Chairman Jill Chambers’ Sponsored Measure Includes Annual Agency Spending Reports Be Made to the House and Senate
ATLANTA—Georgia State Representative Jill Chambers (R-Atlanta), Chairman of the House MARTOC Committee, watched today as the Senate voted to approve legislation she sponsored, House Bill 91, that would require state agencies make annual spending reports to the Georgia House and Senate.
“This bill will bring more accountability and greater fiscal conservatism to the state’s use of taxpayer dollars,” Chambers said. “Each year we appropriate taxpayer funds to the state agencies for specific projects and purposes with little or no oversight to ensure those funds spent accordingly. By requiring state agencies to report to the elected members of the House and Senate how those funds are spent, we can better monitor the appropriate and acceptable use of taxpayer monies.”
House Bill 91 would require each state agency to submit annual reports to the State House and Senate Appropriations Committees and the House Budget and Fiscal Affairs Oversight Committee detailing their spending. Reports would include a statement of tax revenues and operating revenues for each agency for the previous fiscal year, a list of all written contracts during the previous fiscal year for amounts greater than $50,000, a list of employment or consultant contracts of compensation is greater than $20,000, a list of names of each person, firm or corporation that has received greater than $20,000 in the previous fiscal year and a list of consultant expenses and other professional expenses.
The State House and Senate have both adopted this measure and it now moves to the Governor for his signature.
“We have seen this type of fiscal oversight take MARTA from financial distress to budgetary surpluses, and I am confident that if we apply this policy to all state agencies we will similar results. Greater fiscal accountability and financial management is good sound policy for our state and protects the interests of Georgia taxpayers.”
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