The Alaska State Senate unanimously passed Senate Bill 25 to establish a searchable online checkbook so that the public can easily view details on government spending, incoming revenues, and the total amount of state employees. The Frontier Group in 2019 ranked Alaska 45th in the nation on making public finance data readily available to the public.
Sen. Bill Wielechowski of Anchorage, sponsor of SB 25, said:
“There are organizations that keep track of government transparency. They grade all 50 states. You can see as time goes by, Alaska’s standing in grading decreased to the point where, in 2014 we got an F rating, which is the lowest rating. We had an F in 2015. An F in 2016. There was no rating in 2017, but we got again an F in 2018, an F in 2019. Eventually, we became the worst, if not tied with the worst in the nation in terms of our government transparency that the online checkbook that we offer. Then, in April of 2020, the governor just took it down, took town the online checkbook. We started to hear from Alaskans who said it’s clunky, it’s hard to use, but we still want to know where our money’s being spent. They couldn’t find it at all. It just wasn’t online. That prompted us to go ahead and file this bill.”
All 50 states operate websites that make information on state expenditures and revenues accessible to the public. SB 25 would require the state to create a user-friendly website to make information more accessible and requires more information to be included. Wielechowski stated that the state receives thousands of public records requests every year and said there’s potential to save time and resources.
SB 25 goes to the house for consideration.
Transcribed audio courtesy of KTOO 360TV.