To answer those questions, state Sen. Mark Herring (D-Loudoun and Fairfax) is sponsoring SB 431, which would require Virginia’s Auditor of Public Accounts to maintain a record of all expenses over $100 and require that state agencies post the monthly statement of all credit cards issued to officers and employees. It also instructs the Auditor of Public Accounts to undergo a review and incorporate the best practices in government transparency. In short, it would put the check register of the different agencies on their Web site where the expenditures can be reviewed by the public.
The legislation also notes that changes should be made to make the agency Web sites more user-friendly -- a welcome relief for many of those seeking to do their research online.
Government transparency is not a Republican/Democrat issue. It should be supported by both, although there is an innate tendency to consider it a less pressing issue when your political party is in office. Supported by The Family Foundation and the Virginia Coalition for Open Government, the bill passed the Virginia Senate 40-0 and is now under review by the Appropriations committee of the House of Delegates.
Eastern Loudoun’s senator has proposed a bill that Loudoun government should take note of. All of this information should be available to the public on the local level as well. Each year, the Board of Supervisors finds itself in a rush to craft a budget that balances county services against the local tax burden. Citizens who favor higher services or lower taxes would have true access to the expenses each department undertook during the prior year. Wouldn’t it be nice if those with an opinion on government spending also had the option of researching what the spending had actually been?
And this is not necessarily limited to those who feel that deep cuts should be made in government programs and agencies. It seems likely that a public review of some agencies might show the true depth to which they are already financially strained.
Herring has noted that given Virginia’s position as a center of information technology and Internet development, the Commonwealth should be out front in terms of accountability and transparency. If this is true of Virginia as a whole, shouldn’t it be even truer in Loudoun?
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