Face The State Staff Report
While Gov. Bill Ritter, a Democrat, stands by his pledge to put the state's checkbook online, one Republican is still moving forward with a bill that seeks to just that.
House Bill 1288, sponsored by Rep. B.J. Nikkel, R-Loveland, unanimously passed out of the House Finance Committee Wednesday. "All of the Democrats I'm working with on this bill believe it needs to be done by statute not executive order," she said, noting that her bill received widespread bi-partisan support.
Nikkel says its important to put the checkbook online through statute instead of executive order because an executive order can be repealed at any time and by any governor. "It's not that I don't trust Gov. Ritter, but what if Colorado ends up with a Blagojevich down the road?" she said, referring to former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich who was recently impeached amidst allegations of corruption.
According to the fiscal note on HB 1288, developing and maintaining an online database of all state spending will cost $72,500 in the first year, and $14,000 each year after that. The Department of Personnel and Administration will maintain the database and be responsible for publishing reports of state spending and responding to questions from the public regarding the information.
Rep. Don Marostica, also a Loveland Republican, introduced a similar bill two years ago, but the legislation never made it out of committee. He planned to reintroduce it this year, until Ritter announced in his State of the State speech that he was going to implement the concept through an executive order.
Nikkel, however, resurrected the bill after contacting Ritter's office to ask for details regarding his plan to post state spending online, and his staff could not provide her with a substantive timeline. "[Ritter's office] didn't have any idea what they were going to do and they had no pinpoint date as to when they were going to do it," she said.
But according to Evan Dreyer, Ritter's spokesman, Ritter still plans to sign an executive order before Nikkel's bill ever makes it to the floor. "We’re still trying to finalize a date," he wrote to Face The State in an e-mail. "Hoping to do it this month."
Nikkel plans to move forward with her bill even if Ritter signs an executive order. "I'm not concerned about who gets credit," she said. "I just want to make this available to the taxpayers."
Similar legislation has passed in several other states, including Missouri, Kansas and Texas.