Richardson posts financial records online, intros bill

Oregon Secretary of State Dennis Richardson adopted an administrative rule on Monday codifying his agency’s longstanding practice of posting all financial records online to ensure full transparency. The Financial Transparency Rule requires the Secretary of State’s office to continue posting monthly updates detailing all budget expenditures, along with anonymized payroll details. This is a best practice model for every state agency.

“Full financial transparency is the only way to ensure true accountability,” said Secretary of State Dennis Richardson. “I’m proud to lead by example on financial transparency and call upon the legislature to pass SB 222 to expand this best practice statewide.”

Richardson introduced Senate Bill 222, which would require all state agencies to begin posting similar monthly financial details no later than 2020. He said this would increase transparency and could also help reduce the costs of processing public records requests.

Currently, other state agencies post limited financial information on the state’s transparency website that is usually between six to 18 months out of date, Richardson said. Also, important information like payment dates, overtime, insurance, and PERS costs are not reported. Most state agencies use the same financial system as the secretary of state, making this transparency improvement possible at minimal cost if modeled after the rule adopted Monday by Richardson.