With the advent of the Internet, governments are becoming more and more transparent to the public. To date, 15 states and the federal government maintain spending databases. In Pennsylvania, the treasurer's e-contract library and the improved Open Records Law, effective this month, mark important progress.

This week, the Commonwealth Foundation launched PennsylvaniaVotes.org, a Web site to bring our state a giant step closer toward the comprehensive transparency necessary for a healthy government.

PennsylvaniaVotes.org provides - at no cost - a layman's description of every bill introduced in the Pennsylvania General Assembly.

The site empowers users with several other important capabilities, including:

1. Building a customized watch list of bills and issues.
2. Receiving automatic updates when legislation of interest is introduced or voted on.
3. Viewing a breakdown of roll-call votes by party or individual legislators.
4. Creating a customized scorecard for legislators.
5. Interfacing with each other to share thoughts on issues and legislation.

PennsylvaniaVotes.org also will allow residents to find and organize the complete voting records of legislators and use search tools to find pending and passed legislation.

Based on the successes of MichiganVotes.org, this project is expected to have a profound impact on the accountability of the Legislature.

How important is government transparency to you?

Matthew J. Brouillette is president and chief executive officer of the Commonwealth Foundation. For more about Brouillette, click here.