2007 OPINION-EDITORIAL

February 22, 2007

Public Deserves Budget Transparency

Whether you want the state to spend more money or less, everyone should agree that the public needs to be able to easily access the details on what is bought, for what purpose, and what the performance results are for government expenditures.

Currently if you want to learn the details on state spending you are forced to wade through hundreds of pages of appropriation bills, numerous state websites and publications, and be lucky enough to connect the dots to get the full picture behind these spending decisions. Thankfully, there is another way: a searchable budget database.

Though not renowned for fiscal discipline, the federal government last year recognized the need to be accountable to Americans for the nearly $1 trillion dollars in discretionary spending it allocates each year. This is why Senators Tom Coburn (R-OK), Barack Obama (D-IL), Tom Carper (D-DE), and John McCain (R-AZ) pushed through Congress the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act. This proposal was signed into law by President Bush last year and creates an easy-to-use "Google" type website that allows citizens to track the recipients of all federal funds.

According to the President, this searchable budget database will enable citizens "to call up the name and location of entities receiving federal funds, and will provide them with the purpose of the funding, the amount of the money provided, the agency providing the funding and other relevant information."

It appears some of our state officials recognize that Washingtonians also have the right to easily know what organizations and activities are being funded with their state tax dollars. State Rep. Mark Miloscia (D-30) recently introduced HB 2342 to make "state budget information available to the public."

The type of reform proposed in HB 2342 should greatly increase the accountability and transparency of state spending decisions.

The demand for budget transparency and accountability is not a new phenomenon. In 1802, Thomas Jefferson wrote, "We might hope to see the finances of the Union as clear and intelligible as a merchant's books, so that every member of Congress and every man of any mind in the Union should be able to comprehend them, to investigate abuses, and consequently to control them."

A state version of the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act would allow state taxpayers, activists, bloggers, media and political organizations to easily examine the state budget. With the subsequent new level of budget details easily accessible, the debate on whether to support more or less spending will be made with a better understanding of where our money is currently going and for what results.

Additional Information
HB 2342 - Making state budget information available to the public
Model Language: "Google" Budget Database
Model Language: 72-Hour Budget Review

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