Transparency in State Government - Wentworth

Open government is accountable government, and Texans who are interested in the state’s financial accountability may want to access a relatively new Web site that tracks both where the state’s revenue comes from and how it is spent.

State Comptroller Susan Combs created the Web site: www.texastransparency.org to provide up-to-date information for taxpayers on how their money is being used.  The Web site allows users to discover “Where the Money Comes From” and “Where the Money Goes,” and provides direct access to data through the “Open Data Center” portal.

Click on the icon for “Stimulus Reporting,” and you will be able to track Recovery Act activities county by county and activity by activity.

As a longtime and strong advocate for transparency in government, I commend Comptroller Combs for her determined and successful effort to keep taxpayers informed.  I believe that Texans have a right to information about government agencies that enact, enforce and implement laws.

I also believe that Texans have the right to know how their state senators vote on bills that impact their lives.  To that end, in the 2005 and 2007 Texas Legislative Sessions, I joined Senator John Carona as the co-author of legislation that would have amended the Texas Constitution to require that all non-ceremonial votes be recorded and made available on the Internet.  Both attempts to pass this measure failed primarily because some of my Senate colleagues believed recording votes on substantive legislation to be too time-consuming and too expensive.

Finally, at the beginning of the 2009 Regular Legislative Session, the Texas Senate amended its rules to require a record vote in certain circumstances, such as the final passage of a bill, a resolution proposing or ratifying a constitutional amendment and motions to suspend the rule that bills be considered for three consecutive days.  Resolutions that are of a purely ceremonial or honorary nature do not require a recorded vote.

While I would have preferred that every vote, including votes on the second reading of a bill prior to third and final reading, be recorded votes, changing the rule was at least a start.

In the Texas House of Representatives, members’ votes are automatically recorded on the final passage of any bill or joint resolution calling for a constitutional amendment.  Other votes may be recorded at the request of only one member.

Voting information recorded in the House Journal and Senate Journal is available on the Internet; however, looking it up requires both knowledge, such as the bill number, and effort.  Locating the final action is not always easy.  I believe that Senate votes should be both recorded and as easy to find on the Internet as it is to follow tax dollars.

Not only is it important for Texas taxpayers to know where their hard-earned money goes, it is also important for them to know how the men and women who represent them in the Legislature vote to spend it.