Voting history bill

Del. Jim LeMunyon and Del. Mark Keam have again introduced a measure to put legislators' voting histories on the legislature's website. The point is to make voting histories on bills, amendments, even committee votes, easily accessible and searchable.

Here's what the two delegates had to say in a press release issued yesterday:

Our bill is aimed at increasing government transparency and accountability. The public deserves to know where we stand on any issue that comes before the House, and we have an obligation to make that informative readily available to our constituents," said LeMunyon. "Last year, some Senators expressed concern that the bill might add significant costs to the House and Senate Clerk's budgets. We have determined with the Department of Planning and Budget that this is not the case and are hopeful that without a cost impact, this bill will pass the Senate as well as the House in 2011."

"As state legislators, our primary duty is to represent our constituents in the complex law-making process so we should do all we can to help them understand what we do in the most transparent and easy to access format," said Keam. "I'm pleased to work with Delegate LeMunyon to bring a little more more sunshine to Richmond."

It's kind of odd that this information isn't already available. In today's wired world, I think most people even assume that it is already out there and that you wouldn't need, literally, an act of the entire General Assembly to make it so.

At any rate, LeMunyon and Keam are looking for supporters, so if you have comments you'd like to share, or if you'd like to be on hand to testify in the bill's favor when it comes up for consideration, join the conversation below, or send me an e-mail.

Megan