Some quality transparency work is being done by state legislatures across the country. A couple of my recent favorites:

California: Don’t battle with people that buy ink by the barrel

The California Chronicle reports on legislation aimed at keeping taxpayers in the loop on how their cash is spent.

Senate Bill 1696, authored by Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco/San Mateo), would prohibit a state or local agency from allowing an outside entity to control the disclosure of information that is otherwise subject to the state´s Public Records Act. In addition, the bill would specify that regardless of any contract term to the contrary, a contract for the purpose of conducting a review, audit, or report between a private entity and a state or local agency is subject to the same disclosure requirements as other public records.

The need for the measure arose from the denial of a January 2007 request by the San Francisco Chronicle to the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF). UCSF refused to release an independent review of its finances or even the name of the firm that was issued a contract for $165,000 to carry out the review. UCSF claimed the auditing firm controlled the confidentiality of the contract and the audit.

I’m glad most newspapers are on our side.

Connecticut: No pension for you! (unless you have a union contract)

The Connecticut legislature approved a measure Thursday that would empower the state to revoke the pension of any elected official or state worker convicted of corruption. Newsday.com also tells us the bill will also:

_ Makes failure to report a bribe and failing to report witnessing a bribe a crime.

_ Includes the governor’s spouse as a “public official” under the ethics code.

_ Limits gifts to public officials for major life events, such as the birth of a child, to $1,000 or less.

_ Prohibits state contractors from offering a job to a state employee who participated significantly in awarding a state contract to that firm.

Since we try not to make the Perfect the enemy of the Good, we applaud the legislators that worked to give taxpayers some justice in public corruption cases. For states that have public officials on trial (SEE BELOW): Take Note.

Category: Transparency Legislation