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2012 Common Cents Campaign
Saving our common dollars and cents through common-sense
Today we announce the 4th annual Common Cents Campaign Awards. The CCC’s are awarded in instances of egregious misuse of taxpayer money highlighting where government is clearly broken in the hope to test Justice Louis Brandeis’ statement that “Sunlight is the best disinfectant.” Here are the 2012 CCC’s:
Finalists
Insider trading by legislators – This only recently became illegal at the federal level, but it’s still legal for Washington State lawmakers. A bill mirroring the federal STOCK (Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge) Act at the state level died during the last legislative session. Currently under state law, lawmakers are able to benefit from “insider” knowledge that they gain through the course of their legislative work.
Interstate compacts – Interstate Compact for Adult Offender Supervision is an agreement between multiple states regarding convicted offenders. Three times as many offenders enter Washington as leave the state under the compact. This adds increased costs for the state’s community supervision program and greater risk to our community. It also resulted in tragedy on November 29, 2009 when a felon quietly transferred from from Arkansas killed four Lakewood Police officers at a local coffee shop.
WINNER
Fiscal Notes – Washington State Legislature’s fiscal note system is this year’s winner. Fiscal notes are the estimated costs that will be borne by the public should a bill be enacted. The problem is that the executive agency potentially affected by the bill supplies all the information used by the Office of Financial Management, which is responsible for neutrally writing up the cost. This means that any bill an agency does not like gets a big fiscal note stating it would cost taxpayers millions of dollars, and this negatively affects its prospects of passing and becoming law.
One example is my bill HB 2626, based on a high intensity supervision program that had success in Alaska and Hawaii. When an individual under community supervision commits a violation, they receive swift, predictable, and immediate sanctions. This has reduced recidivism and saved money for Alaska, Hawaii, and now many other states. This bill received a $7 million fiscal note of costs from the Department of Corrections (DOC), who opposed the bill. However this year the DOC requested SB 6204 which was, in effect, the exact same bill. But it had a fiscal note stating that it saves almost $30 million. Amazing! And another reason why fiscal notes earned the 2012 CCC’s top award.
Please note the CCC Awards for 2013-2017 were awarded in an official capacity, are published on the government webpage, and may not be linked to this webpage.
2011 Common Cents Campaign
Saving our common dollars and cents through common-sense
Today we announce the 3rd annual Common Cents Campaign Awards. Here are the 2011 CCC’s:
Finalists
Misuse of Mileage – A media investigation revealed antiquated laws paying for ferry employees to drive to and from work were exploited, paying some employees up to $10,000 a year. Another law paying for travel to and from work for twelve employees cost taxpayers over $200,000.
Cell Phones Surplus – In a one year study spanning 22,000 state-purchased cell phones, and 89 state agencies the Washington State Auditor’s Office reported that Washington State spent $9.2 million on cellphone use. But 6,679 of those phones costing about $1.8 million were used less than thirty minutes, and many were not used at all. One new cell phone even sat unused in the prior state auditor's desk.
WINNER
EBT Cards – For creating a black market (30 cents on the dollar) of state produced ‘food stamps’ which are also known as electronic benefits transfer (EBT) cards. I authored a bill to prevent fraud, stopping people from selling or trading their state-issued EBT cards. The minor changes proposed in Washington state were directly opposed by the other Washington (DC). The local bureaucracy wanted nothing to do with legislation or real regulatory reform, until KING 5 News ran a special report on it. The very next day major reforms were announced by the state administration. One small step in the right direction.
2010 Common Cents Campaign
Saving our common dollars and cents through common-sense
The CCC's are awarded in instances of egregious misuse of taxpayer money highlighting where government is clearly broken in the hope to test Justice Louis Brandeis’ statement that “Sunlight is the best disinfectant.” Today we announce the 2nd annual Common Cents Campaign Award. Here is the 2010 CCC:
WINNER
Failing to Log Phone Numbers of Sex Offenders – The DSHS system did not log phone numbers of outgoing calls placed by involuntarily committed offenders, even when the technology was available. Many people received calls threatening not only them, but their families, and because the outgoing numbers were not closely monitored the authorities were unable to trace the origin of the calls. The civilly committed offenders purchased many phone cards, often from other countries, and placed each call through multiple phone cards, thus making the calls extremely difficult to trace because it appeared that they came from overseas. The superintendent in charge of the DSHS facility even received threatening calls in his office and at home from offenders.
2009 Common Cents Campaign
Saving our common dollars and cents through common-sense
The Common Cents Campaign Awards (CCC's) are given in instances of egregious misuse of taxpayer money highlighting where government is clearly broken in the hope to test Justice Louis Brandeis’ statement that “Sunlight is the best disinfectant.” Here is the 2009 CCC:
WINNER
Top Secret Testing Standards – After a constituent’s child failed all sections of the annual high stakes standardized exam, the school district refused to release either the student’s actual score or the test questions that were missed. Further, OSPI stated the integrity (i.e. secrecy) of the test must be maintained even at the expense of the student not being able to learn from mistakes and improve. The student in question had recently moved from a state with higher test standards and she passed every section with flying colors months earlier. OSPI refused further comment or to constructively work toward a solution.
Move over, $7,000 coffeepots! Stand aside, $400 hammers! We now have the $792 doormat!
– Sen. William Proxmire of Wisconsin, founder of the ‘Golden Fleece Award’