Legislation
While Texas state and local governments have been widely recognized for their transparency efforts over the last few years, plenty of opportunities exist to improve the system. These include:
- Creating a State Employee Salary Database: Create and maintain an up-to-date database of all state government employee salaries, pensions, and benefits.
- Requiring a Minimum Level of Transparency at the Local Level: Require local governments throughout Texas to adopt minimum standards of transparency that include three years of budget information including financial statements and a regularly updated check register.
- Posting the Details of Winning and Losing State Contracts: Create and maintain an up-to-date database of all winning and losing state government bids and contracts.
Other ideas to improve state and local government transparency in Texas include those developed by the University of Texas’ LBJ School of Public Affairs. From their report:
- Develop and disseminate open-source and open standard data tools to make data available in raw, real-time formats.
- Present data in an engaging and visual way.
- Address issues of database and software compatibility.
- Upgrade the requirements for the Texas Comptroller’s Leadership Circle.
- Establish guidelines for local government entities to publish their financial data online.
- Present data in a contextualized format.
Click here for details regarding specific recommendations.
Source: LBJ School of Public Affairs Report “Texas Financial Transparency: Open and Online”
