Alabama House Set To Pass Public Official Transparency Act
By: Stephen Crews
Updated: March 24, 2011
The
Alabama House of Representatives reconvenes for the seventh legislative
day of the 2011 Regular Session on Thursday poised to pass a bill that
will require all elected officials and their spouses to publicly
disclose contracts with state entities.
House
Bill 58, known as the Public Official Transparency Act, is sponsored by
Representative
Mike Ball of Huntsville. The bill also ensures greater transparency and
accountability from those seeking public office by extending the same
disclosure requirements to candidates.
It’s a good-government reform that is long overdue, Representative Ball said.
“Senator
Arthur Orr and I first came up with this in 2008 when all the shady
dealings in
the two-year college system came to light,” Representative Ball said.
“It took confidential sources for the newspaper to reveal that some
public officials and their family members had secret contracts with
state agencies. It occurred to us that the best way
to deter the corruption that can result from that kind of secrecy is to
require complete transparency. The taxpaying, voting public has a right
to know what kind of business their elected representatives and their
spouses do with state entities. This bill ensures
that it will.”
Representative
Ball originally proposed the legislation in 2008, and was successful
getting
it through committee. However, his attempts to have the bill considered
on the floor of the House were thwarted each year by the powerful Rules
Committee chairman, who controlled the daily agenda.
The change in legislative leadership means Representative Ball’s transparency bill is more
than just up for consideration, it’s on the fast track to passage.
“If
we had passed a transparency bill like this in any other year, it would
have been a groundbreaking
achievement. This year, it is almost routine. That’s the difference the
new majority has made. We have legislative leaders and a body of
lawmakers committed to upholding the public’s trust. I look forward to
answering my colleagues’ questions about this bill,
but I don’t expect significant opposition. Support for public contract
disclosure is truly bi-partisan.”
House Speaker Mike Hubbard applauded Representative Ball’s persistence in continually advocating
this reform each year despite frustrating obstacles.
“There’s
a reason public contract disclosure has so much support among House
Members,” Speaker
Hubbard said. “Representative Ball has championed this bill for three
straight years, and has probably spoken to every Member of the
Legislature about it. He is a tireless advocate for increasing
transparency in state government, and I’ll be proud to see him
finally pass this bill.”
After
last December’s Special Legislative Session for anti-corruption reform,
Alabama went
from having some of the weakest accountability and transparency laws to
among the strongest. A recent Associated Press report surveying openness
in government nationwide highlighted Alabama’s efforts to ensure
greater accountability.
Speaker Hubbard said restoring honesty and integrity to state government is essential in
order for state leaders to address Alabama’s problems.
“The
people of Alabama deserve a government they can trust,” he said. “For
decades, this
state has witnessed scandal after scandal from elected officials. That
builds a level of distrust that inhibits our ability to make positive
changes. By bringing a new level of accountability and transparency to
state government, we can begin to build back
that trust and move Alabama forward.”
