March 17, 2010

Governor Riley Reviews Steps Taken to Make Government More Transparent, Calls Again on Legislature to Pass Stronger Disclosure Law

Bob Riley discusses measures making government more open and transparent to mark Sunshine Week.

MONTGOMERY - Governor Bob Riley used Sunshine Week, a week designed to highlight the importance of transparent government, to review steps taken by his administration to make government more open and to push for legislation that would require lobbyists to fully disclose their spending on public officials.

Joined at a news conference on Wednesday by Representative Mac Gipson, the sponsor of a bill to overhaul the state’s Ethics Code, the Governor noted that his administration discloses information “that no other administration ever has.”

Since coming into office, Governor Riley has posted flight logs of state aircraft and spending from the Governor’s Contingency Fund online. Last year, he signed an executive order that created a website -- www.open.alabama.gov -- where spending, contracts and leases by state agencies can be viewed by the public.

In addition to state government agencies, now spending by K-12 school systems, two-year colleges and the state’s four-year colleges and universities can be found online.

“All this means we’ve brought an unprecedented level of accountability and transparency to state spending. Never before has Alabama’s state government been as transparent, as open and as accountable as it is today,” said Governor Riley.

But more can be done and should be done to increase government transparency and openness, the Governor said.

Governor Riley and Representative Gipson called on the Legislature to take up legislation that will increase government transparency and that has been called the “gold standard” of ethics reform by the director of the Ethics Commission.

That legislation, House Bill 153 sponsored by Representative Gipson and its companion in the Senate, Senate Bill 206 sponsored by Senator Ben Brooks, would require lobbyists to fully disclose to the Ethics Commission:

• All gifts, meals, travel and other things of value they provide to public servants and their family members; and

• All financial transactions between lobbyists and public servants and their family members.

In addition, House Bill 153 and Senate Bill 206 would also require public officials and their family members to disclose:

• All jobs and consulting contracts they have with any business, nonprofit or other entity that receives public funds such as state grants and contracts; and

• All household income derived from any state or local government and all consulting contracts they have with any government entity or institution.

These bills also require lobbyists who lobby the executive branch to register with the Ethics Commission and provide the Ethics Commission with subpoena power.

Both bills have been sitting in House and Senate committees since the first days of the 2010 legislative session.

Sunshine Week is led by the American Society of News Editors. Its purpose is to open a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information.

Governor Riley said Sunshine Week is “an appropriate time to reflect on the transparency of our state government and also on what needs to be done to make it more transparent.”

“Every time we make government more transparent, we make it more honest and accountable to the people it serves,” he said.