By RONNIE ELLIS
FRANKFORT — Two Republican lawmakers won’t you to be able to see how every dollar of state government funds are spent – and for what.
Rep. Jim DeCesare, R-Bowling Green, and Sen. Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown, pre-filed a bill they call “The Transparency Act of 2010” which would require all expenditures by the three branches of government to be posted online within 30 days.
“This would put the state checkbook online,” said DeCesare, and go farther than the Open Door website currently used by the governor’s office for executive branch expenditures.
DeCesare has sponsored similar legislation in the past but those bills applied only to the executive branch. He said after a spate of stories this past summer about legislative expenses and lawmaker travel, he thought the time is right to include all three branches.
He already has 30 Republican co-sponsors and expects to pick up some Democratic co-sponsors as well.
Thayer said people are upset with government and quoted Kentucky native and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis that “Sunshine is the best disinfectant,”
“This bill can help restore trust and confidence in government,” Thayer said. He said Senate President David Williams “is very favorable to this bill” and Thayer expects to move it quickly from committee to the Senate floor where he thinks it will pass easily.
The bill would require all expenditures by state government to be posted online within 30 days, showing the amount, the vendor to whom it is paid, and what the expenditure pays for. It will also require information from the state’s postsecondary education institutions but will not cover so-called “quasi-government” agencies which receive funding from state government.
Ronnie Ellis writes for CNHI News Service and is based in Frankfort, Ky. He may be contacted by email at rellis@cnhi.com. Follow CNHI News Service stories on Twitter at www.twitter.com/cnhifrankfort.
