Moreover, public should mean public. If financial disclosure forms are available to view, they should be made available in a format that is accessible to the most people.
Besides, filing electronically would help the commission, whose budget was cut in the last fiscal year, to devote more time to its core services of enforcing its rules, educating state employees about its regulations and offering guidance on state ethics law to those who request it.
Gov. Martin O'Malley, who supports data-driven analyses of state agency performance, should champion more transparency from state legislators. He should encourage them to file financial disclosure forms electronically and make all of their business and nonprofit affiliations known. A great way to do that would be to include a few lines in their biographies on the General Assembly Web site. That would require no extra money - or legislation - and would quickly give people access to important information.
