One of Representative Whisnant's bills passed the House this morning. Here are two press releases about HB 2500, the Open Books Oregon website bill.

 

Here is the Press Release from Rep Thatcher, Rep Whisnant, Rep Jefferson Smith, and Rep Roblan's offices

(Salem)  The new ‘Open Books Oregon’ Website received unanimous approval from the Oregon House of Representatives today. House Bill 2500 is co-sponsored by a bi-partisan group of legislators including State Representatives Arnie Roblan, Jefferson Smith, Kim Thatcher, and Gene Whisnant. 

 The proposed new site is designed to be a single portal for taxpayers to find a wide range of information about state spending and revenue. “I believe this is a great starting place that we can build on over the next several sessions as we find resources,” said State Representative Arnie Roblan (D-Coos Bay) on the House Floor this morning.

 State Representative Kim Thatcher told her colleagues on the Floor that Oregon families use a checkbook to manage their money and the state should do the same. “I hear from folks all the time who will say it’s hard to figure out…how the state is spending our tax dollars. And they want to know the real dollar figures.”

 “At the turn of the last century good government folks came together as political reformers in an era when governments were dominated by machine politics,” noted State Representative Jefferson Smith (D-Portland). ”They were dubbed ‘goo-goos' by detractors” said Smith.  “Today, just about the entire Oregon House got to be ‘goo-goos.’”

 “Now taxpayers will have a transparent website to go to; a searchable website to find how the money is coming in and going out,” explained State Representative Gene Whisnant (R-Sunriver) in his Floor speech. Approximately two dozen other states have already established similar websites designed to be a single portal which will include a wide array of information.

 This allows people to understand how we are spending our money and I believe showing people that clearly we are making good choices with their dollars. It also gives people the opportunity to voice their opinions about things we could do to save some money in the future,” added Roblan.  The Idaho House recently deadlocked 32-32 and was unable to pass similar legislation.  “We are proud we were able to build bipartisan support for the bill, with leadership from both sides of the aisle,” said Smith.

 "It’s great to see the Oregon House of Representatives join the ranks of legislative chambers around the country that are embracing transparency in government spending, and I want to congratulate the bill sponsors for their dedication to seeing this bill through,” said Sandra Fabry, Government Affairs Manager Center for Fiscal Accountability, “Hopefully, the Senate will soon join the House in passing this important bill so that Oregon taxpayers will be enabled to track their tax dollars at a mouse click. After all it’s their money government is spending.”  Other organizations supporting HB 2500 including SEIU, Cascade Policy Institute, and OSPIRG.

 Here is the other press release from OSPIRG

Oregon took a step closer to becoming a Transparency 2.0 state, after the Oregon House of Representatives approved HB 2500. The bill now moves to the Oregon State Senate.

HB 2500 would establish the “Open Books Oregon” website, a one-stop portal that would allow Oregonians to see how their tax dollars are being spent.  Open Books Oregon is modeled off websites in at least 20 other states (and the federal government (www.USASpending.gov).  The bill is sponsored by a bipartisan team of legislators: Representatives Arnie Roblan (D), Kim Thatcher (R), Jefferson Smith (D), and Gene Whisnant (R). 

 “We commend Representatives Roblan, Thatcher, Smith and Whisnant for leading Oregon’s charge towards Transparency 2.0,” said OSPIRG Executive Director Dave Rosenfeld.

 A recent OSPIRG report, Transparency.gov 2.0, found that Oregon lags behind other states in making tax spending easily available to voters online, but could quickly become a leader.  See a comparison of how Oregon compares to other leading states.

 To its credit, Oregon has taken steps in the right direction.  The Tax Expenditure Report details all the lost revenue associated with various tax programs.  ORPIN discloses some, but not all state government contracts.  The Economic and Community Developme nt Department did a one-time report in 2008 outlining what companies received tax breaks, and the jobs that were created.  The Secretary of State posts all audits they do on state agency operations.

 However, these steps have critical deficiencies:

• Scattered.  Voters have to look at multiple websites for the correct information. 
• Buried.  Most of the above information is buried deep in the bowels of obscure agency websites.
• Incomplete.  The Tax Expenditure Report does not detail what companies received tax breaks, nor the value that taxpayers got from those expenditures – measurements that are critically needed in order to evaluate these expenditures.  Similarly, ORPIN only covers contracts under certain departments, excluding millions of dollars in contracts issued by large agencies such as the Department of Transportation, and by local governments.
• Not user friendly.  States around the country and the US Government are moving to searchable databases, where voters can easily find the information they are looking for and create comparison tables.  Oregonians are still stuck with densely worded reports that intimidate even the most fearless muckrakers. 

 HB 2500 will solve some, but not all of these problems. HB 2500 will begin the process of consolidating much of the existing transparency information into the Open Books Oregon website.  And it will establish an Open Books Oregon Advisory Commission to drive further improvements to the website in future years. 

 Consequently, the Advisory Commission will be critical to making the remainder of improvements necessary for Oregon to truly become a leader.

 “HB 2500 is an important first step towards making Oregon a Transparency 2.0 state,” said Rosenfeld, ““To make this a slam dunk, Open Books Oregon must also include local contracting, companies that get tax breaks, and the jobs that are created from both contracts and tax breaks.”