Soon, you'll be able to track every tax dollar
Source: By Jerry Cornfield, Herald (WA), Thursday, March 27, 2008
Very soon you may not need to ask state lawmakers how they're spending your tax dollars because you'll be able to find out on your own. Right down to what you paid for the paper and pens in their offices.
Legislation waiting to be signed by Gov. Chris Gregoire would create a Web site providing a quick and easy means of searching details in the state's operating, capital and transportation budgets.
...... It is modeled on laws in Texas and Missouri, two states that make it possible to find expenditures by an agency, by a subject, for individual contracts and to vendors. Under the proposed law in Washington, the Legislative Evaluation and Accountability Program would set up the online resource by Jan. 1, 2009. LEAP, as it is known in Olympia, is already a portal for online access to proposed and adopted budgets.