A fter the record-shattering tax increases urged by our governor and passed during November’s special session of the General Assembly, Maryland citizens now more than ever have a right to know how their hard-earned tax dollars are spent. The state budget for 2008 is $31.5 billion. That means for you or I to casually glance through the budget would take days, and we would likely still not understand how state contracts are awarded.

It needs to be easier for Maryland citizens to review state spending so, along with a bipartisan cast of co-sponsors, I sponsored the Maryland Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2008. It makes the financial dealings of the state government available to the public by creating an easily searchable Web site that tracks state spending and contract activity. Anyone will be able to search spending activity and download the information.

This bill is modeled after federal legislation passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bush in September 2006. The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act created a free, publicly searchable Web site for all federal contracts and grants at www.usaspending.gov. It’s worth noting that the federal bill was sponsored by Sens. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and Barack Obama, D-Ill. It’s true bipartisan legislation.

Transparency laws lead to more responsible state spending and more informed voters, as they make citizens aware of spending excesses and abuses of tax dollars. In times of economic uncertainty, transparency laws help government to make the best use of limited funds. Transparency laws even encourage greater involvement in the political process by our citizens. And by creating greater oversight, transparency laws make government agencies more efficient by eliminating double-billing of expenses.

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After Texas passed a transparency law in 2007, state Comptroller Susan Combs estimated a savings of $2.3 million in her office alone. Much of the savings came from combining multiple contracts for the same services and from eliminating contracts for products the office no longer needed but was unaware it was purchasing. The vast size of state government often means the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing. The greater oversight created by transparency laws effectively eliminates this problem.

A recent poll by Gonzales Research and Marketing shows most Marylanders support transparency in state spending. The poll asked participants the simple question, “Would you favor or oppose a law that requires Maryland government to provide, on an easily searchable Web site, all state expenditures and spending data?” Overall, 83 percent of Marylanders were in favor such a Web site, with only 6 percent opposed and 11 percent undecided. And regardless of political party, transparency is widely supported by a majority of Marylanders. Specifically, 80 percent of Democrats, 88 percent of Republicans and 85 percent of independents support this legislation. Transparency in state spending is true commonsense bipartisan legislation we can all get behind.

Since the passage of the federal law in 2006, the push for greater accountability in state spending has been catching on across the country. In addition to Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma, Minnesota and Hawaii passed transparency legislation in 2007. And Missouri, South Carolina and Louisiana created transparency Web sites through executive action. Transparency in government spending is a good idea at every level of government. Several transparency bills have been introduced at the local level in Maryland. In Howard County, Councilman Greg Fox is sponsoring transparency legislation before the County Council and Councilman Jamie Benoit is pushing a similar bill in Anne Arundel County.

Marylanders deserve accountability and transparency from their state government. They deserve greater oversight of state spending. And they deserve to know exactly where their tax dollars are being spent. It’s time for the Maryland General Assembly to follow the lead of our federal government and pass a transparency law.

Republican Warren Miller is currently serving his second term representing western Howard County in the Maryland House of Delegates. He is the chairman of the Maryland Taxpayers Caucus and is the lead sponsor of the Maryland Funding Accountability and Transparency Act. Reach him at warren.miller@house.state.md.us.