Stimulus Keeps Moving, As Concerns About Accountability Remain

As the $787 billion contained in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act continues to make an impact nationwide, federal and state officials are working through the challenges of reporting and tracking the funds. The process will be integral to determining the Recovery Act's effects on the economy and the benefits it provides in the areas of housing, energy, health care, poverty alleviation, and more.

The first step is to gather relevant data from all state and federal agencies that are handling funds, a process that is getting under way now as the first of the scheduled quarterly reports are being submitted. The reports will provide basic information about expenditures, subcontractors, and job creation, and the information they contain will be compiled and released to the public between October 12th and October 31st via Recovery.gov, the main portal for Recovery Act info on the national stage. That site already has a great deal of information breaking down the anticipated expenditures, including an interactive mapping feature that allows users to input their zip code and see the projects that are in progress in their neighborhood.

Continue reading below to learn more about the reporting and tracking process here in Texas.

State agencies, school districts, and other entities in Texas are collecting the necessary data as we speak.  The state has already seen Recovery Act success stories as well as a few shortfalls, and the reporting process will be key to ensuring the transparency and accountability that will give Texans the full story of how the funds are being spent.  While the Texas Legislature chose not to establish statewide regulations and performance measures, and the Comptroller's handling of the process has already been criticized, it is still possible that the reporting process can be fruitful for the state.  It remains to be seen whether that will in fact be the case, but the Comptroller's reworked website that was just unveiled last week is a promising start. It now contains the amounts of funds received and allocated by each state agency as reported to the Comptroller by those agencies on a weekly basis.

The national Government Accountability Office is conducting bimonthly reviews of how Texas and fourteen other states are handling Recovery Act funds.  Their latest report identified the Texas Education Agency as a "high risk" agency that will be given extra scrutiny, though it is not clear what factors contributed to that definition.  The agency will receive "intensive technical assistance" as a result of that designation.

As Recovery Act spending and reporting continues, Texas Impact will continue its coverage of these important topics.