[July 15, 2011] More details of state spending coming to website Tweet MADISON, Jul 15, 2011 (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Lost in the controversy over the state budget was a proposal to make the state disclose vast amounts of new information about how it spends taxpayers' money. The state will have to release data on a website for every expense of more than $100, under the provision passed as part of the 2011-'13 budget. Citizens, private companies and the media will be able to search the information, which will include which agency made a purchase, how much it spent, and who received the money. Rep. Robin Vos (R-Rochester), the chairman of the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee and an author of the provision, said it was similar in spirit to federal legislation that President Barack Obama had put forward while he was still a U.S. senator. "This is a bipartisan idea. Every Republican and Democrat alike wants to make sure the public has that information so they can decide for themselves whether that spending is worthwhile or not," Vos said. The legislation should raise the bar for the state, which was recently given a D+ by one national group for its disclosures on state spending and subsidies to businesses. Such efforts, which involve pulling together data from many different computer systems and state agencies, have been time-consuming to execute in the past. So far, Gov. Scott Walker's administration has already put limited agency-level information online in response to the new law, Administration Secretary Mike Huebsch said. There is no firm timeline yet for a full implementation, but it is a priority, he said. "This isn't going to happen by the end of the month, I'll tell you that. But we're working diligently," Huebsch said. Bruce Speight, director of the Wisconsin Public Interest Research Group, said that his organization supported the effort because it would make government more efficient and instill greater public confidence in it. The data will help taxpayers pick out spending items that were frivolous, overpriced, or steered toward campaign contributors, he said. "It's going to provide taxpayers more information and will also make sure that taxpayers are getting more bang for the buck by providing more transparency and accountability," Speight said. The group and its national arm put out a report in March giving the state a barely passing grade on its current transparency efforts, putting Wisconsin in the bottom half of states nationwide. The report found that 40 states around the country provide some records on government spending online. Nine of those states provide comprehensive information on government spending through an easily searchable online database, the report found. The U.S. government has its own site providing similar information. The Wisconsin provision requires the state to post the grant or contract for each expense, the agency doing the spending, the name and address of the individual or business being paid, and the amount and category of the spending. The provision, which was added to the budget by the Joint Finance Committee, applies to state expenses of more than $100. Under the budget bill, state agencies would have had until July 1, 2013, to start reporting the information online. But Walker vetoed that language and said he would order agencies to "immediately report monthly expenditures." Missouri a model In his veto message, Walker said he would direct state agencies to work with officials from the State of Missouri to draw on that state's website to help create a site for Wisconsin. While Walker served as Milwaukee County executive, the county drew on the Missouri model to create a similar county site. Walker spokesman Cullen Werwie said the advantages of the Missouri site are that it's effective and relatively cheap to implement. The State of Wisconsin struggled to implement its " Contract Sunshine" website, created by a 2005 state law. This database provides information on state contracts with private vendors worth $10,000 or more over a two-year budget. The site was hampered for years because state agencies simply didn't comply with the requirement to provide the information to the state Government Accountability Board. State agencies use a patchwork of different accounting systems, which contributed to the delays in making their purchases available in one central database. The website now has current information on contracts from all agencies except the Department of Transportation, but has yet to catch on with the public. "It's getting better, but it still pales in comparison to what many other states are doing," Speight said, adding that the website needed to be more easily searchable and user-friendly. Speight said the budget provision is a step forward, but state officials should focus next on providing more information online about the tax incentives and subsidies that the state provides to businesses for economic development. Walker and lawmakers earlier this year created the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp., a partly private authority, to replace the state Department of Commerce and help create jobs. Speight has said he wants to make sure that the authority doesn't provide less information to the public about who receives business incentives and whether they create the jobs that they've promised. To see more of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.jsonline.com. 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