Lawmakers agree on bill for transparency, but not timing

A bill that would shed light on what state government actually buys with its $33 billion operating budgets every two years faces an uphill fight in the Legislature — largely because of its cost this year.

"Not the right year to be asking for it, but the right idea," said Rep. Kelli Linville, D-Bellingham, on Wednesday. "It's public dollars, and the more transparency in the budget, the better."

Linville is the chairwoman of the House Appropriations subcommittee on general government and audits, which is giving chilly looks at bills that carry new price tags.

But many lawmakers of both parties are getting enthused about having a "searchable database" for budgets. Democratic Rep. Mark Miloscia of Federal Way has had House Bill 2342 in the hopper since last year, a measure that would cost $1.4 million its first two years and a little more than half that in following budget cycles.

This year, Democratic Sen. Eric Oemig of Kirkland and Republican Sen. Val Stevens of Arlington have offered their versions, each drawing supporters from both sides of the aisle. And Gov. Chris Gregoire's legislative director, Marty Brown, thinks a searchable database like that of Texas' comptroller is an idea whose time has come for Washington.

"It's the kind of stuff we ought to be doing. Nobody disagrees with that," Brown said.

"To me, it's getting things transparent," said Miloscia, a longtime advocate of government accountability.

Oemig envisions a system that would let a voter type in an area of the budget he or she is interested in. Eventually, interest groups will take the data and create charts that help illustrate what is done with money, he said.

Oemig said the heightened scrutiny could help lawmakers identify budgeting errors but also demonstrate the value that tax money is buying.

The free-market Washington Policy Center, which released its "Piglet Book" on wasteful government spending Wednesday, says a searchable database can help identify government waste. But it also can help the public understand how much is spent for programs it wants.

"You could get down to the program level. You could see how much OSPI (the state K-12 schools agency) is spending for English as a Second Language, or how much is being spent on textbooks. That would be the goal," said John Barnes, a spokesman for the center.

The cost of setting up a database clearly is a factor getting in the way of its passage this year — now that concerns of a recession are driving some jitters into budget talks. Miloscia's proposal came with a price tag of about $1.4 million last year.