The following has been crossposted at www.fiscalaccountability.org:
It hasn’t been a smooth ride for HB 1288, but the spending transparency bill is still alive and kicking, and just passed the senate finance committee 7:0.
CFA has been following the story (and has weighed in with legislators on multiple occasions, most recently with a letter to senate finance committee members), and as you may recall, the governor issued a transparency executive order which leaves way too much discretion to the agencies, which could ultimately render it pointless.
Thankfully, lawmakers did not give up and decided to work to pass the legislation, which is more stringent, out of the house, and now out of the senate finance committee. That is great news especially as the bill was in limbo earlier in the week when one of the members, Sen. Rollie Heath (D-Boulder) called the bill “superfluous,” as our friends at Colorado Spending Transparency report.
Fingers crossed for full senate passage! If you’re in Colorado, contact your senators and tell them to support HB 1288.
Photo credit: Matthew Storz