Issue Position: Government Accountability

Issue Position

State government is supposed to work for the taxpayers, not against them. Rep. Thatcher is working on ways to make state government agencies more accountable for the dollars they spend and looking for ways to maximize efficiencies.

As of January 2010, Oregon has a new budget transparency website thanks to Kim's efforts in the legislature. As a member of the Oregon Transparency Commission, she will work to make it more comprehensive and user-friendly as time, money, and technology allow.

She is the Chair of the Taxpayer Caucus, and it working to establish a list of Core Functions so State Government will focus spending on what is most important to Oregonians rather than on ineffective or lower priority programs.

In basic terms, what the legislature does in Oregon is take the programs we funded last time, add "roll-up" costs and then call it a "cut" if less of an increase is actually allocated. If the budget comes up short in providing for all these desired increases, taxpayers are then forced to shell out more money to "protect vital services." Instead of focusing on which programs to cut by, say, 15 or 20 percent, we should be focusing on how best to spend the 80 or 85 percent that remains.

We should fund first the programs most important to Oregonians and spend to the priorities within the budget.

During the recent session, Kim sponsored a bill that would require determining the core functions of government. Identifying the most important and effective programs within each core function would allow better prioritized spending. Washington State successfully used a similar model to close a budget gap of over $3 billion while protecting vital state services.

She is a strong believer in reducing regulations and drafted legislation to decrease the impact of state rules on small companies, which was passed into law during the 2005 session. Kim's business experience has taught her first hand what it's like to deal with government red tape.

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