The bill creating the Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency (LOFT) advanced from the Senate floor on Monday. Senate Bill 1 is authored by President Pro Tempore Greg Treat in an effort to give lawmakers more information on how state agencies spend money.
“The Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency will give lawmakers and the public tools to better hold agencies accountable by providing independent data on budgets and performance,” said Treat. “More than 30 states have an office similar to LOFT; and in those states, lawmakers have access to objective data they can use to set spending priorities and evaluate agency performance. Right now, in Oklahoma, lawmakers are dependent on information provided directly by agencies or by those who benefit from agency spending. That’s not the best system of accountability, but LOFT fixes this by giving lawmakers independent data so that we can make more informed decisions when writing the budget. Additionally, LOFT’s performance data and reviews will allow legislators and the public to determine the success or failure of individual state programs. With that information, we can implement changes to ensure taxpayer dollars are used wisely and efficiently.”
The LOFT would be able to conduct performance evaluations of agencies, programs or specific divisions. It also has open access to all agency data and budgets.
House Speaker Charles McCall is the House author of SB 1.
