Not That You'd Know It in Washington State, But It's National Sunshine Week
Posted by Brett Davis - March 17, 2010The current legislative session is destined to be remembered for lawmakers raising taxes and using every dirty trick in the book to sideline public participation in the process: the introduction of ghost bills; little notice for public hearings; in at least one case, the elimination of public hearings altogether; getting rid of the tax advisory votes provision in the gutting of Initiative 960; and printing legislative text in invisible ink. Okay, that last one is made up.
Even though it’s often cloudy in Washington state—in more ways than one—it is National Sunshine Week, an initiative to open a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information. I was part of a conference call yesterday hosted by Americans for Tax Reform on federal, state and local transparency efforts across the nation.
“This transparency movement is not a fluke,” observed Sandra Fabry, executive director of ATR's Center for Fiscal Accountability. “It has staying power.”
With that in mind, here are some updates and information on transparency in government from around the good ol’ U S of A:
Federal
Jerry Brito of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and Jim Harper, the webmaster of WashingtonWatch.com, publicized their website dedicated to asking Congress to provide data on earmark requests and the earmarks that make it into annual spending bills. Earmarks are those pesky federal funds lawmakers direct to special projects in their districts. Visit the website at earmarkdata.org.
Ryan Hecker, a Houston Tea Party Society activist, helped develop the concept of creating a “grassroots-generated, crowd-source, bottom-call agenda for the next election cycle”—the Contract From America. For more information on the Contract From America, check out www.thecontract.org.
State
Arizona: Byron Schlomach, director of the Goldwater Institute’s Center for Economic Prosperity, updated the status of House Bill 2282, which requires local governments to establish and maintain an official website of revenues and expenditures that mirrors the Arizona Department of Administration’s database. The bill passed the House and has moved on to the Senate.
Colorado: Amy Oliver, director of operations for the Independence Institute, reported on the status of two transparency bills, one good and one bad. An amendment has been proposed to Senate Bill 114, the Colorado Taxpayer Transparency Act, calling for detailed accounting of revenues and expenditures. The bill has passed the Senate and moved on to the House. Oliver characterized, House Bill 1330—the All-Payer Health Claims Database—as a bill that would allow government, through the guise of transparency, to watch taxpayers. “It’s a massive invasion of privacy,” she said.
Florida: Tanja Clendinen, director of communications and administration at The James Madison Institute updated implementation of the 2009 Florida Transparency Act to provide state spending information. In January 2010, the state launched its Transparency Florida website (transparencyflorida.gov), posting operating budget and associated expenditures online. According to Clendinen, The James Madison Institute will be pushing for expansion of transparency to the legislative level and educating people on how to access and use information available on the website.
Illinois: Joe Calomino, state director for the Illinois chapter of American for Prosperity, and Sheila Weinberg, founder and CEO of the Institute for Truth in Accounting, reiterated the idea of requiring the state to follow balanced budget requirements and fact-based budgeting.
New Jersey: Neil Coleman, vice president of the New Jersey Taxpayers’ Association, was confident the state would make progress on the Transparency in Government Act, now that Chris Christie is governor. The Transparency in Government Act, first introduced last year, would create a user-friendly and easy-to-navigate website to see how taxpayer money is being spent. The bill has been amended to include all levels of government in New Jersey; the expanded bill would require county, municipal and state authorities to work in concert with the state Treasurer to create a transparent website.
Ohio: Michael Maurer covers the Ohio Statehouse and local government and business for the Ohio Citizens Standards Board. OCSB is currently working on an ambitious project: attempting to publish the budgets, checkbooks and salaries for all of the state's 3,000 primary local governments or taxing jurisdictions by April 15.
Local
Douglas County, Colorado: Meghann Silverthorn, a member of the Douglas County
School Board, highlighted the district's Financial Transparency website.
School Board, highlighted the district's Financial Transparency website.
Jefferson County, Colorado: Lorie Gillis, chief financial officer at Jefferson County Public Schools, highlighted the district’s Financial Transparency Searchable Database. The website took about four months to build, she said, at a total cost of $20,000.
Milwaukee County, Wisconsin: Dennis John, chief information officer of the county, told the story of how the county’s transparency website, which went live in December 2009, came to be. The website provides information about county division purchases and program disbursements. There are multiple opportunities to view data on county government spending. John was quick to credit officials in Missouri, which helped develop the site based on their own transparency website.
Whew!
Well, it’s almost Spring. Maybe we’ll get some sunshine here in Washington state yet.
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