State checkbook goes online

Want to know how much the Department of Transportation spent on guardrails from AAA Fence Co. last year? How much the Department of Revenue paid Gaffney, Cline and Associates for help with oil and gas issues? Or how much your local lawmaker billed the state for travel expenses? Now you can. Easily. Gov. Sarah Palin announced Tuesday she was putting all the state’s expenses online. She said about a dozen other states are already doing it and added that she got hooked on the idea after talking with other governors at the National Governors Association annual meeting. “Alaskans deserve open, transparent government,” she said at a news conference.

All of the information posted online is public information. The goal of posting it online is to make the information much more accessible to the general public. Sen. Bill Wielechowski, D-Anchorage, is sponsoring a bill that would require the state to post its expenses. His office said Tuesday he would keep pushing the bill, SB 201, to make sure the online service continued beyond Palin’s time in office.

Read the full story here: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner