It looks like we have a bit of a Texas theme going on this week: Yesterday's post on the Comptroller's press conference, our feature of the Texas spending transparency portal and now this:

Our friends at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, one of the driving forces for spending transparency in Texas, have released a new transparency report: Texas Transparency Then and Now. Check it out!

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Texas State Comptroller Susan Combs, one of the nation's leaders in the effort to bring more transparency and accountability into government finance, will be holding a press conference to discuss her initiatives designed to promote transparency and accountability in Texas state finance this Wednesday. 

For those in Texas: the event will be held on Wednesday, Dec. 3 at 10 a.m. (Central time) in Room 114 of the LBJ State Office Building, located at 111 E. 17th St. in Austin.

The good news for those of us who won't be able to make it to Austin this week: the Comptroller's website, Window on State Government, will provide live streaming audio of the Comptroller's remarks at www.window.state.tx.us

H/T Seton Motley at the Media Research Center

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Our friends at the Washington Policy Center  (WPC) just announced that Washington State's spending transparency website will be launched this Wednesday.  The creation of the site was mandated by legislation passed earlier this session.

Jason Mercier at WPC had an opportunity to preview the website, and reports that it won't disappoint. Stay tuned, we'll send you the details after the launch.

If you're in Olympia on Wednesday, a press conference is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. in SHR-1 to demonstrate the new website.

h/t: Jason Mercier at WPC

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No surprise here: "Bailout" is the Word of the Year 2008, according to Merriam Webster, which  just announced its list of  the year's top ten words and definitions as culled from its popular Web site Merriam-Webster OnLine ( www.Merriam-Webster.com).

According to their press release, the 2008 Merriam-Webster's Words of the Year list is based on users' anonymous hits to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary and Online Thesaurus.

Interesting side note: holder of the #3 spot is "socialism."

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Last weekend, the Peoria Journal Star in Illinois ran a story on how local spending transparency efforts in Illinois are falling short.

And indeed, Illinois taxpayers are still "more than one a click away" from tracking their tax dollars, but not just at the local level - also at the state level, where lawmakers in the senate failed to take up Rep. Mike Tryon's HB 4765, which would have created the Illinois Accountability Portal.  CFA has been working hard with our friends at AFP Illinois, who spearheaded the legislative effort from the non-profit side, and other Illinois groups like the Illinois Policy Institute and For the Good of Illinois to move the ball forward, and much progress has been made.  A number of school districts has begun posting their check registers online, and others have begun posting other financial information their websites.

Unfortunately, however, it seems as if some Illinois senators have decided to put politics before good policy and the effort to create the Illinois Accountability Portal will have to be relaunched again next year.

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