The federal database offers all kinds of information -- for example, typing "Johns Hopkins" into the search for government aid reveals that the Baltimore university racked up $737,528,494 in grants in the past fiscal year, or 0.1 percent of all federal spending.
It also provides details for each of the 18 transactions in which the Department of Defense bought $34 million worth of spices from Hunt Valley-based McCormick & Co., and it shows that Maryland ranks fourth behind Virginia, California and Texas in the total value of federal contracts awarded.
A handful of states have followed suit, including Kansas, Hawaii, Minnesota, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas, and a number of others are considering it.
In Maryland, all expenses over $25,000 would show up on the database. It would tell a user aggregate state expenditures given to any entity.
For each individual transaction, it would detail the amount, granting agency, budget program fund source and descriptive purpose. If passed, the Department of Budget and Management would have to create the Web site by Jan. 1.
But whether it can win over the people in the political middle -- those who, generally speaking, run the state government -- remains to be seen.
Though no one is waiting in line to come out in opposition to the bill, some lawmakers expressed concern that such a site would make political attacks easier or set up easy misinterpretations of the state's complicated $31 billion budget.
"Decisions are made here on a daily basis, things are so fluid, that it's hard for anyone to get an accurate portrayal," said Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller. "Knowing enough to properly interpret the numbers is quite challenging."
Still, Miller said he would support the bill as long as it wouldn't make the state's spending process more confusing to taxpayers. "It's the public's money and the public has a right to know," he said.
The measure failed last year after anti-tax groups testified on its behalf, without any real backing from supporters on the political left, leading some to conclude it was a plot by conservatives to force deep spending cuts, said Ryan O'Donnell, executive director of Common Cause Maryland, a government watchdog group.
"There's a lot that Maryland could do that neither side has any problem with" unless they look at who co-sponsored legislation, he said. "It deserves to pass."
bradley.olson@baltsun.com
