Dear Delegate:
On behalf of the thousands of Virginia members of the National Taxpayers Union and the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste, we urge you to bring greater transparency to Virginia's government spending by creating an expansive online database containing expenditure information along with program performance results.
In particular, HB 1360 would create a Web site detailing annual state agency expenditures, bond debt servicing, contracts, capital outlays, revenue intake, and additional forms of spending. What's more, the proposed database would provide valuable information on performance outcomes for funding actions. We hope you agree that timely access to this information is crucial for helping taxpayers make their own evaluations of Richmond's spending decisions and priorities.
While Virginia already benefits from the Commonwealth Data Point Web site (which contains some general expenditure and revenue information) and the eVA Virginia State Contracts Web site (which contains information on some contracts), they have their limits. For example, the Commonwealth Data Point website is not searchable by keyword, which is a critical tool for residents not familiar with the intricacies of state government apparatus. Further, the eVA contract Web site is clearly geared toward contractors, not average Virginians. We believe state leaders should go further in connecting all aspects of the budgeting process in a user-friendly format. Approving the Web site outlined in HB 1360 would better enable Virginia's residents to make sense of how their tax dollars are parceled out.
Many states (such as Texas, Hawaii, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, Kansas, South Carolina, and Nebraska) have recently approved or launched spending Web sites for their own residents' use. These highly commendable efforts are in large part a state response to the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2006. This legislation, sponsored by Senators Barack Obama (D-IL) and Tom Coburn (R-OK), called for a searchable online database that can be easily used by the public to research federal grant and contract expenditures. The resulting Web site was launched in December 2007, and taxpayers can now visit www.USASpending.gov to track their federal tax dollars.
We've found that support for spending disclosure has transcended party lines at both the federal and state levels -- and for good reason. Policy makers understand the importance of accountability in a democratic system. However, in order for a representative democracy to fully flourish, it is imperative that ordinary citizens have the ability to scrutinize government expenditures. This access will help to promote an informed conversation over public policies, and in a practical sense, it will help reduce waste and fraud.
The bottom line is that taxpayers deserve to know how their money is spent. We encourage you to support HB 1360 and put state spending data online in a more integrated fashion.
Sincerely,
Kristina Rasmussen
Director of Government Affairs
National Taxpayers Union
David Williams
Vice President, Policy
Council for Citizens Against Government Waste