PA Senate Passes Spending Transparency

Legislation which we have discussed many times on this blog (see previous posts here and here, and Elizabeth Bryan's commentary here) to create an online database of state spending passed the Pennsylvania Senate yesterday.

It passed largely along party lines, with Larry Farnese being the only Democrat to cross over and support it, which astounds me, especially given that four members who voted against it were co-sponsors. I can't imagine a good reason to oppose letting taxpayers see how their money is spent (unless they are looking to see the threshold above which grants must be made public lowered from $25,000). The legislation which is similar to what has been passed in 14 other states, and at the federal level - the latter being the key legislative achivement of President Obama in the US Senate.