's most comprehensive database on state elections. Find candidates, results and more for every election cycle going back to 2002.

4. Find news stories on any race for state and federal office. We tag every story on an election so subscribers can easily find them at gongwer.com/elections.

5. The Millage Monitor – another exclusive feature only for Gongwer subscribers. Review all local millage proposals as well as important non-millage proposals on the ballot in every local jurisdiction in Michigan. It's sortable with export tools, along with an archive back to 2018. Look for August's proposals closer to the primary.

6. The Michigan Elections app. Michigan's only native elections app, available for iOS and Android devices, seamlessly weaves in much of Gongwer's elections database, providing easy on-the-go and always updated information and analysis. It's free! Download it for iOS at the App Store or download it for Android at the Play Store.

Voters in 41 school districts across the state will decide whether to raise property taxes to pay for new and renovated K-12 school buildings on the May 7 ballot.

The total of 43 school bond proposals are the highlight of a relatively light May ballot that features just 14 other proposed tax increases, six of those from school districts seeking new sinking funds that allow them to raise funds for maintenance, technology, transportation and security, according to a Gongwer News Service review of ballots across the state.

There's also one proposal each for library services and parks and recreation plus two for public safety, three for school operations and one for seniors.

Millage renewals number 35.

May elections in the even-numbered year usually have fewer local proposals because jurisdictions seeking them must pay for the cost of the election. Jurisdictions seeking tax increases and other local items this August or November will pay nothing because the state pays for the cost of running a statewide election.

Among the larger school bond proposals:

$361.3 million in the Huron Valley Schools in Oakland and Livingston counties

$330 million in the L'Anse Creuse Public Schools in Macomb County

$250.1 million in the Walled Lake Consolidated Schools in Oakland County

$150 million in the Hazel Park Schools in Oakland County

$104.15 million in the Lowell Area Schools in Ionia and Kent counties

$98.5 million for the St. Joseph Public Schools in Berrien County

$92 million in the Mattawan Consolidated Schools in Kalamazoo and Van Buren counties

$92 million in the St. Johns Public Schools in Clinton and Gratiot counties

$90 million in the Marshall Public Schools in Calhoun and Jackson counties

Use Gongwer's exclusive Millage Monitor to review the proposals. Subscribers can use the monitor to see how many proposals are on the ballot by category as well as sort them by jurisdiction, county and type of proposal. Use export tools to create a spreadsheet. Or use the archive to review past local proposals back to 2018.

The night of the May 7 elections, Gongwer will tag each proposal as having passed or failed, and the monitor will update to show those results.

It's part of Gongwer's commitment to provide subscribers with the most advanced services and unavailable anywhere else.

– By Zach Gorchow

Gongwer News Service, Michigan's leader in state government news and information, is pleased to unveil a groundbreaking legislation comparison tool that will revolutionize the way subscribers monitor legislative activities and follow legislative changes.

With the new service, subscribers can now easily compare different versions of legislation in a side-by-side setting. [Sample] This allows for a clear, immediate understanding of amendments and substitutes and makes it easier to track key developments at the Capitol.

Whether it's tracking subtle changes in language or analyzing major shifts in policy direction, the new service offers unparalleled vision into the legislative process.

Key features of the tool include:

As soon as new versions of legislation are published, the tool allows subscribers to easily review changes in a side-by-side setting.

By default, the system highlights removed language in red, new language in green and moved language in blue.

The comparison tool is included on every bill history page on the Gongwer platform and is also available for bills from previous legislative sessions.

Additional enhancements to this service are under development.

In addition to the comparison feature, Gongwer bill history pages now also include all versions of legislation and analyses. [Sample] With this change, subscribers will now be able to view bill and analysis text without having to leave the Gongwer website.