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Texas-Size Transparency

By By Brooke Rollins and Michael Quinn Sullivan
Published on Tuesday, April 01, 2008
ARTICLES

Texas prides itself on being a leader and enjoys a reputation as a fiscally conservative, low tax state. Consider that the Lone Star State is one of nine states without a state income tax; consistently ranks among the states with the lowest per-capita spending (ranked 50^th in the Tax Foundation ranking for 2005); and erased a 2003 budget shortfall of $10 billion by cutting spending, rather than raising taxes.

Unfortunately, the budget scrutiny that took place in 2003 was short-lived. Since then, state spending has grown 35 percent. It is easy to get caught up in spending the people's money if it seems that nobody is watching.

In an effort to rein in the growth of the state budget, the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) and Texans for Fiscal Responsibility (TFR) teamed up to advance greater transparency in state and local government spending. Together we worked closely with members of the Texas Legislature and the state's leadership to promote it, in addition to taking the issue directly to the taxpayers for their support.

The combined efforts of TPPF and TFR led to significant success, as described below. More success is expected to follow, in Texas and elsewhere. According to SPN president Tracie Sharp, "This year, in the broadest effort in the history of the state think tank movement, 44 institutes in 42 states are spearheading government transparency efforts, pushing for top-to-bottom open government."

A Foundation for Transparency

In 2003, the state legislature addressed a $10 billion budget shortfall by reprioritizing and reducing spending, rather than raising taxes. TPPF and others calling for reestablishing budget priorities argued that the budget shortfall was the result of a lack of fiscal discipline when times were good. With an improved budget picture in 2005, the TPPF argued for maintaining fiscal discipline and greater transparency in spending, including the posting of school district check registers online.

Recognizing a need for greater budget discipline, the TPPF began working with the Governor's office to promote transparency as a way to slow government's growth. To move the issue forward with state legislators and leaders, the TPPF hired Talmadge Heflin, a former 22-year lawmaker who presided over the House Appropriations Committee in 2003 and provided the critical leadership to cut spending. Together, Heflin and then-TPPF chief economist Byron Schlomach pursued voluntary transparency efforts through the Office of the Governor and the Texas Education Agency. Once elected Comptroller, Susan Combs posted her office's spending down to the penny within days of taking office. These early efforts and the committed leadership of Gov. Perry and Comptroller Combs established an important foundation for enacting greater transparency in the legislative process.

The proposal itself is simple: Make all state expenditures, contracts and grants accessible to the public online in plain English.

Transparency Passes the Texas Legislature

The proposal itself is simple: Make all state expenditures, contracts and grants accessible to the public online in plain English. It would need to be displayed per agency and searchable, allowing for cost comparisons and accountability.

The legislation was originally filed in three separate parts: expenditures, grants and contracts. Those three were filed by Republican legislators. A fourth bill, filed by a Democrat, was more comprehensive but not as deep. The four pieces of legislation were merged into one bill with a strong, bipartisan list of joint authors and co-authors and sponsors in both chambers.

The legislation passed the Texas House with a unanimous vote. While the effort nearly stalled in the Senate, it eventually passed without a dissenting vote.

Again, Comptroller Combs demonstrated a commitment to transparency by returning a fiscal note reporting no fiscal impact on the state budget for the total transparency package.

Prior to and throughout the session, TPPF and TFR highlighted the transparency measure as a common sense reform. The bipartisan list of lawmakers associating their name with this effort underscored the popular support these lawmakers knew they would receive when returning home to their district after the session ended.

To highlight the importance of the issue, TPPF and TFR each worked to promote transparency and its importance to lawmakers and the public. In addition to the research, publications and op-eds, TPPF spent a considerable amount of time in one-on-one meetings with legislators and staffers. In all, TPPF board members, leadership and staff (led by Heflin and Schlomach) made more than 100 individual contacts and meetings with policymakers. Further, the team met regularly with the legislation's authors and co-authors as the bill moved through the House and Senate committees.

As a 501(c)4, TFR also drew considerable public attention to the transparency legislation, most notably by sending mail to approximately 100,000 households in targeted legislative districts, garnering nearly 25,000 responses. Those responses, then, were the centerpiece of a Capitol press conference TFR and the bill sponsors had with Gov. Perry before the entire Texas press corps.

Implementing and Expanding Transparency

With the legislation signed into law, Comptroller Combs and her staff were tasked with compiling and presenting the information through the online database. Texas had previously begun the job of bringing the various state agencies into a uniform account coding system, and the transparency legislation accelerated the process.

The database is now a permanent feature called "Where the Money Goes" on the Comptroller's "Window On State Government" website, having gone live on Oct. 1, 2007.

Of course, much of the explosive growth of spending by Texas government has occurred at the local level, and so those expenditures should be made public.

Both TPPF and TFR are encouraging lawmakers and voters to extend transparency laws to counties, cities, school districts, special taxing districts and other quasi-government entities.

Additionally, the "contract" section of the database should be expanded to include qualified bidders who were not awarded the contracts. This will allow additional levels of accountability in the contracting process.

Applicability in the Several States

It would be easy to suggest that Texas was only successful in passing transparency legislation because the state already enjoyed a relatively fiscally-conservative posture, but the overwhelming public support and bipartisan movement for this effort proves that legislators realize it is a winning issue. By bringing the issue to the public's attention and working with lawmakers to prove it is possible, greater transparency in spending can be a reality in other states as well.

Both TPPF and TFR track inputs and impact closely, recognizing that frequent contact and strong relationships with legislators give research legs, while creating a public interest in the story creates important pressure at home. From legislative contacts to speeches and media work, both organizations put a premium on seeing such efforts through to implementation.

The legislative and executive support is easy to draw in with the right educational and advocacy efforts, but it is critical that those activities be targeted in the right voting constituencies, and not wasted on broad appeals. The legislative champions for transparency in Texas were lawmakers with young legislative careers and considerable energy and enthusiasm for accomplishment. TPPF and TFR worked closely with these legislators on this and other important issues over the last several years. .

Any critique that this effort was simply a right-wing effort to embarrass state agencies was deflected by having several liberal legislators as early co-sponsors. Indeed, the left has often tended to be a stronger rhetorical proponent of open government than the right (with notable exceptions, of course).

Open government is one thing few politicians are willing to publicly challenge. Thus, as in Texas, state think tanks that undertake the issue can achieve real policy results with transparency projects.

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Brooke Rollins is president of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, and Michael Quinn Sullivan is president of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility. They can be reached at brollins@texaspolicy.com and msullivan@empowertexans.com, respectively.

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