Tracking the Texas Stimulus

As Texas Impact has reported, Texas has been lagging behind in many respects as far as the measures it has taken to effectively and transparently put its ARRA dollars to use. Yet some recent developments could potentially change the situation for the better. The first came during the House debate over the state budget for the next biennium, as we pointed out last week. Representatives filed a number of amendments directly related to the federal stimulus dollars, including one by Representative Sylvester Turner that creates specific performance measures and reporting requirements for every state agency that receives ARRA funds.

Now, in another piece of positive ARRA-implementation news, the Comptroller of Public Accounts has launched a new section on its website that allows Texans to see how money is being spent, where they can look for grants and contracting opportunities, and what impact the ARRA is expected to have on the state. Texas Impact has been calling for this and other measures to be taken since Texas first learned it would be getting billions of dollars from the federal government, so this is an encouraging development.