Making government transparent is a popular issue in the Colorado legislature this year. We’ve had several attempts to provide taxpayers with online access to Colorado’s various governments’ spending habits.
House Bill 1288 places Colorado on the cutting edge of transparency in state government and, if it is enacted, we will join more than a dozen states nationwide that have already put state expenditures and revenues online.
Last week, the Colorado Taxpayer Transparency Act passed through House Finance Committee unanimously. Two weeks prior to that, a broad coalition of 38 Democrats and Republicans came together on the House floor to co-sponsor our legislation upon its introduction.
The Colorado Taxpayer Transparency Act is similar to other bills that have passed in several states, including Missouri, Kansas and Texas, as well as in the U.S. Senate. (The U.S. Senate version was sponsored by then-Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Sen. Tom Colburn, R-Okla.).
Just as transparency has brought together members of both parties in the U.S. Senate, a broad coalition of Democrats and Republicans have also come together at the Colorado Capitol in support of making transparency part of state law.
Gov. Bill Ritter has even announced plans to sign an executive order mandating that all government spending be made available electronically. Although we applaud the governor for his willingness to put the state’s spending online, an executive order does not go far enough because it is not a law and can be swept away by the stroke of a pen. In other words, any future governor can simply rescind Gov. Ritter’s executive order.
It’s important for taxpayers to know that transparency in state government is not fleeting; it must be made permanent through state law. States like Missouri have first implemented it through executive order but then have come back and put it into law.
We are currently working with the governor’s office and hope that he will join this bipartisan group of Republican and Democratic lawmakers in supporting this important legislation in making transparency permanent for Colorado taxpayers.
Under current law, the burden of proof is on the taxpayer. If you want information on state spending, you have to file a Colorado Open Records Act request and be willing to wait, spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars on staff research and printing fees, and then wonder if you’ve truly received all the relevant information.
Our legislation shifts this burden of proof to the state government by making the process for quickly reviewing how the state is using your money.
Putting the state’s expenditures and revenues online through statute is a first step toward greater accountability. Under HB 1288, Colorado citizens will have the tool they’ve asked for to help us identify potential waste and, in some cases, fraud and abuse.
The state’s expenditures and revenues should be transparent, accessible, and free — and we need to keep the mantra of the taxpayers in mind: “If you can’t defend it, don’t spend it.”
B.J. Nikkel is a Colorado state representative from District 49. Mike Kopp is a state senator and minority caucus chair representing District 22.
