Louisiana Taxpayers, Please Welcome “LaTrac”

Washington, D.C. – The Center for Fiscal Accountability congratulates Gov. Bobby Jindal and his administration in Louisiana on the launch of their transparency portal LaTrac. The website, which was officially launched on Wednesday, November 12 in the presence of LSU officials, faculty, staff, and students in the “SMART Lab” of Patrick F. Taylor Hall on LSU’s Baton Rouge campus.

 

LaTrac gives taxpayers a chance to sort through state expenditures, drilling down on expenditures for the current year and aggregates for previous years. Users can organize the data by department or agency and then view breakdowns into subcategories including funding source, and type of services provided. LaTrac also includes spending data for the state’s higher education system.

“Gov. Jindal really prioritized  transparency and fiscal responsibility when he issued the executive order as one of the first acts in office and worked with the legislature to pass legislation,” said Sandra Fabry, executive director for the Center for Fiscal Accountability. “Louisiana taxpayers will greatly benefit from greater transparency in government spending, which LaTrac sets out to deliver.”

 

The launch of LaTrac makes Louisiana the 8^th state to launch a spending transparency website created through executive order and/or legislative action since the passage of the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006, which led to the creation of USAspending.gov. A total of 12 states have passed spending transparency legislation in the past two years, and several governors and state constitutional officers have taken their own steps to increase accountability through transparency in government spending. For more information please visit www.fiscalaccountability.org,

 

 “Louisiana’s launch of LaTrac is a big step toward full accountability in government spending.” continued Fabry. “LaTrac is an excellent start to empower Louisiana taxpayers, and we look forward to the scheduled improvements of the site. Congratulations to the Jindal adminstration, and, quite frankly, to Louisiana taxpayers, who may have just got an early Christmas present, as more accountability means less potential for fraud, waste and abuse in government finance.”