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Ohio
Treasurer Josh Mandel
Transparency
Legislation to post
State Checkbook Online introduced
COLUMBUS-
State Representative Mike
Dovilla (R-Berea) was joined by Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel at a press
conference today to unveil legislation seeking to establish "Open
Ohio," a state government expenditure database showing taxpayers
exactly
where their money is being spent.
In
an effort to increase government
accountability and transparency, this legislation creates a searchable,
freely
accessible database that displays the expenditure information of state
agencies, including the amount of the expenditure, the date of the
expenditure,
the person to whom the expenditure was paid, and the state entity that
made or
requested the expenditure.
"Ohio's
hardworking taxpayers
deserve to know how their state government is spending their tax
dollars,"
said Dovilla. "We
are committed to
advancing efficient, effective state government that respects
taxpayers, and
one of the best ways to accomplish this objective is to allow Ohioans
to help
us root out government waste, fraud, and abuse."
"As
Ohio's taxpayer watchdog,
I believe it's important that Ohioans have the ability to follow their
tax
dollars and hold elected officials accountable.
Shining sunlight on state spending and
decisions made deep in the
bureaucracy will give taxpayers the resources to help root out waste,
fraud and
abuse," said Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel.
"This new database of state government
expenditures will give
Ohioans fully searchable access to billions of dollars of spending
information
at their fingertips. I
am proud to have
partnered with Representative Dovilla and the Ohio General Assembly on
legislation to publicly display this state expenditure database, which
is a
continuation of the Treasurer's Transparency Project I launched shortly
after
taking office."
Under
Representative Dovilla's
legislation, Treasurer Mandel's office will host the new fully
searchable state
agency expenditures database on www.OhioTreasurer.gov.
The legislation also places in statue a
requirement that the Treasurer's office host fully searchable databases
that
display salaries of state employees and local school district education
employees, a practice that the Treasurer's office started in 2011.
The
legislation will now undergo
further consideration in the Ohio House of Representatives.
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