HARRISBURG – The Pennsylvania Senate has developed a new reporting system to make all Senate expenses available to the public online beginning on Sept. 1, Sen. Pat Stefano (R-32) said today.
The information will include all office leases, per diems, reimbursements for meals and lodging, supplies, mileage, office maintenance and much more. The information will be available on a new webpage, which will be updated monthly by the Chief Clerk and will apply to all Senate offices – Republican, Democrat, Independent and institutional.
“Continuing the transparency and accountability initiative I focused on earlier this year by sponsoring legislation to better inform the public about governmental proceedings, this new system would also make it easier for people to access information that taxpayers should have,” Sen. Stefano said. “They shouldn’t have to ask permission to find out how their money is being spent, so I am pleased that the system will soon provide information on demand.”
The Senate’s new expense transparency system will build on existing good government measures in state government, including:
- The state’s PennWATCH system, which includes information on employee salaries, state spending, revenues and more.
- Information on contracts and purchases of $5,000 or more are available via the Pennsylvania Treasury Transparency Portal page – Contracts e-Library Database.
- The Pennsylvania General Assembly website, which includes information on all roll call votes taken in both the Senate and the House of Representatives, as well as upcoming committee meetings, operating rules, proposed amendments, and a live session feed.
- Campaign finance reports and search tools from the Pennsylvania Department of State.
CONTACT: Mark Fetzko, mfetzko@pasen.gov