Posted: | April 16, 2013 04:24 PM |
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From: | Representative Jim Christiana |
To: | All House members |
Subject: | CountyWATCH Act |
I am preparing to introduce legislation that will establish a searchable database detailing county revenues and expenditures. In 2011, the General Assembly enacted the Pennsylvania Web Accountability and Transparency (PennWATCH) Act, which established a searchable database providing detailed information concerning the budgets and expenditures of state agencies. Modeled after the PennWATCH Act, my bill will require the Governor’s Office of Administration to create a similar database for county spending, to be known as CountyWATCH. The CountyWATCH database will provide taxpayers with thorough information concerning the amount of funding received by the county from federal, state, local and private sources, payments to outside entities, and employee compensation. Records that are not subject to disclosure under the Right-to-Know Law will not be included on the website. Counties failing to report information to Governor’s Office of Administration as required under the bill will be subject to withholding of state appropriations. Our constituents are proud that we chose to disclose how we spend their tax dollars with PennWATCH. The people of Pennsylvania deserve the same level of transparency from their county government. Please join me in co-sponsoring this legislation. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. |
Introduced as HB1582