ALEC embraces budget transparency proposals

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has formally adopted two model bills to help improve budget transparency. ALEC is the nation's largest nonpartisan, individual membership organization of state legislators, with more than 2,400 legislator members from all 50 states, and 86 former members serving in the U.S. Congress.

 

As a voting member of the Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force I was able to bring these proposals to ALEC’s attention.

 

Here is today’s joint ALEC/WPC press release:

 

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Members of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) say taxpayers should be able to easily access and track how their state is spending their tax dollars through the creation of a public Web site.

 

Passed by ALEC members at their Annual Meeting in July, the “Taxpayers Transparency Act,” an ALEC “model bill,” requires each state’s budget office to create and maintain a searchable-database Web site. The site would detail state government spending and performance results. The Web site would be open to the public at no cost.

 

"Government should have the same ease of understanding its budget as we expect from private sector business," said Rep. Jamie Van Fossen of Iowa, who also serves as ALEC’s Public Sector Chair of the Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force.

 

All government department budgets would be searchable, including board commissions and institutions of higher education. This includes individual state agencies, government programs, as well as elective offices in the executive branch and the legislature.

 

“The Jeffersonian principle of limited government is integral to our mission at ALEC,” said Jonathan Williams, ALEC’s Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force Director. “Our new budget transparency model language will give lawmakers a great tool to protect taxpayers by holding government accountable for wasteful spending.” 

 

Also passed at the July annual meeting was the “72-Hour Budget Review Act,” an ALEC model bill that requires a “72-hour timeout” before a budget bill could be voted on after its public introduction.

 

Both model bills were written by the Evergreen Freedom Foundation and introduced by Jason Mercier, Director of the Washington Policy Center’s new Center for Government Reform, a non-partisan think tank based in Seattle.

 

“An accountable and responsible budget is next to impossible to achieve without accurate information about the spending proposed and time to process that information,” said Mercier. “We are thrilled that ALEC has embraced these policies and hope that policymakers across that nation will do the same.”