Sunshine Week…Time for Spending Transparency in PA

This week is Sunshine Week, created to promote open government and celebrate James Madison’s birthday (which is today, and an aside, he is my favorite founding father).

Now would be an opportune time for the Pennsylvania Senate to take up HB 1880, which has been in the Senate State Government committee since early February. The bill – which passed the House, unanimously, in December – would create an online spending database, and is very similar to SB 105, which passed the Senate in July 2009.

The Commonwealth Foundation has written previously on state spending transparency and testified in support of similar legislation.

The Center for Fiscal Accountability also has a good number of resources on spending transparency across the country.