Examining Texas' Efforts at Accountability
Gov. Perry promotes Google government: getting expenditures, contracts online
By Amanda Kathryn Hydro

While transparency has always been coveted, new efforts at both the state and federal level hold promise to add more sunshine on how government operates. Over the past few years, there have been many attempts at the state level calling for similar accountability efforts, commonly known as "Google government" databases. These Web sites would make state government more transparent by allowing taxpayers access to spending information and clarity on where their tax dollars are being spent.

Governor Rick Perry (R) was one of the first to step up and lead by example in Texas.

In January 2007, Gov. Perry called for government transparency as one component of his "Five Point Budget Reform Plan." In this plan he called for all state agencies to publish expenditures online in a clear and consistent format. He made all of the governor's office expenditures available online and the State Comptroller, Susan Combs, followed suit posting not only her office's expenditures, but also those of eight other agencies.

These efforts at the state level followed the 2006 passage of the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (S. 2590), bipartisan legislation that was co-sponsored by Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Senator Barack Obama (D-IL). This bill, now commonly called the FAT Act, started the loud cry for these "Google government" databases which have since swept the nation.

The FAT Act requires a free, searchable website that would include essentially all federal grant and contract funding information on payments over $25,000 with exceptions on classified information and individuals' federal assistance; www.federalspending.gov, will formally launch in 2008.

Gov. Perry pursued a comprehensive transparency initiative in his second term. In a speech given during his campaign for re-election in the fall of 2006 Perry said something that very few politicians say AND follow through on, "I have a simple philosophy about transparency in government: if the taxpayers are picking up the bill, they ought to be able to look at every item on the receipt. Today billions of dollars get spent on government programs and there is no clear way for average citizens to determine where the money is spent and how it is spent."

Once re-elected, Perry formally announced his budget transparency priorities for 2007 in his State of the State Address. He urged state agencies to publish their expenditures online and called on lawmakers to pass a budget free of lump sum appropriations and similar accounting gimmicks.

Although it was recognized from the beginning that this would be an ongoing process that would take time to implement, when the state legislative session came to an end, only a few of these proposed budget reforms were enacted by the legislature. Legislators played the part of supportive teammates because we all know that refusing to shine the light on government won't win any votes come election time, but did they play ball this session?

Higher education agencies and institutions are still allocated millions of dollars in one lump sum. If there are no questions asked none will be answered. Perhaps we should look at this legislative session as a warm up for the Big League? While the taxpayers cheered in the stands, the legislators talked a good game at the fence, but when they got up to bat, the majority of them struck out.

Michael Quinn Sullivan, President and CEO of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility was critical of the legislature's efforts to improve accountability and cut taxes:

"We saw no traction on property tax reform because a single legislator decided to not even hold a single hearing. Additional tax relief was hampered by a Lieutenant Governor who wants to 'save' the money for the future, which isn't something government has a history of doing well. But the death bell tolled for additional tax relief when a dozen or so Republicans sided with Democrats in the House in deciding to kill it in favor of bigger spending. Efforts to strengthen the tax and expenditure limitation were stymied by the House Appropriations chairman, who simply didn't push the bills out for a vote. It's hard to win the battles you don't even fight. Nearly 90 percent of Republican primary voters wanted all these reforms, and so they are going to have to give serious thought to the representation those Republican incumbents provided."

As the Fort Worth Star-Telegram pointed out in a June 25th article, Perry lashed out at the legislators saying that they left loads of "unfinished business." Adding, "I want to go on the road this fall and talk about how Texans can get more government for their money, and not just more money for government."

Although, to date, there have been degrees of success on budget reform in Texas. Currently, 22 state agencies followed in the governor's footsteps, placing their daily expenditures online. And there were a handful of state legislators who stepped up to the plate and introduced transparency legislation. Rep. Ken Paxton's (R) HB42 called for the creation of a database of all state contracts; the bill was given a public hearing but died at the end of the session. Rep. Bryan Hughes' (R) HB640 would have required online posting of expenditures by state agencies along with HB1007 sponsored by Rep. Corbin van Arsdale (R) calling for online disclosure of state grant information in a searchable format; both were left pending in committee. HB2560 sponsored by Rep. Bill Zedler (R) went a step in a different direction calling for school districts to post their check registers online; it passed out of the House but was left on the Senate calendar.

Michael Quinn Sullivan said, "It's unfair to criticize Gov. Perry for what the Legislature didn't do. The office of governor in Texas is a constitutionally weak one, and therefore comprehensive policy initiatives live or die in the House and Senate, with a governor having only a certain amount of true power. The budget reforms were endorsed by an overwhelming number of Texans and championed by Gov. Perry and a number of legislators fell prey to the status quo."

On the brighter side of things, HB 3430 passed both chambers unanimously mandating the creation an easy to search, free database listing state expenditures including grants and contracts. This common sense approach has allowed Texans to literally open up the state's checkbook and see for themselves where their hard-earned dollar is being spent. Sullivan said nothing "should detract from the victory of winning comprehensive transparency legislation. A single searchable database of all expenditures, grants and contracts means Texans not only will be given the bill for growing government, but we can now examine the receipt. This will help weed out waste, fraud and abuse, and empower Texans to seek more responsible spending of our fiscal resources."

Additionally, Texas House Joint Resolution 19 was unanimously passed in both chambers giving voters the option of adopting a constitutional amendment requiring a roll-call vote on the final passage of all substantive bills passed through the legislature; meaning that no measure could be passed through via an anonymous voice vote. Voters will decide at the ballot box on November 6th.

Perry spokesperson Robert Black said, "Voters hold tremendous power of the ballot. When November rolls around again, many lawmakers are going to have to explain why they continued to allow budget gimmickry, ambiguous appropriations and runaway spending… why legislators decided that the state should hold on to more than $2.5 billion that should have been refunded to taxpayers, but instead was thrown into state coffers." He continued, "…there is still more work to be done especially when it comes to getting rid of special earmarks and implementing a real spending cap. The governor will continue to support efforts to create a more transparent state."

Perry has not ruled out calling a special session to deal with some of this "unfinished business" since the Legislature is not scheduled to return until 2009. What's a Texan's piece of advice for lawmakers truly seeking a more transparent government? Perry's office says - don't stand for what's always been done. The character, Wimpy, from Popeye used to always say; "I'd gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today." When you write a budget spending billions of dollars on pork projects compliments of accounting gimmicks, you not only end up with an artificial sense of economic stability, but you have a Wimpy budget that rewards few and gains distrust from all.

Amanda Hydro is director of policy development at Reason Foundation. An archive of Reason's government reform research and commentary is here.

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