1. The Texas Legislature has mandated that all state expenditures, contracts and grants be made available in a single online database. This provides taxpayers with the ability to hold their elected officials accountable. I support that in the next legislative session, the law should be expanded to include all counties, cities and schools.

2. While the current transparency database includes all contracts awarded, it does not provide taxpayers with the ability to compare the contract with the other qualified bids. In many cases, the low bid does not win the contract for a variety of reasons. I support that in the next legislative session, the qualified bids that were not selected should be made available for review in the same database.

3. Some specific state taxes and fees are diverted from their intended purpose. I support that a levy should either be used for its intended purpose or reduced or abolished to the extent it is no longer needed.

4. I believe that unfunded mandates should be prohibited. If a local government body believes the Legislature has imposed upon them an unfunded mandate, they should be able to appeal to the offices of the Attorney General and Comptroller, which in turn would investigate the claim and would have the authority to suspend regulation pending further action or clarification by the Legislature.