With a few clicks of a mouse, Marylanders could soon be able to search an online database to find out exactly how much the state is spending to construct the Intercounty Connector in suburban Washington or on Chesapeake Bay restoration projects or even what taxpayers are coughing up for the "King Barn Dairy Mooseum."
The proposed database, which was approved in the House of Delegates and saw no opposition in a key Senate committee yesterday, also would allow anyone with a computer and an Internet connection to find out where the money is coming from, who was awarded the contracts and how much they received from the state for anything else.
The idea, modeled after a new federal government program, is drawing support both from staunch liberal groups like the American Civil Liberties Union and the Sierra Club and conservative organizations such as Americans for Tax Reform. Both sides argue that more transparency will lead to better government and less waste.
"This is tremendous, and it helps our taxpayers understand how the money's being spent, which might not be clear to them now," said Del. Warren E. Miller, a Howard County Republican who sponsored the bill in the House. "It will certainly help me understand how $31 billion is being spent."
All the budget information is publicly available now, but it's not easy for the average taxpayer to find. An interested party would have to spend hours poking around in Byzantine budget documents or query dozens of state agencies, a process that could take weeks or months. Lawmakers at both extremes of the political spectrum say that shouldn't be the case.
"Everyone seems to agree that taxpayers have a right to see how their money's being spent," said state Sen. Alex X. Mooney, one of the General Assembly's most conservative lawmakers.
"This is about a basic foundational principle of representative government," said state Sen. Jamie Raskin, one of Annapolis' most liberal lawmakers, who normally tangles with Mooney on issues ranging from the death penalty to using cell phones behind the wheel.
The two sat amicably beside each other in the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee yesterday.
The state-level coalition mirrors the support behind a similar effort for the federal government that went live in December -- www.usaspending.gov -- which passed unanimously in the U.S. Senate after being championed by Barack Obama and Tom Coburn, respectively among the most liberal and conservative members of that chamber. Presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain also was a co-sponsor.
