(Alexandria, Va.) -- Enactment of a bill today exposing state government spending to greater public scrutiny puts Maryland at the center of the dynamic "Google Government" movement, according to the National Taxpayers Union (NTU), which has more than 7,100 members in the state and 362,000 nationwide. With the passage of House Bill 358 and its enactment through Gov. Martin O'Malley's (D) signature, Maryland is among more than a dozen states that have opened up their books to taxpayers online.
"Maryland has seized the opportunity to join other state leaders in making government spending information more readily available to the public," NTU Director of Government Affairs Kristina Rasmussen said. "These tools to evaluate spending programs will help encourage honesty and efficiency for lawmakers overseeing the state's growing budget."
The Maryland plan is modeled after federal legislation cosponsored by Sens. Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Barack Obama (D-IL) and enacted last year. The law ordered the U.S. Office of Management and Budget to construct an Internet destination (www.USASpending.gov) for the general public to track the flow of federal grant and contract disbursements.
While Rasmussen praised the adoption of the Maryland legislation, she encouraged policymakers to consider including all payments in the database, not merely those in excess of $25,000 as the new law provides. "Taxpayers have the right to know where all their tax dollars are going," she said. "The federal database has a reporting threshold of $25,000, and Maryland should follow the lead of states like Missouri and Kansas by going above and beyond the federal example to include the details of every disbursement on the Web site."
Maryland represents yet another victory for the "Show Me the Spending" coalition, which NTU organized last year in order to pass similar legislation in all 50 states. NTU also worked closely with the Maryland Taxpayers Association (MTA) to build support for this important bill. In addition to organizing a grassroots letter and e-mail campaign, the two groups testified in favor of transparency legislation at House and Senate committee hearings.
"Thanks to the hard work of the Maryland Taxpayers Association and NTU's Maryland members, taxpayers can now enjoy a more open and transparent government," Rasmussen concluded.
NTU is a nonpartisan, nonprofit citizen group founded in 1969 to work for lower taxes, smaller government, and economic freedom at all levels. Note: For further details on the "Google Government" movement, visit www.showmethespending.org or www.ntu.org.