New Transparency Site in Montana
The folks at the Montana Policy Institute recently established a news website, MontanaWatchdog.org, dedicated exclusively to original Montana news produced by two full-time staff reporters. The stories posed on the website will be free to access. When asked about the recently launched watchdog site, MPI President Carl Graham said, "Citizens benefit by having more reporters looking into more issues and providing them with more information. Unfortunately, survey after survey shows the number of reporters and stories about serious issues are in significant decline. We hope this is a first step to reverse that trend that will be followed by other organizations in coming years." MPI is working hard to bring information to Montanans in a timely manner. With more information, citizens are equipped with the knowledge to hold legislators accountable. We applaud your hard work in launching this new statewide news source.
Alabama Ranks 43rd in Lobbying Transparency
The Pacific Research Institute just released a study, “State-Level Lobbying and Taxpayers” which examines state lobbying disclosure laws and accessibility to the disclosed information. The study finds that overall Alabama ranks 43rd among the states for its lobbying transparency. In regards to lobbying disclosure laws, Alabama ranked 36th. This includes the breadth of registration for lobbying activities, degree of reporting required, exemptions for the government, among other things. Additionally, the report looked at the accessibility of the information to taxpayers and members of the media. It was evaluated on what data was available and the level of detail for that information. The “user-friendly” component measures how users could sort and analyze data by various criteria.
Amid recent scandals, there have been efforts to curb all lobbying, but it is unrealistic to expect lobbying to cease as long as the government continues to tax, spend and regulate. This only emphasizes the need for transparency in lobbying and availability and accessibility of the lobbying information. Taxpayers need to know what their legislators are using their tax dollars and we cannot afford to skimp on transparency.
Arizona Legislature Taking Strides
This week the Arizona State Senate passed a transparency bill, 26-1. The bill would require local governments to create their own websites showing detailed information on revenue and expenditures. It would go into effect January 2013. H2282 now goes back to the House where it is expected to concur with the changes made by the Senate. If it passes the House, it will go to Governor Brewer for her signature. Interestingly enough, the Arizona Public Interest Research Group just released a survey showing Arizona received a “F” when it came to openness about government spending. This came just days before the Senate vote. The report finds that Arizona makes spending data available on its websites, but that it doesn’t provide the level of detail necessary to be very useful to its constituency.
South Carolina Plays Hide and Seek with Voting Records
So far this year, South Carolina’s lawmakers are voting more anonymously than in previous years. Despite changing rules to increase roll-call voting, a Senate subcommittee appears ready to kill a bill that would require more recorded votes. The House already unanimously passed identical legislation.
There is good news, however. The South Carolina Policy Council just launched, SouthCarolinaVotes.org, a new website that tracks votes in the state legislature. It will allow citizens to search voting records by issue, legislator or bill number. SCPC found that the General Assembly passed bills with a recorded vote only 5 percent of the time. It wasn’t much better last year at 25 percent after passing rules to record more votes.
This website goes above and beyond by providing information to South Carolinians about the state of pending legislation, number of votes that legislators miss and offers analysis on bills that are introduced. Furthermore, it allows you to track specific bills and receive updates on legislative activity. This is huge for South Carolina- be sure to spread the word about this great resource.
Show Me The Transparency Coalition
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